(Full disclosure: I applied for the Smittcamp Family Honors College Scholarship for the fall2008 semester and was not selected.)
On Wednesday, The Collegian, in its last issue of the semester, published a front-page story,“Honors program lacks diversity,” which pointed out that the Smittcamp Family Honors Collegeincludes more white people than non-white people.
This article generated quite a bit of feedback.
Thus far, there have been more than 45 comments online to the article, the vast majority of themcriticizing it for accusing the Smittcamp Family Honors College, implicitly if not explicitly, ofbeing racist toward non-white races. A few students came in to The Collegian’s offices to makethe same point. Even Associated Students, Inc., via a statement by ASI Executive Vice PresidentSelena Farnesi, said, “The article claimed in no uncertain terms that the Smittcamp HonorsCollege was a demonstration of institutionalized racism and that the scholarship program did notmimic the diversity of our University.”
It must be pointed out that The Collegian did not mean to call SFHC racist or demean theinstitution in any way. That was not our intent. But, as happens at student-run as well asprofessional newspapers, mistakes in judgment did occur.
The headline should have been changed from “Honors program lacks diversity” to “Honorsapplicants lack diversity.” Both are accurate, but the latter is more representative of the problem.SFHC does not, as the article pointed out, verify a student’s ethnicity or income prior toselection. While there is a lack of diversity within the program, a large part of that is due to thelack of diversity among the applicants.
Also, the charge of institutional racism, though it did come from a student and not TheCollegian, should have been removed. It was an insensitive statement, and levied withinsufficient evidence. There also may have been a conflict of interest: Though each staff isnormally different, in this case, the writer of the article writes for La Voz de Aztlan, an ethnicsupplement published by The Collegian; the student who was quoted is a contributing writer forLa Voz. The quotes had no place in the article and changed the tone of the story, affecting thereader’s outlook.
The infographic in the article shows for the fall 2010 Smittcamp Family Honors class 33 whites,seven Hispanics, three Asian-Indians and one black. It has been pointed out by some that thisdoes not add up to 50. The reason is that six members of SFHC declined to state their race orethnicity. This information should have been on the infographic.
The blame for these lapses of judgment, ultimately, falls on my shoulders. The writer of thestory, Ana Mendoza, has done great work this year. I, being the editor-in-chief, should have seenthese errors and corrected them. I didn’t. If these things had been done, the article would havebeen better.
The fact remains, however, that the contents of the article were true. Though Fresno Statehas near equal percentages of white and Hispanic students””34.8 and 33.7 respectively””theSmittcamp Family Honors College has a majority””more than 50 percent””of white students.Of course, which students receive the scholarship depends on who applies. For the fall 2009
semester, 552 students applied, with 56.7 percent being white, 19.3 percent Hispanic, 13.7percent Asian-Indian and 1.4 percent black. SFHC can’t be diverse if its applicants are notdiverse.
The Collegian was simply pointing this fact out. There is a lack of diversity within theSmittcamp Family Honors College. Whether that is a good or bad thing””The Collegian thinksdiversity, on the whole, is a good thing in society””is up to the reader’s judgment.
Whether this is a problem that needs fixing is also up to the reader’s judgment. One can hardlyargue with the academic results of those selected for the scholarship: In fall of 2010, the averageGPA for those selected was 3.92 and the average SAT score was 1918. These are smart,deserving students. Selecting students based solely on merit without other mitigating factors is anexemplary way of choosing the honors students, and The Collegian has no problem with that.
The Collegian prides itself on being accountable to its readers, and writing this column is oneway of showing that. We also accept letters to the editor and even op-ed columns. You caneven stop by the newsroom sometime and let us know what is on your mind. The Collegianappreciates reader feedback, whether it is positive or negative.
And, most of all, thank you for reading.
