VanHorn-Week 7- University of Utah Recruitment

Tuesday was one of the more interesting and somewhat challenging days I have had since I’ve been here at Utah. After our class, the entire office met and had diversity training. The office has recently turned its attention to attempting to recruit a more diverse student body.

The group included the entire office and four outside members who were from different offices throughout campus such as the Women’s Resource Center and the Dean of Students Office. Going into it, no one knew exactly what to expect from the meeting. Each of the leaders began talking about their backgrounds and how they had been led to work in counseling settings dealing with the issues of white privilege. It was interesting to hear some of their backgrounds and what brought them to higher education and especially that concentration. The talked for almost two hours which I did not enjoy because I felt like it didn’t give everyone else a chance to comment on the topics. After they were finished we spent about an hour with members asking questions and commenting. There were several points throughout the conversation that it was apparent that everyone was extremely uncomfortable. Looking back on the session there were some opinions that I fully agreed with but then again there were also some that I did not. Although there were some parts of the meeting that were not exactly enjoyable for everyone, I feel like the it served its purpose and somewhat forced everyone to think about the way they interact with diverse populations and individuals who are of different ethnicities or backgrounds.

After that meeting I was also able to sit in on the Leadership Team, which is basically the director and the three assistant directors. The meeting basically was about planning travel and events for the upcoming fall semester and some of the changes that are being made. This was very helpful to see from my standpoint because I was able to see the small details that go into student recruitment.