Depending on your definition of diversity, the Class of 2011 may or may not be the most diverse class at Duke University, as previously claimed.
The freshman class saw the largest percentage of minorities in Duke's history. But that statistic may not tell the whole story, because only the percentage of Asian students rose from the previous year, and other minority groups fell in representation.
"Clearly there has been an increase in the number of Asian students," said Leonard Satterwhite, acting dean of undergraduate admissions. "For us, diversity isn't just ethnicity."
He said he does not find Dean of Admissions Christoph Guttentag's statement regarding diversity in the Class of 2011 last June to be misleading.
"It is also the most diverse class in Duke's history-a record 44 percent of the incoming class represents students of color," Guttentag, who is currently on an extended leave of absence, wrote in a memo to Provost Peter Lange.
According to statistics released by the admissions office, Asians, Asian-Americans and Pacific Islanders constitute 28.4 percent of the student body. Black students made up 9.3 percent, Hispanic students 5.9 percent and other minority students 0.2 percent.
Although all other groups decreased in representation compared to the Class of 2010, the presence of Asian students increased by three percentage points, from 25.4 percent. This percentage is relatively high compared to U.S. Census Bureau figures, which place Asians and Pacific Islanders together at 4.4 percent of the nation's population.
Satterwhite said the admissions office does not "have any particular ethnic quotas" and that he did not believe Asian students were overrepresented on campus. He declined to comment on the Asian student population growth relative to the growth of other ethnic groups.
Asian Students Association President Cristian Liu, a senior, said he believes the Asian student presence at Duke has been growing steadily because of the growing prominence of the University itself.
"I don't think it's misleading to say it's one of the most diverse classes ever because I think that if you look at the numbers, the amount of multicultural students as a whole is still increasing," he said.
Liu added that he believes the administration should focus more on recruiting students from low income households than on "simple ethnic diversity."
"I think that if the University could really create the sense of diversity, then it would really help to open up viewpoints and increase the diversity of opinions that are available on campus," Liu said.
But freshman Sharon Mei, a Chinese-American student, said she disagrees.
"Obviously, if we're just increasing the amount of one particular minority and the other groups are decreasing, then I wouldn't call that diversity," she said.
Nonetheless, Mei noted that the large Asian population at Duke is what encouraged her to apply.
"I knew that I wanted to go to a university that had a substantial Asian population so that I wouldn't feel uncomfortable and different," she said. "Whereas if I went to a school like Amherst [College], it might be a little more intimidating for me."
Freshman Michael Curtis, a black student, also disagreed with labelling the freshman class as the most diverse class and noted that he believes there is a weakness in the admissions office's minority recruitment program.
"It is kind of misleading to say that there is more diversity when all the other people went down except for Asians," he said. "I wasn't really recruited-my dad told me about Duke. So if there was more minority recruiting, it'd probably be a lot more diverse."
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