In a January 14, 2016 post on the Black Girl Dangerous site, Chanelle Adams writes Why Calls for ‘Diversity’ On Campus Arent’t Enough. This post takes on the danger of campus diversity plans that focus on recruitment. My favorite quote is as follows:

This ‘just add and stir’ model for instant-diversity is flawed. It expects that once you add people of color, their flavor will dissolve into the bland white soup. But diversity does not work by some divine property of osmosis. And it certainly does not work when the effort comes from only one direction.

Adams focuses on retention and how people of color are positioned once they are on campus. It’s implied, but I think it’s worth bringing out that being a person of color doesn’t automatically mean that you are prepared for and/or interested in being a champion for diversity; there’s a basic fairness issue with assuming people of color not only want to be the cover photo for diversity but will automatically take leadership in addressing racial injustice.

Harold Levy, executive director of the Jack Kent Cooke Foundation and former chancellor of the New York City Schools, was interviewed on the Takeaway today. He says that the selective schools may have good intentions, but their admissions systems are heavily skewed. Listen to hear some specific examples. The interivew is online as A Roadblock for High-achieving Low-income Students. It’s part of the Takeaway’s Community College Challenge series.

The NY Times Opinion Pages are hosting The Conversation, a series of short films about race in America. The second film, A Conversation about Growing Up Black, is now available. The filmmakers are Joe Brewster of American Promise and Perri Peltz.

You might also want to check out Here and Now’s coverage of recent events in Baltimore: Baltimore: A Turning Point In this Generation’s Civil Rights Movement by Soraya Shockley of Youth Radio and Devin Allen’s story in Baltimore Photographer Captures Zeitgeist.