One of the reasons that we are investigating the campus as an entrepreneurial environment is that in its most ideal form there is huge diversity on campus (i.e., age, race, field of study, nationality, political viewpoints, personal preferences, socio-economic background, etc). This diversity is believed to bring many advantages.
The social and economic benefits of diversity are discussed at length in Richard’s writing and others – I am partial to Jane Jacobs’ ideas in The Economy of Cities.
WSJ writer Hannah Karp’s story, From Bloomingdales to Bloomington, tells of a new diversity at Indiana University’s main Bloomington campus where a large influx of students from the Northeast is changing life on campus. From the story:
In Indiana University’s Assembly Hall last Friday, a remarkably large chorus hailing from private high schools in the Northeast was singing the school’s ode to the “Cream and Crimson” in a pronounced New York accent.
It’s a striking byproduct of one of the most competitive college admissions sessions ever — an influx of East Coast prep-school students in Indiana. Indiana University welcomed about 260 students from the greater New York City area to the limestone lecture halls on its lush, leafy campus last week, up 12.5% from last year. Another 175 came from New Jersey, up 25% from 2007, and 50 hail from Connecticut. While the numbers of students matriculating from in-state and other parts of the country are steadily increasing as well — the school had some 500 more students accept admission offers than it had planned for — the last three years have been marked by unprecedented growth from the Northeast.
The droves of East Coast students descending on Bloomington are ruffling some feathers among the 61% of students who call Indiana home.
Upperclassmen say the tension begins to build from day one of freshman year, as most East Coasters request to live in the same cluster of dorms and send in housing deposits to guarantee their spots long before committing to the school. Jess Berne, a freshman from New York’s suburban Westchester County who had also applied to Penn State and the University of Wisconsin, sent in her housing deposit to Indiana as soon as she was admitted in October, at the school’s recommendation, eight months before she decided to actually enroll. She also requested to room with a fellow New Yorker, Becky Davies, whom she met on Facebook.
The story is interesting/funny (a father of a NY student thinks something is not quite right in Bloomington because people are so friendly) and anecdotal, but leads one to wonder whether diversity works ‘positively’ with open, accepting minds leading the way new understanding and ideas? Or does diversity work because of ‘friction’ and new outputs are the result of worlds colliding?
Are these ‘new imigrants’ to Bloomington having the same effect on campus as Eastern Europeans or Latin Americans have on US cities when they arrive in large numbers? Any thoughts?
September 10th, 2008 at 11:33 am
I saw this WSJ article last week and found it to be pretty interesting as a Big Ten graduate. Diversity “works” as a hybrid of what you have described – I think that truly diverse places are open to constructive friction (as in being open to being challenged on the merits).
One item that ought to be pointed out about the article is that the tension at Indiana is something that has always existed, only now it’s exacerbated more with the influx of New Yorkers. I went to college at the University of Illinois (a fellow Big Ten school), and even though the school is composed of 90% in-state students, it had almost the exact same type of tension between students that were from the Chicago area versus students that were from Downstate Illinois – despite the proximity, we all really did grow up in two completely different worlds. Likewise, Indiana University has had this divide for many years between the large number of Chicago-area students that attended the school and the in-state population. The fact that a lot of East Coast students are being added on top of the Chicago natives has heightened a cultural friction that already existed. Thus, the article is a bit misguided in insinuating that this is a brand new “Midwest vs. East Coast” tension. Instead, it is more of an longstanding “large city vs. small town” tension.
September 10th, 2008 at 2:52 pm
Frank the Tank? How could I not love that name?
I agree. I attended U of M (grew up in Chicagoland) and saw this tension play out in many ways. Big City vs. Small Town, however, for some reason(s), the NYers drew the ire of many. So, yes, this Midwest/East Coast tension has been around for some time. Good luck Illini!
September 10th, 2008 at 4:58 pm
Yes, I have heard that from my friends that went to Michigan about the New Yorker population (a similar situation is happening at UW-Madison, as well). I wonder if it’s because there are probably strong similarities between the average Chicagoland and Detroit-area natives that attend U of M (typically students from affluent neighborhoods and suburbs) such that the differences between that group of urban/suburban-raised Midwesterners and the New Yorkers on campus are more apparent?
Also, this is the one week of the year that I cheer for the Wolverines. Please take care of Notre Dame!