Giving Compass' Take:

• College admissions officers discuss how difficult it is to diversify student bodies, as well as how to define diversity on college campuses. 

• How is the social/political climate impacting the diversity problem? 

• Read these higher education leaders ideas on diversity and civility on campus. 

As admissions officers judge the means and merits of applicants for the Class of 2023, what should they look for? Diversity matters — intensely and arguably more than ever before — but in the wake of the Harvard admissions trial alleging bias against Asian-Americans, there is no trusty blueprint. Like the country itself, struggling to transition away from a straight, white, male-centered culture, campuses are laboring to find the best way to evolve.

“It just feels like we are in some kind of storm,” said Joyce E. Smith, chief executive officer of the National Association for College Admissions Counseling. “The political landscape is truly affecting our work, our priorities and our consideration for what diversity in admissions has meant in the past and what it will mean in the future.”

The quest to concoct a splendid campus mix has become maddeningly slippery. The Harvard case (with a final hearing scheduled for mid-February) focuses narrowly on race and procedural questions about how Harvard assesses Asian-American applicants versus others during admissions reviews. But what’s really on the table is the dicey matter of how diversity gets measured — and, even now, what exactly it is.

Which is more distinguishing: test scores or what you represent? Should a student’s race, socioeconomic status, gender identity, political views, obstacles overcome — their “distance travelled,” in admissions-speak — all be treated as potential forms of merit? How can admissions officers, asked Smith, “be fair when you have all these competing and logical arguments for a place at the table, a place on campus, a voice being recognized and heard?”

Read the full article about diversity on campus by Laura Pappano at The Hechinger Report