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Diversity at CU: Different perspectives
Contributed by: Maria Genao-Homs on 3/6/2008

Cleo was born into a family of field workers in the San Luis Valley, which is located in southwest Colorado. Cleo had big dreams, but they did not include anything beyond the town limits and certainly anything having to do with higher education. This was not because she did not have faith in her future, but simply that it was not on her scope. Little did she know that she would not only get a higher education, but that she would be a part of history.

She states that her family was very proud of their culture and proud to work the fields in Colorado, but in all the time that her family had resided in the San Luis Valley they had no knowledge of the town of Boulder. "The saddest part about it is that my family was working the fields in Colorado, we never even knew Boulder existed. None had ever talked to us about this town or this institution, ever, then one day to be told that we can bring you [Chicanos] up to this campus and give you financial aid for it. Are you willing to go?" Cleo further explained that she did not want to go, but her parents insisted.

The financial aid would be made available by a program known as the Educational Opportunity Program or EOP, for short. The EOP is a state funded program that offers financially and academically disadvantaged students a chance to attend college. At that time (1960's), most disadvantaged students in Colorado were of Mexican decent. A product of the EOP at flagship university in the state of Colorado, the University of Colorado at Boulder (CU-Boulder), is Cleopatra Estrada, or as she is known to her friends, family and colleagues, Cleo.

In 1969, Cleopatra Estrada, along with many others, began their first term at the University of Colorado. "I tried to bring as many people as I could up here. I think that our work ethic is what pulled us through. If we can weed lettuce and pick potatoes from one end of the field to the other, we can certainly pick up a book, read it, analyze it, critique it and write about it," Cleo said with a stern voice.

Cleo explained that she was surprised that coming to a school like CU, was so easy and it made her and many other Chicanos upset and so the strongest revolutionary act that they could do was get an education. "There were really a lot of metaphors around that. A lot of ideals, a lot of passion, and a lot of community, we had thousands of Latinos [Chicanos] on campus in the early 1960's," Cleo said. "That is why it was easy to get through here because we had people around us that looked like us. People who spoke Spanish and English."

So they made it their goal to advertise the opportunity to many others by talking to their communities and they went on to form United Mexican American Students (UMAS). UMAS became a platform from these students as well as a "home away from home" for them to be nurtured and to help each other through the struggle of being in a foreign environment.

Although it was an exciting time, there was still much to do in order to solidify a foundation for minority students at the University of Colorado. When the federal government began offering financial aid to students, a department was specifically established to handle these affairs. But today, Cleo says, most of the financial aid goes to Caucasian students and a little below 6 percent of funding goes to minority students. This is because the numbers in the minority population at the University of Colorado has dropped significantly as time has passed.

The CU annual publication, Just the Facts, reports that in the fall of 2006 the incoming freshman class was comprised of 78 African-American students, 55 American Indian students and 377 Latinos. In the fall of 2007, 102 African-American students have been confirmed enrolled in the freshman class and this is being celebrated as the most diverse incoming class at CU. But although the CU-Boulder campus is becoming more diverse, there is a problem of retention and this is where the Center for Multicultural Affairs (CMA) is key.

CMA, like the EOP, is grounded in its relationship with the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. In 1968, CU-Boulder, instituted four ethnic/race-specific and one migrant-profile Educational Opportunity Programs (EOPs) whose purpose was to recruit and retain students of color. CU-Boulder acknowledged that the whole of the University bore this responsibility and upheld this idea providing counseling and academic support services for these students via the EOP programs. In 1982, the five EOP programs merged into one department called CU Opportunity. At this time CU Opportunity provided recruiting, academic and counseling services to primarily minority students. The counseling component of CU Opportunity was comprised of ethnic/race-specific counselors from each of the five original EOPs. One of those counselors and current Associate Director is Cleopatra Estrada.

In 1994, ten years after some reshuffling within the CU Opportunity program, the Center for Multicultural Affairs was formed. CMA continues with a specific focus on students of color and on providing them the with "... the means and opportunities necessary to have cultural and personal access to a community of camaraderie, support, inspiration, and caring partnerships throughout their academic, social and personal experiences on campus."

The conversation on diversity is one that is constant amongst students. However, the dialogue seems to be more prevalent within the minority student population. Most of the exchange is not always favorable to what the University considers accomplishments. You hear stories about undercover segregation amongst the student body and even defamation of character through serious accusations. Medhat Ahmed is one of those students.

Medhat and I met at the busy lunchroom of the University Memorial Center at CU-Boulder to talk about his experience and views on diversity here at CU. Medhat Aamer Ahmed is a fifth year senior at CU-Boulder. He was born and raised in Sudan, but his family relocated to Colorado in the spring of 2001. Although Medhat was offered scholarships to attend some very prominent universities in the United States, a terminal diagnosis to his father forced him to stay local and so he began his freshman year at the Denver campus of the University of Colorado system.

As the end of his freshman year came to a close, Medhat decided that he would like focus on the major of molecular, cellular and developmental biology and was advised that in order to stay local, he would have to relocate to CU-Boulder. "Although my brother went to school at CU-Boulder and my other brother is attending school right now, from what I heard, I did not really want to come here, but to get that degree this was my only choice," Medhat says bitterly.

Medhat's bitterness comes from his previous experiences at CU-Boulder. He currently holds a legislative position on the University of Colorado Student Union (UCSU) Legislative Council and although, at the current time, all seems pretty calm on the campus political front, it was a different story about one year ago. "When I first came to CU-Boulder, I did not plan to be active on campus, but my friend's urged me become active," Medhat says. He began as president of the Muslim Student Association where he found polarization within the organization and did his best to make the atmosphere comfortable for everyone. He was successful and moved on to run for a position for a position within UCSU.

In the fall of 2006, the student government elections began and Medhat found himself defending his religion and ethnicity when opposing parties began publicly to call him a terrorist. Eventually the Chancellor became involved and although no one came forward to publicly admit to slandering, Medhat was elected. "Things have gotten a lot better. It went from an ultra conservative board to a more liberal group because there is more diversity in office," Medhat says happily.

Medhat says that his success at CU-Boulder would not have been possible without the tremendous support from the CMA and Cleo Estrada. "Without CMA and Cleo, I know that I would not be here right now. I would have left the campus a long time ago and transferred to another school or gone back to Denver." Medhat also mentioned that he sees changes happening slowly and that he attributes the changes to the new administrators in place. Like Cleo, Medhat has had to face adversity in order to attain an education.

Cleo and Medhat both agree that the Center for Multicultural Affairs and organizations that provide minority support they would not have been successful. Cleo now serves as the Associate Director for the Center for Multicultural Affairs, a job that she enjoys immensely. Her office has a plush, purple couch that would make anyone feel like they are at home. This is where Medhat comes when he needs support and advice from someone that understands. And although it is not a secret that there is a lack of diversity at CU-Boulder, the numbers also reflect progress and this is a fact that we should all be happy about.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Maria Genao-Homs

Boulder , CO

Maria Genao-Homs has posted 1 story and 0 comments since joining on 2/28/2008. Maria Genao-Homs 's average story rating is 5.
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