As of 2015, thirty percent of Monmouth College students are minorities and international students. This was not always the case, but significant changes during the 1960’s opened the door to greater campus diversity.
For example, when the Civil Rights Movement was underway, students at Monmouth College were not rioting and protesting with violence like much of the rest of the country was, but were engaged in peaceful protest and conversation. According to Daniel Meyer and Jeff Rankin, Monmouth College “was born of Christian values such as pacifism, academic freedom, and racial tolerance but was also grounded in the conservative values of family, god, country” (Meyer and Rankin 129). These values allowed the college to accept change when society was not ready to. Meyer and Rankin explain:
In the 60s the school started seeing a major shift in the composition of the student body and faculty because of their high standards and morals. A third of the students now came from the East Coast, and most of the faculty were no longer Presbyterians. Everyone at Monmouth was keenly aware of the emerging civil rights movement and growing conflict in the Southeast Asia, but values did not change as radically or quickly as might be expected. (Meyer and Rankin 129)
Even though change at Monmouth College was not as fast as people expected it to be, progress was still occurring. During the 1960s, Monmouth did not follow the cultural standards of dominant society or beliefs because of its high morals. By allowing peaceful protest on campus, the school was able to stay open through tough times, and become a more diverse college.
Many students who came from small towns and suburbs came to Monmouth College to remain detached from the violence in cities and large universities. Other students came here to escape their experience with those problems. During that time of distress and chaos, President Wimpress of Monmouth College “decided to allow peaceful protest on school campus against segregation” (Meyer and Rankin 129). The president’s choice to allow peaceful protest on campus attracted students that wanted to get away from more violent protests elsewhere. The decision to allow peaceful protest on campus was significant because,according to Meyer and Rankin,
. . . it allowed the school to remain open through the horrifying spring weeks of 1970, when demonstrations broke out following the U.S. incursion into Cambodia and the and the police shootings of Kent State student protesters closed most of the other institutions in the Associated Colleges of the Midwest. (129)
The Cambodian incursion was part of the Vietnam War in which the United States and South Vietnamese launched a ground and air offensive into neutral Cambodia to eliminate North Vietnamese sanctuaries used for frequent raids into South Vietnam (Boenisch). The Kent State shootings took place on May 4, 1970 when four students at Kent State University, two of them women, were shot to death by National Guard gunfire (Kifner). At least 8 other students were wounded. The Kent State shooting was due to protesting the decision of President Nixon to go into Cambodia and have the first draft lottery since World War II. This shows that the violent protest happening on school campuses sometimes led to dead and wounded students, unlike in Monmouth College which had peaceful non-violent protest.
By that time, Monmouth’s percentage of black students had increased significantly and more courses were giving attention to race issues (“Student Organization”). Black student organizations and clubs were started. For example, the Black-Action & Affairs Council (B.A.A.C) is an organization that began in May of 1968 at Monmouth College. The goal of this organization was to promote Black Awareness on campus and maintain a “strong commitment to direct African American destiny through politics and academics, attaining unity within the confines of the organizations instituting cohesive communication with the black community and promoting issues relevant to the progression of the blacks and other minorities” (“Black History”). The B.A.A.C was the first of many other minority clubs on campus.
According to B.A.A.C, the minority students that attended Monmouth College were not allowed to take certain classes that the white students were offered (“Student Organization”). So as time passed by some of the black students started to feel frustrated with how the school was treating them. So the B.A.A.C organization decided to send the whole school faculty a letter explaining how the students felt. They wrote the faculty a message that included, “Black students at Monmouth sometimes feel frustrated because of the feeling that faculty and the staff have a tendency to stereotype us as coming from similar backgrounds with similar interest, although we know it simply is not true. In order to give you a sense of the diversity of backgrounds among the black students, we ran a survey in December, 1984” (“Student Organization”).The results of the survey indicated that the interests of black students were as diverse as the general college population. The outcome of that letter allowed them to now have access to all types of classes. That was a milestone in Monmouth College being a diverse college.
The act of this club has allowed other minority clubs to be created like UMOJA, a campus group begun in 2013 to inform the students on campus of African American culture. They hope to educate students on other cultures such as Latin, Asian, and women's history (“UMOJA”).Through fundraising events and hosting cultural events on campus, their goal is to inform the students of these cultures, with African American being the primary focus. The Intercultural House also provides support to meet the needs of American minorities and the international students here at Monmouth College. Their goal "is for Monmouth College students to gain an understanding of the myriad cultures that exist in the U.S society and to acquire the skills to live, celebrate and appreciate the diversity of those cultures” (“Intercultural Life”).
Monmouth Intercultural Network of Alumni (MINA) is currently another club at Monmouth College that allows alumni to reconnect with the Monmouth Community through a variety of social, educational, leadership and service activities intended to support the education of the students here at Monmouth College. MINA’s mission “is to provide a conduit to support incoming and current students and alumni of color” (“Monmouth Intercultural”). MINA aims to help mentor current students and address the social needs of students.
Thanks to the choices that were made in the past, Monmouth College is now an increasingly diverse college. The creation of organizations such as the Black-Action & Affairs Council has led to current clubs such as UMOJA, the Intercultural House, and MINA. All of these organizations were created to inform students about diversity on and off campus, and provide support to those students who need it, keeping issues and important debates alive on campus. This is all possible by the choices that were made in the history of Monmouth College.
Works Cited
“Black History Month.” Monmouth College. n.d, Print. 09Nov. 2015. Boenisch, Jeremiah S. “The Cambodian Incursion: A Hard Line for Change.”