The popular First-Year Advisory Counselor program, often considered a vital part of Duke's vaunted "first-year experience," has for years ushered freshmen into their first days on campus.
Recently, however, some students have noted the program's dearth of diversity. According to data compiled from the 2006 list of FACs, there is a significant overrepresentation of greek-affiliated students and an underrepresentation of black and Asian students.
Of this year's more than 200 FACs, The Chronicle's research indicates that approximately 60 percent are members of University-recognized fraternities and sororities. By comparison, 35 percent of the larger student body is greek-affiliated, said officials from the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life.
The statistics also indicated that approximately 3.8 percent of this year's FACs are black and 14.5 percent are Asian students. In the larger student body, however, the percentages are approximately 10 percent and 20.5 percent, respectively, reported the Office of Undergraduate Admissions.
"To me, it seemed like there was one African American in every group of FACs for each dorm, and that was startling," said FAC Lauren Wilson, a sophomore.
Wilson, who is black, said that although she thinks the FAC program is a success, some minority freshmen told her that increased diversity would have made their orientation more comfortable.
"When minority students arrive here, and the first thing they see is FACs, they kind of get an impression that there aren't a lot of people like them," she said. "Undoubtedly, being a minority at Duke is somewhat of a different experience than being part of the dominant demographic."
Many freshmen, upperclassmen and members of the FAC board--who lead the program--acknowledged the problem, but extolled the virtues of FAC volunteers.
"I've never heard any negative information," said senior Malik Burnett, president of Black Student Alliance. "I would say that people have had a positive experience."
Furthermore, the FAC board and its selection policy was universally praised as fair and unbiased. The demographics of this year's FACs mirror those of the applicant pool-a situation that the FAC committee cannot control, explained senior Mike Marquardt, co-chair of the FAC board.
The program's leaders have recently launched more aggressive recruitment campaigns to court a broader spectrum of students, he added, and others agreed that a less homogenous group would have been beneficial.
"I do feel that the overall FAC experience could have been enhanced by having a more diverse group of FACs," senior Gaby Perez, a FAC board member, wrote in an e-mail. What is less certain, however, is what effect this unintended lack of diversity has on incoming freshmen.
"I think it's important for first-years to obtain a widerange of perspectives and to continue to foster an appreciation for the differences in others right from the start," Perez said. "Sometimes that is lost when there is a lack of diversity."
Other students, however, said a need for diversity--of race or social involvement--is not as vital as other criteria, since FAC recruitment looks beyond these attributes.
"I think it's almost a moot point-the diversity of the FAC program," said senior Megan Bode, a FAC board member. "It's unfortunate if it's become a little homogenous, but I think what we're aiming for, and what we're getting, is a group of committed students that really want to help first-year students."
Additionally, each FAC is trained to be cognizant of such issues when mentoring their freshmen, senior Kim Ocheltree, a member of the FAC board, wrote in an e-mail.
"The point of [FAC] training is to make sure each FAC knows they will be encountering first-years with a range of experiences and values, and as such to present a variety of options so that each first-year knows there is a place for them at Duke," she said.
Since an overrepresentation of whites and greeks has been traced to the FAC applicant pool, the question remains: why do fewer minorities and independents apply?
For starters, competing peer mentoring programs created by ethnic groups-such as the Africana Mentoring Program or the Latino First-Year Advisory Council-draw away many minority members, Perez and Burnett noted.
"Because these programs attract mostly minority applicants, it creates a difficulty in increasing the number of ethnic minorities in the FAC program applicant pool," Perez said.
Some FACs, however, also suggested that fraternities and sororities may subtly encourage their members to join the FAC program as a means of early greek recruitment.
"I don't think it's a lack of independents," Wilson said. "I think it's an overabundance of greeks applying to be FACs." During FAC recruitment, attributes like greek affiliation is less important than qualities like enthusiasm for helping freshmen and an outgoing personality, board members said.
"Never do we ask for greek affiliation-the percentage of greeks is merely just a product of the applicant pool," Marquardt said. Although the FAC admissions process is supposed to be blind to these characteristics, board members in recent years have made a concerted effort to increase the diversity of the program-and have been making positive ground.
"In a study on the FAC applicant versus selection last Spring... it was found that the number of ethnic minority applicants, specifically black and Asian students, to the FAC program has increased slightly every year over the past four years," Perez said.
Over the same time period, the percentage of black and Asian students in the whole student body has also grown. Yet due to shortfalls in across-the-board diversity, board members said they would continue to strive for progress.
"It is important to keep improving the diversity of FACs by continually setting this as a priority of the program," Ocheltree said.
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