MARION, Ind.
Indiana Wesleyan University, a private Christian school where nearly 98 percent of students are White, is trying to attract a more diverse population.
Latrese Moffitt, director of intercultural student services at the university, said the school should better reflect the diversity found in the real world.
“Our motto at IWU is to be world changers,” she told the Chronicle-Tribune for a Friday story. “How are we going to change the world, if we don’t know what the world looks like? We need to better equip our students and give them experience in dealing with the world as it truly is.”
Black students make up less than 1 percent of Indiana Wesleyan’s population, according to the university’s 2005-2006 Factbook. Only a handful of students are Hispanic or Asian. The other 97.6 percent of the 8,700 students are White at the college in the city halfway between Indianapolis and Fort Wayne.
By comparison, at Indiana University, Black students make up 6.8 percent of the population. Asian students and Hispanic students each make up 2 percent of the 98,500 students at IU’s campuses.
Richard Jones, president of the Marion branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said that the cost of tuition is a primary reason why minority students do not attend Indiana Wesleyan. The school’s tuition is about $22,000 a year, including room and board.
