360º: The Professor
Tuesday, May 04, 2010
Eric Hirsch, Ph.D, didn't duck the issue.
"I do think we have a diversity problem," Dr. Hirsch, former interim chair of Providence College's Black Studies Program, told GoLocalProv. "We're a predominantly white, upper middle class, Catholic, enormously homogeneous student body. The same point applies to the faculty and administration."
Hirsch, who has been at Providence College for 20 years, and who served as interim chair from 2006-2007, is now a professor in the Sociology Department.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST"PC is perceived by students of color as a hostile environment, and with good reason," he said. "If you're a student of color coming to campus, walking around, you don't see people who look like you. White students may not understand that."
The statistics bear out Hirsch's point: out of a total enrollment of 5,361 students, only 90 students identify themselves as black non-Hispanic, and only 39 of those students are male — 0.728% of the total enrollment.
Hirsch added that he feels that the current administration sees the problem and is planning to act, and he cites recent moves to make the SAT admissions test optional, "to give a sense that we are welcoming to students of a variety of backgrounds, including those who don't have the money to prepare." Providence College is also devoting more financial aid to need, as opposed to merit-based aid. But at the same time, he added, "We shouldn't be recruiting people just because of their athletic ability. We should be recruiting for academic potential."
Citing Boston College and Holy Cross as similar campuses that had reached what he called a critical mass of students of color, Hirsch asserted that PC had not. "We certainly haven't," he said. "We need to do more."
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