UD trying to better promote diversity on campus

The University of Dayton is trying to do more to promote diversity on the mostly white and financially well-off college campus.

The school announced Tuesday that it has launched a diversity and inclusion website and a link to it can be found on all of UD’s web pages. The website displays information about the university’s diversity and inclusion programs as well as a calender of events.

RELATED: Area college students remain mostly white, wealthy

"The new site should give us a strong and sustainable foundation on which to build additional content, as strategic initiatives in diversity and inclusion emerge and advance," UD provost Paul Benson said in a prepared statement.

The university will also use its president’s diversity and inclusion task force to work told goals encompassing diversity, equity and inclusion, according to UD.

During his April inauguration, UD president Eric Spina called for the school to bring in and graduate more traditionally under-represented students and this fall the the university announced that its incoming freshmen class would be its most diverse in history.

RELATED: Higher education’s perception problem deepens along political lines

But, an investigation by this news organization found that there has not been much change in the racial makeup of UD's student body since 1980. Black students actually made up a smaller percentage of UD's student body in 2016 than they did 35 years prior, federal data shows.

Despite an ongoing push for socio-economic diversity as well, UD had the highest median household income for students’ families at area universities. The median household income of students’ families at UD was $149,600 while Wright State had the lowest at $74,700, according to data from the Equality of Opportunity’s study on social mobility.

About the Author