Although the Spring Visitation Weekend convinces numerous minority applicants to enroll at Notre Dame, some believe the University engages in ... Deceptive Diversity
By CHRISTINE KRALY
News Writer
Some people might consider the Spring Visitation Weekend — an event held annually to allow high talent minority students to visit campus — to be a success primarily because 60 percent of the weekend's attendees enroll at the University and therefore increase its diversity.
But some students and administrators believe that the Spring Visitation Weekend, with its emphasis on multicultural students and activities paints a false picture of Notre Dame.
"I have some problems with it," said Kevin Huie, assistant director of Multicultural Student Programs and Services (MSPS). "[Because some students have told me] `ah, they fooled me with that weekend.'"
And although it's not the intention of the weekend, he said, some participating students are negatively affected when they return in the fall.
"It gives them a false sense that stuff like that happens all the time," Iris Outlaw, director of MSPS, said. "But the hosts try to be very frank with them."
"Hosts are expected to definitely give the students an accurate expectation of what college life is like at Notre Dame and not to be hesitant to share," Outlaw continued.
"You have to give them [prospective students] a real picture," Huie added. "Everyone involved is encouraged to say `Hey, this is how it is.'"
Huie tries to make students understand that Notre Dame isn't for everyone. When he meets students that weekend he tells them, "This may not be for you. What are you looking for?"
Despite the warning, a majority of the visiting students enroll with the University after the weekend and return in the fall to a different picture.
"We get feedback about it," said Outlaw. "And we do worry, but even though we inform the students that this is not what happens all the time, the visual supersedes or overrides the auditory. So in essence they still believe this is what goes on all the time."
The visual presented to minority recruits is a Notre Dame filled with multicultural activities and leaders.
The Hispanic student-sponsored Latin Expressions is Friday night. Saturday brings several alumni to campus for a luncheon with minority alumni boards for an "opportunity to meet with alumni on board" who have received the prospective students' names in advance to better facilitate their meeting, said Outlaw.
There is also an organization fair through which students can learn about all the clubs and groups on campus they may have a interest in joining. The ROTC program and all the ethnic groups are usually the most popular draws of the day, according to organizers.
There is a closing dinner that evening, usually with a guest speaker who is generally a successful minority alumnus from around the country.
"It's true it's a very heavy weekend for multicultural events," said Jesse Dang, a senior who has been involved with the Spring Visitation project for three years. Organizers don't want to overwhelm the students, but do want to do what it takes to encourage them to attend Notre Dame.
Not everyone thinks this deluge of multicultural activities is misleading, however.
"These are the minorities from campus," Santana said. "The University does not bring in minority students from outside the campus. This is just a time when they come together. I don't think we try to fool the students."
Santana noted that the weekend visitors stay in dorms housing all races and attend Friday classes with students of all backgrounds.
"This is something minorities [on campus] look forward to each year," she said.
"We don't try to foster a false image," said Belinda Bryant, the African-American student coordinator for the weekend. "[Some people have said] you're trying to brainwash people. That's not true."
Bryant, though, who was a Spring Visitation attendee, admits to initially having trouble adjusting to Notre Dame.
"It was an adjustment," she said. "I'm not Catholic, I come from a majority black high school."
The transition to Notre Dame's predominantly white, Catholic campus was a difficult one. And the warnings she said she heard all weekend did little to help when she enrolled in the fall. "Even if [the hosts] tell you, you're not used to it until you see it."
"What could make it be [a problem] are the hosts," said Gina Corpuz, a senior who has participated in the weekend's events for three years.
"It's very important that the hosts are honest," she said. "If they don't let the prospects know that `no, it's not always like this,' it could make their transition in the fall that more difficult."
The success of the weekend, she said, depends on how well they inform students about Notre Dame minority life.
Not everyone can be a Spring Visitation host. What it takes is a good mix of openness, responsibility, experience and – according to many involved in the weekend – a minority background.
"It was something I always looked forward to," said Santana, who was a host all four years of her undergraduate studies at Notre Dame.
The Office of Admissions sends host information cards and letters inviting students to be hosts in the fall to all minorities on campus. And though the invitation is open to many, the hosts generally tend to be students who were Spring Visitation students as seniors in high school.
Hosts are generally divided by their ethnic backgrounds.
Each group – Hispanic, Asian, African-American, for example – has a student leader who helps the groups coordinate details like decorations and T-shirts.
"I had a good time when I visited," said Dang, who is the Asian American student coordinator for the Spring Visitation weekend and who attended the weekend when he was in high school. "I wanted to be able to show them the campus like my host did."
When matching a host with a prospective student, admissions considers many things including the students' home region, major and ethnic background.
Ethnic background, said Santana, is the first criterion when making matches.
Huie helps in finding hosts by suggesting students he draws from the pool of those involved with ethnic groups on campus.
"You don't want to students to come and feel so disconnected," said Outlaw. There have been white student hosts in the past, she added, but generally they are students who have had experience volunteering or working in the South Bend community.
The Spring Visitation staff tries to reassure prospective students that there is help with adjusting to life at Notre Dame.
"They see that there's a lot of support on campus, even though they don't see a lot of color on campus," Santana said.
It's not intention of the University to "trick them," said Huie. Organizers let them know that it's "not going to be sunny all the time. A lot of people accept it for what it is."
But some don't.
"They don't realize how different Notre Dame can be from their lives at home," he added.
"We let students know that it's important that when you go to an institution of higher education that you find the office of multicultural affairs … and utilize the services there," said Outlaw. "That helps you get into the inner workings of the institution so that you don't feel isolated."
The Office of Undergraduate Admissions distributes surveys after the weekend to gauge what went well and what didn't. Results usually vary from year to year.
"We always have those students who didn't have a good time, who see the real Notre Dame," Santana said.
Some students are looking for a place more diverse, "more like home and for them, [Notre Dame] may not be home," she added.
All News Stories for Friday, January 26, 2001
