MNSU’s diverse campus has continued to grow over the years

Oluwatomike Bali
Staff Writer

Institutional Diversity cultivates cross cultural relationship and appreciation of differences.

The program promotes a multicultural experience for students, faculty and staff.

The Institutional Diversity program helps the university be an inviting place for people of color, LGBT community and first-generation students. It’s not limited to students but also faculty and staff. The department also helps with recruitment of diverse students, and retention of those students in faculty and staff.

Dean of Institutional Diversity, Dr. Henry Morris, has been on campus for about 27 years. He said the growing diversity on campus has made MNSU more diverse. When he first arrived here, there was only about four percent students of color and less than that as international students. Now, the university is close to about 25 percent students of color, with about 16 percent being domestic students and the rest are international students, said Dr. Morris.

Morris further states that there are a lot more people with different learning styles and the students and staff body is more equal, preparing the school to deal with more cultural background and differences.

Morris believes that the diversity rate of the school is growing because of the growing demographics and so they need to become better at being able to recruit and retain the growing numbers. He believes the number will continue to increase over time.

When asked what differentiate MNSU’s Institutional Diversity program from other schools, Morris said MNSU has more robust diversity programs and that there are no other diversity programs as complex and funded as MNSU in the state system.

He believes what attracts foreign students to MNSU is that the school does a much better job at “actively recruiting” international students. The university also offers a good course quality.

Institutional Diversity has also helped students graduate by offering additional help, both in and out of the classroom, and financial help. There have been a lot of successful students due to the help they have received from this resource.

The ultimate aim of Institutional Diversity is to be able to make the campus a welcoming place for everyone and to continue to work on making MNSU an inviting place for all types of students.

Photo: (Courtesy of David Bassey)