Are GA & Diversity Compatible?

By Autumn Hart '99
Will GA's latest attempts towards attracting minority students through organizations like the Diversity Committee, ACT, and the community scholars program, at long last produce their ultimate goal...diversity?

Though a few minority students sprinkle the halls as a result of the efforts of these groups, the word diverse does not exactly describe GA's current condition. BUT THERE IS HOPE. The fresh ideas and input brought to the GA table by the promise of a new diversity consultant may be the key to making diversity a reality.

Karla Ballard, a1990 GA graduate, was hired to increase minority matriculation at GA and to oversee ACT.

"I was also hired, from an overall standpoint, to develop a strategic multi-cultural education plan, to allow GA's climate to be more conducive and increase the comfort of minority students." Ms Ballard, a product of GA, has experience with being a minority student at a private school and has some overall ideas about what is necessary to attract and retain minority students. Even as a student, she had an interest in this area.

"I founded the black student union. It was really to be a support group for black students at GA." Beginning this school year, Ms Ballard will be involved with the multi-cultural club called ACT; she realizes the benefits that multi-culturalism can bring to GA and its students.

Ms. Ballard believes that "we're coming to a time where everything's becoming globalized. The benefits of growing up in a diverse environment or being exposed to many diverse backgrounds allows you to have a competitive edge and lessens the shock in the real world."