When Yunjia Wang ‘17 arrived at St. Lawrence University from Sichuan, China she found herself in a place with a different culture and language than her home country. Yunjia faced not just the challenges of being a first-year in college, but of being one of the roughly 20 percent of St. Lawrence students who classify as diverse.

“Diversity’s not any good unless there’s inclusivity,” said Vice President and Dean of Student Life Joseph A. Tolliver. The St. Lawrence community Wang entered was 7.8 percent international, 11.8 percent U.S. students of color and 80.3 percent White Americans, according to the Office of Institutional Research. For Wang, integrating into the St. Lawrence community was

made easier because she had been assigned an American roommate. This enabled her to practice her English more and become better friends with the people in her FYP.

Now in her junior year at St. Lawrence, Wang said she rarely sees her FYP anymore, citing difference of majors. However, she said that her experience with the FYP program helped her adjust to American culture. Still, Wang says there is a feeling of separation between the international students and American students at SLU.

This feeling goes beyond just international students. The international student body is represented in Thelmo, “but what about the American students of color?” asks Rian Falcon ’17, a Thelmo Senator. Citing lack of student body interest in social justice issues, Falcon said that she wants people in the SLU

community to be more aware of their actions and how they affect others. “If we want change we have to make it happen,” said Falcon, adding that she would also like to see Thelmo improve on this issue.

To address this issue, Thelmo created the Campus Diversity Committee to look into underrepresented student groups. “It will be looking at the issue of diversity on campus and seeing what we can be doing better,” said Christopher Di Mezzo ’18, one of the creators of the committee. “SLU does a good job bringing a diverse selection of students to the school, but a better job needs to be done to make them feel part of the community once they arrive on campus,” said Di Mezzo.

“The system works really well, but there have been questions in previous years about how representative the senate is in

terms of the identities on campus,” said Dean Tolliver. In the past, some groups, like Greek life, have been overrepresented, said Tolliver, who went on to say that it would be good to look and see if some groups could be better represented. He mentioned groups like international students, students of color, students on financial aid, and student athletes as groups that could be better represented on Thelmo. This is an issue for everyone, from students to faculty and administration, said Tolliver.

Yet many students think St. Lawrence is succeeding in encouraging and representing diversity on campus. “St. Lawrence does a good job in allowing students to create groups to encourage students to delve into their own individuality,” said Genevieve Shorter ’18. Everyone

has the opportunity to pursue what they are passionate about Shorter said, adding that she thinks Thelmo does fine in listening to the student body, even if she wishes they had more opportunities for student feedback.

It is on the students to advocate for themselves and become a part of the community said Associate Dean Rance Davis. He thinks the school is in a good place and that no improvement can happen without dialogue. For there to be change, the administration needs to hear from the students, said Davis. “St. Lawrence was formed in 1856 upon universal church principals of inclusion, but what does that mean for St. Lawrence for our first steps in the twenty first century?” he asked. This is a question admissions administration must keep in mind moving forward.