Anonymous • Dec 16, 2010 at 4:50 am
The fact that the majority of applicants are white also shows institutional racism. If the majority of HS students that do well enough to even hope to get the scholarship are white, it shows that our high schools have huge racial problems also. Take Edison H.S. (thats a school on the southwest side of Fresno for all of you privileged CSUF students who stay north of shaw): 24% of student body is Black, but black students account for 59% of expulsions and 35% of drop-outs. That is a HUGE racial problem…. The racial problem doesnt stop at Smittcamp (where it obviously is), but the problem is in the whole US society. After all, this is the “free” nation founded by slave owners. And the “free” nation that barely “desegregated” schools 56 years ago (although they are still extremely segregated; Edison is less than 15% white). Smittcamp is merely a small part of a much bigger problem.
Anonymous • Dec 20, 2010 at 3:48 am
The reason black students account for 59 percent of expulsions at Edison is because they commit those infractions.
Labeling something as “racist” doesn’t magically make it wrong. The truth is often racist, something you will discover as you get older. That doesn’t stop it from being the truth.
You can blame “racism” until your tongue is dragging on the ground, and it won’t change anything. The reason so many nonwhite students do poorly in school is due to their unrelenting adherence to a dysfunctional culture, whereas white and Asian cultures are conducive to learning. In order to be successful, students must put their studies first, and everything else must be a distant second.
Anonymous • Dec 15, 2010 at 12:33 pm
It was a relief to come across this article; I feel it stated what needed to be said. As a Smittcamp alumni, I can personally attest to the lack of racial diversity in the program.
While I am not explicitly stating that there is racial profiling occurring in the admission process, it does seem strange, however, that the composition of a scholarship program based solely on academic merit consists of less than 6% Asians, a demographic statistically shown by the College Board to perform better on the SAT’s and by the US Dept. of Education to have higher GPA’s than their white colleagues. This is even more interesting when you factor that the only remaining differentiator, extra-curricular activities, are virtually identical in both demographics.
Reasons for this could be many. For example, perhaps the program has not enough publicity to solicit applicants from outside the central valley, a region who’s top academic achievers are white.
Or perhaps it is the due to the practice of allowing current Smittcamp students to read and screen incoming Smittcamp applications.
It would be interesting to compare the data from all submitted applications, to those that were chosen, though I doubt this information will ever be made public.
Anonymous • Dec 14, 2010 at 9:34 am
As a student that has contributed to the Collegian this semester I start to wonder at what point we must draw the line on freedom of speech and what is best for the community. I lived a duel roll this semester being public relations major and having to write journalistic content that was objective and only presented opinion though the quotes of those interviewed for the story. It was less challenging then it might seem, but the dilemma was always there. Should I pick the stories that people want to hear about or should I rattle the cage and submit engaging stories that would start a revolution? I tended to take the safe route and write about stories the people would enjoy reading while still staying informed on important issues.
On the opposite end of the spectrum you have Anna who was never afraid to put herself out there. I personally want to commend her on taking risks and putting herself in the spotlight. We must not forget it was her journalism that helped bring to light the truth about our ASI president that merited international media attention. She firmly took the stand that journalism has traditionally been the one true media that takes on issues that no one wants to talk about and shove it in the face of the American public. People might not want to hear about it, but it always starts a movement of change in our society. The First Amendment of our Constitution was important enough to go to war for and it hasn’t changed since. So why not use it every once in a while?
It is obvious that the article offended, angered, outraged, and possibly even scared people. I would argue that that could have been the underlining intent when it was written. I personally stand by the belief that when we sugarcoat the truth and try to hide what we don’t want to talk about we are actually spreading lies. By definition of an illegal act, not doing something (like talking about it) is just as good as doing the exact opposite.
Even if you don’t agree with every point the article made, I fall under this stipulation; it should still be considered that the goal of this article was not to strike up a chorus of excitement over the subject matter. The fact still remains that in this economic driven society news has become less of a priority and more of a source of entertainment. We are afraid to tell the truth because it just might hurt someone’s feelings. This is the curse of being politically correct.
This brings me back to my initial point. Should we as a society draw the line and shy away from freedom of speech to start producing material that the public would like to hear about? As students are we held to the standards of giving the public what they want to protect ourselves from the possible backlash of society when they see something we don’t like? It is not my place to tell society what to think, and I don’t really enjoy attempting to do so. So my best answer to my own question is to look at people we idolize as heroes, leaders, people who guide us and educate us, and the ones we accept advice from. If those leaders of our society never took a risk and put themselves out there, took the chance at saying something that might not be liked by all, would they still hold the same status in our society? More importantly should they hold the same status if they didn’t?
