Student diversity is more complex than skin color

TO THE EDITOR:

In response to Monday’s letter to the editor, “No trade-off necessary; keep cap on out-of-staters,” (Nov. 16), I would like to address the concern that increasing the percentage of out-of-state students at UNC would decrease the school’s diversity.

For me, diversity is not the physical appearance of our student body; it is the diversity of background and experience that each student brings to UNC.

Eighty-two percent of the student body shares a common background: that of living in North Carolina and being raised in its culture. Out-of-state students bring backgrounds from 49 different states: from the North, the Midwest, the West Coast and the South. These students are some of the best of what the country has to offer.

This is not to diminish the achievements of in-state students; they too have worked hard to earn a place here. However, the out-of-state admissions process draws upon a pool of wider backgrounds, opinions, and cultural experiences.

UNC is still one of the best educational values that the U.S. has to offer, and Bowles is right. I am lucky to be here.

But increasing out-of-state admissions even a small amount — from 18 percent to 25 percent, for example — would greatly reduce the need for hefty tuition increases, and it would increase the diversity of the student body.

I ask Bowles to keep UNC at the top of the list of public universities, in terms of value and diversity, by increasing the percentage of out-of-state students and choosing reasonable tuition hikes in the years to come.

Kelly Knowles
Freshman
Psychology