This past Thursday Dr. Nancy “Rusty” Barceló, president of Northern New Mexico College and nationally recognized leader for equity and diversity in higher education, spoke about diversity in higher education to a packed audience at UCSB's MultiCultural Center. Both the main theater and lounge were full, with people even sitting on the floor or standing along the walls.
I originally heard of Dr. Barceló and her positive influence in academia from Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs Dr. Michael Young. Although my conversation with Dr. Young had originally started with some anecdote about finding a proper peer and/or professional mentorship to assist me in navigating through graduate school, I could just sense that there was a deeper meaning to the role Dr. Barceló played in Dr. Young’s life. Over the years I have had the honor of getting to know Dr. Young and did not gain any better insight to that meaning, that is, until the diversity talk.
Dr. Barceló spoke to the many students, staff, faculty, and community members in the audience about all aspects of her life: the personal, academic, and professional. Dr. Barceló mentioned that “diversity is an issue of national, economic, and moral imperative” and that “diversity is not just a good thing during good times and too costly during bad times.” Both of these comments spoke to me because as a male Chicano I understand that there is not much diversity in my specific field of study and research. Latino males have historically made up less than 1% of all American college doctoral students in education.
Sometimes diversity for me means having the opportunity to be a graduate student at a top research university, learning from, and with, some of the world’s most brilliant minds. Other times it has meant literally creating the opportunity for diversity to exist. As a peer for UCSB's Graduate Division, I have had the opportunity to inform both prospective and continuing graduate students, domestic and non-resident, of the many campus resources available to them to better assist them as graduate students at UC Santa Barbara, but also to help them progress as individuals. The resources available to these students can sometimes make a big difference in whether or not they decide to attend or remain as UCSB students. In those situations it is imperative for an individual such as myself to have an understanding of the various diverse programs and departments we have here at UCSB, or to at least be able to point the prospective students to the appropriate people.
Dr. Barceló also stated that “diversity should be something we experience year-round, not just during an event provided by an individual or department with 'diversity' in their name or title.” To this last point I say, “A-a-a-a-men.”
As a graduate student, especially one of color, I don't think of diversity as its own entity aside from my personal being. It is difficult not to feel like I am diverse. I am diverse relative to the environment I choose to engage in. The people who come in my contact, direct or not, are influenced by what I say and what I do. I have to know how to navigate in the UCSB campus community, the local living community as well as remember how to communicate with community members back in my hometown of San Bernardino, Calif. Dr. Barceló mentioned that Gloria Anzaldua’s theory of borderlands can be used to explain the many complexities behind being a member of higher education. I appreciated that Dr. Barceló suggested using Anzaldua’s work of space and place because it is a concept I am not only academically acquainted with, but also personally acquainted with.