I think not.
Anonymous • Dec 15, 2010 at 2:26 am
I agree, yes the article could have been written better, but it also allowed people to start thinking about these issues. I read a lot of comments that were written with such anger instead of taking a moment to step back and say okay let’s examine this from both sides and see the bigger picture of why this is happening. The majority of students comments were students in SFHC and came in defense of the college when many readers probably did not come to the conclusion that SFHC was at fault. Personally, when I read this article I did not feel SFHC was racist in any way. Instead, I was not surprised at the statistics because I know there’s a greater issue to why this is happening. It all comes down to socioeconomic inequalities. Unless you are in another person’s shoes you do not know what it is like to have to work twice as hard than others who’ve had a better upbringing and people waiting for you to fail, but as some posted it is possible to overcome these barriers and kudos to them. Still, anger clouds people from seeing both sides and thinking rationally.
Anonymous • Dec 14, 2010 at 7:41 am
This response is fair, and had those edits been done before the original article went to print, I highly doubt it would have been nearly as controversial. Many students agree with the collegian that structural disparities within society are a real problem, and Smittcamp has always worked to try and increase the diversity of its applicant pool. I’m sure suggestions on how to continue to do so would not be unwelcome. Once they applied, they would be held to the same standards as everyone else, though mitigating factors such as a lack of AP classes (or extracurriculars) available have always been taken into account.
The only suggestion I would make is that a form of this statement from the editor-in-chief be printed in the first issue of the Collegian next semester. Most readers do not also follow the website, especially during finals week (or winter break), and as such, many of the people who were influenced by the original article would not see these corrections. It would be the ethical thing to do to publish this at the next available opportunity.
Thank you,
Leonid Vydro
Smittcamp Family Honors College Alumnus
Class of 2009
Anonymous • Dec 14, 2010 at 7:03 am
Mr. Petersen,
You are still missing the point.
“The Collegian was simply pointing this fact out. There is a lack of diversity within the Smittcamp Family Honors College. Whether that is a good or bad thing””The Collegian thinks diversity, on the whole, is a good thing in society””is up to the reader’s judgment.”
You continue to place the burden of correcting a national disparity of privilege upon one wonderful but relatively small institution, and still (though more subtly) imply that the SFHC is somehow against diversity. How can this be when you yourself state that there are no questions regarding ethnic or socioeconomic status in the Honors application?
Yes, I appreciate that you have corrected certain errors in the ethics and statistics of this article. However, your main point is irresponsibly made. If you believe that a merit-based scholarship should remain based on merit alone and if you keep in mind that the SFHC attempts to allow for as much individual disadvantage as they can without losing the integrity of their application process, then you cannot hold them responsible for the lack of diversity. They do advertise their program to as many schools and students as possible. But you can’t change the fact that more privilege will equal a higher chance of acceptance, and THAT is where change needs to occur in order to see more minority Honors students.
If Ms. Mendoza had written an article about how to mentor and otherwise aid lower-class and minority high school students so that they had more resources and therefore a higher chance of getting accepted into the SFHC, I’m sure she would have been acknowledged for offering a good idea and even more applauded if she actually tried to apply such a change. You say she was just pointing out an issue, not demeaning anyone, but the article and this editorial still point fingers in the wrong direction.
Anonymous • Dec 14, 2010 at 3:06 am
It’s unfortunate that hardly anyone will actually read this article. The sensationalist article written last week has incited undeserved anger, hatred, and discriminatory feelings towards an organization that has done nothing but improve the university as a whole for over a decade.
This program has attracted the caliber of students that are normally only found at top UC or Ivy League schools and improved community outreach, research involvement, and academic reputation of Fresno State as a whole.
These students worked their butts off through high school to earn a college scholarship that didn’t consider what color their skin was or what their parents did for a living. Isn’t that what we all hope for?! If you are angry that there are not as many Hispanic or Asian students within the honors program, get up, get involved, and apply yourself!