Forgotten slice of diversity: socioeconomic divisions on campus

Last week, President Bottomly and Dean of Students Debra DeMeis introduced the Initiative for Diversity and Inclusion at Wellesley, which will hopefully help students to reach out and communicate across differing cultures and perspectives. In light of this formal initiative to address on-campus diversity, it is important to note that the issue of socioeconomic diversity is overshadowed by the more oft-cited issues of religion, race, ethncity, politics, and sexual orientation in on-campus conversations about diversity.

While approximately 56 percent of the student body receives financial assistance from the College, we generally remain tight-lipped about our tuitional burdens. Few of us openly admit that we receive some form of financial aid, and even fewer would admit to receving full coverage.

Certainly the College is a unique environment that the school creates a "safe space" for students of diverse backgrounds, but it is important to realize that our campus is still very much influenced by larger cultural and societal attitudes toward wealth. Popular media featuring the young and rich mystify and venerate the world of the elite upper class, which we—regardless of our standards for critical distance and objectivity—can't help but do ourselves.

Society inculcates in us an sensitivity about class divisions, in which our material wealth comes to define much of our social standing as well as our inherent worth as individuals. Most of us would consider ourselves upper-middle class or at least middle class—anything else is likely to be received with polite hemming and hawing.

What can we do as a community to sustain an honest and long-term dialogue about socioeconomic diversity within the study body? We certainly cannot endorse getting rid of private property and material wealth as Karl Marx hoped to see in his Communist utopia. Extreme and abstract approaches will only push us farther away from transparency on the issue; instead, each of us needs to be willing to share with each other the personal experiences that inform our understanding of socioeconomic status.

Unsurprisingly, it will most likely be an uncomfortable discussion to initiate but if we do not take steps to be transparent among friends and acquaintances, we are refusing to acknowledge the elephant that has been idling in the room for too long.

Especially during a time when financial uncertainty in which socialeconomic status is in flux for once solidly middle-classed Americans, it is necessary to have a better understanding of those who come from different backgrounds than ourselves.

One of the goals of the Diversity Initiative is to form a Core Committee by early November. The Committe, which will be comprised of faculty and staff and four appointed students, will draft an overall guiding strategy and implementation plan for increasing inclusion on campus. It is unclear as to how the Core Committee of four students can accurately reflect the diversity of our student body, given not only the multiple definitions of diversity but also its multiple manisfestations on campus.

The Diversity Initiative is a stepping stone toward open communication across cultures, religions, ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds and other popular diversity issues discussed on campus. Hopefully these forums will help in creating an open environment in which we can hold conversations about traditionally sensitive topics without shame or embarrassment.