Cultural and Economic Diversity at SAC

From my experience throughout three and a half years at Saint Anselm College, I would identify religious diversity, sexual orientation diversity, and racial diversity as three issues that affect the college’s campus.
Religious diversity is an interesting topic to consider because Saint Anselm is a Catholic college of the Benedictine order. For this reason, I think that many prospective students assume that everyone at the school is Catholic or that Catholicism is something that students have to incorporate into their everyday lives. However, this is far from the case. Several of my friends are of different religious backgrounds, whether Jewish, Muslim, or non-denominational. Religious diversity is something I think the college grapples with because it does not want to deter students of different faiths from applying or attending, but simultaneously, Catholicism is an important part of the college’s identity. In essence, it is the foundation of the college. Although I cannot speak from personal experience, those I have interacted with who are non-Catholics rarely feel like outsiders at Saint Anselm. In my experience, though Saint Anselm is a Catholic school, professors and members of the monastic community express this Catholicism in part by upholding Christian principles of treating all individuals with human dignity, regardless of their religious affiliation.
In the same vein, a major diversity issue that has especially come to fruition in recent months has to do with sexual orientation. When I wrote an article about it for The Crier, I learned that campus-wide survey conducted several years ago revealed that students of varying sexual orientations felt marginalized on campus, especially through a lack of student activities and alliance groups that incorporated gay, lesbian, and transgender students. To remedy this, the college created the inclusiveness initiative with the hopes of creating outlets and organizations for students who do not relate to heterosexuals. This was a significant change for Saint Anselm College because it effected the institution’s Catholic identity, sparking many discussions and debates. However, I think the inclusiveness initiative helped to quell many stereotypes associated with religion and sexual diversity. While writing the article, I interviewed several monks who emphasized that the Catholic standing on homosexuality was to treat everyone with human dignity regardless of their sexual orientation. Though I am sure some students who are not heterosexual feel social pressures that heterosexual students do not, those who I know are gay seem to have many friends and enjoy the life of the college.
A third diversity issue that I have experienced at Saint Anselm involves race. Even in the Princeton Review, we are described as having an overwhelming majority of students of white, Irish descent. This sweeping generalization bothers me because, although most students are white, this does not reflect student preference or prejudice. However, I do think that where there is racial diversity at school, some stereotypes can be enforced. For example, many of the students of color are athletes, especially football players. However, as an orientation leader for two years, I noticed an interesting trend: At meals in Davison during the pre-season, many lunch tables would be divided – not necessarily purposely – by race, with students of color sitting at certain tables, while white students sat at others. However, when I went into the cafeteria later in the semester, I noticed that the color cliques no longer existed – that students of all colors were sitting together throughout Davison. I hope that this reflects that although people have a tendency to relate to people of similar backgrounds when they are uncomfortable, Saint A’s provides a welcoming environment that promotes breaking down stereotypical barriers.
Though we are striving to change, St. A’s is definitely a homogenous community and that can definitely prove socially dangerous. Homogenous populations can breed close-mindedness and cause people to be out of touch with reality since their reality is not an accurate representation of the world. Similarly, homogenous communities can limit social skills because students do not interact with different people, which could severely hurt them in the future, especially professionally. However, I think awareness is the first step to encouraging diversity and St. A’s is already well on its way to educating and implanting a diverse community.