Spring Break
Diversity increases on campus with growing population
Hannah Orr
Issue date: 9/22/08 Section: News
Variety is the spice of life, and Shorter has gotten a little spicier.
Along with population growth comes a wider assortment of students, faculty, and campus life in general. The entire student body has become more diverse in many ways, not only ethnically but also academically and athletically.
Many upperclassmen have noticed this change that has occurred since they were freshmen.
Senior Charis Sumner said, "Shorter has most definitely changed in various aspects from physically to ethnically." Sumner added, "Diversity is awesome. It adds a new dimension to our student body that was not there before."
One way in which Shorter is more diverse is in gender.
According to the dean of students, Debra Faust, the "male to female ratio has been the greatest change in diversity I have seen since coming to Shorter in December of 2000".
Records from the 2000-2001 fact book indicate that there were there were 584 students on campus in the fall 2000. 206 of those were male, while 378 were female. At that time, Hazel Eubanks Hall and Alumni Hall were only used for female housing.
Today both of those dorms are strictly males. The reason for this increase in males occurred in 2005 with the arrival of the football team.
This year Shorter is on a 50/50 male to female ratio. Of the 1139 enrolled students, 566 are female and 573 are male.
Ethnicity also plays a role in how diverse Shorter has become. In the school year 2000-2001, Shorter was 90.6 percent Caucasian, 5.7 percent African American, .3 percent Asian, 1 percent Hispanic and 2.3 percent were other.
According to vice president of enrollment, John Head, this year's student body consists of 74 percent Caucasian, 14 percent African American, just under 1 percent Asian, 3 percent Hispanic, 5 percent international (students who are citizens of another country) less than 1 percent Native American and 2 percent other.
Despite the Georgia Baptist Convention affiliation, Shorter's student body consists of a wide variety of religious background. These include 52 percent Baptist, 20 percent Non- Denominational, 6 percent Methodist, 6 percent Catholic, 2 percent Presbyterian, and the rest either did not identify a religion or are another religion.
Along with population growth comes a wider assortment of students, faculty, and campus life in general. The entire student body has become more diverse in many ways, not only ethnically but also academically and athletically.
Many upperclassmen have noticed this change that has occurred since they were freshmen.
Senior Charis Sumner said, "Shorter has most definitely changed in various aspects from physically to ethnically." Sumner added, "Diversity is awesome. It adds a new dimension to our student body that was not there before."
One way in which Shorter is more diverse is in gender.
According to the dean of students, Debra Faust, the "male to female ratio has been the greatest change in diversity I have seen since coming to Shorter in December of 2000".
Records from the 2000-2001 fact book indicate that there were there were 584 students on campus in the fall 2000. 206 of those were male, while 378 were female. At that time, Hazel Eubanks Hall and Alumni Hall were only used for female housing.
Today both of those dorms are strictly males. The reason for this increase in males occurred in 2005 with the arrival of the football team.
This year Shorter is on a 50/50 male to female ratio. Of the 1139 enrolled students, 566 are female and 573 are male.
Ethnicity also plays a role in how diverse Shorter has become. In the school year 2000-2001, Shorter was 90.6 percent Caucasian, 5.7 percent African American, .3 percent Asian, 1 percent Hispanic and 2.3 percent were other.
According to vice president of enrollment, John Head, this year's student body consists of 74 percent Caucasian, 14 percent African American, just under 1 percent Asian, 3 percent Hispanic, 5 percent international (students who are citizens of another country) less than 1 percent Native American and 2 percent other.
Despite the Georgia Baptist Convention affiliation, Shorter's student body consists of a wide variety of religious background. These include 52 percent Baptist, 20 percent Non- Denominational, 6 percent Methodist, 6 percent Catholic, 2 percent Presbyterian, and the rest either did not identify a religion or are another religion.
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