Last week, the Yale Daily News released an analysis of the effects of affirmative action ahead of the Supreme Court decision that will decide its fate this spring. At Yale, the issue hits close to home, and a community of would-be policymakers and philosophers is bound to ask the pressing questions: is campus more diverse, and are we benefiting from it?
When I first arrived at Yale last fall, I took part in the Cultural Connections orientation program, which aims to ease the transition to college, primarily for students of underrepresented racial groups. For the first time in my life, I was surrounded entirely by people of color. Despite the closeness of my CC family during the program, I have scarcely seen them since — when I began courses I felt like I was walking onto an entirely different campus. This fact belies not only the ease of falling out of touch, but also the stark segregation of social spheres at Yale.
As the News’ analysis points out, the past decades have seen a rise in students of color at top universities, an increase largely attributed to affirmative action. Yale’s recent classes are some of the most diverse in history, with people of color comprising over 50 percent of the classes of 2025 and 2026. Nevertheless, these quantitative improvements do little to reflect the qualitative experience of diversity at Yale. The truth is, Yale often doesn’t feel diverse at all.
Part of the problem is that classes tend to self-segregate. My freshman year was defined by Directed Studies, a rigorous sequence on the Western canon that I enjoyed so much I chose to write about it. Nonetheless, the program has come under fire for its lack of diversity in both content and student body. However, this phenomenon is not exclusive to DS. Last semester, my history seminar was composed of about 20 men to four women, while my creative writing seminar was nearly all female, largely women of color. This semester, my seminar “Korea and the Japanese Empire” has almost exclusively Asian students, most of whom have a personal connection to the topic.
It does not follow that a lack of diversity in these courses means they have less worth or should be expunged. Of course, it is natural for certain topics to draw certain people, and there is an appeal to taking courses with people similar to us. This idea constitutes the logic behind affinity spaces, such as Yale’s Cultural Centers. It is incredibly valuable to find places where we feel this kinship, but when the pull towards cultural unity bleeds into all facets of our lives, one has to wonder if it is stifling growth and limiting the benefits of diversity.
The News itself recently published an opinion piece criticizing lack of diversity in its newsroom and demanding increased racial and financial diversity, albeit while acknowledging recent improvements and ongoing efforts. But once again, the problem is not exclusive to the News: many other publications are largely white, many debating groups are largely male and even my a cappella group is largely comprised of New Yorkers. These demographics are often incidental rather than maliciously designed, but their effect is that, if we are not careful, we increasingly isolate ourselves on campus.
Making spaces more inclusive for people is only half the battle — we also have to make people of all backgrounds more comfortable with including themselves. Some of us don’t even have the excuse of being historically underrepresented — we simply have to step out of our comfort zones.
The pursuit of diversity has to be multilateral, and it should be driven by an authentic desire rather than a political agenda. I, for one, did not come to college to meet more people who are just like me. I also did not come to college to scorn my interest in Western history simply because of the demographic it attracts. But surely there is more to life than exploring only what one is already interested and expert in?
This problem extends beyond racial diversity, beyond the needs of our campus and our nation, and into the needs of our own lives.
The person who does not want to expand her horizons will not. The most the university can do is make experiences accessible, whether through diversifying the student body or creating smaller communities like the residential colleges where new people are easy to approach. Regardless of the fate of affirmative action, it is ultimately our responsibility as individuals to decide what we want from our college lives. Afterwards, we will return to the outside world, where it will be easy to find people similar to us. The question is, will we return changed? Or will we find that we have excluded ourselves from the people, places, and opportunities that would have most transformed us?
ARIANE DE GENNARO is a sophomore in Branford College. Her column “For Country, For Yale” provides “pragmatic and sometimes provocative perspectives on relevant issues in Yale and American life”. Contact her at ariane.degennaro@yale.edu.