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After months of deliberation, the Diversity Initiative has something to show for itself. The admissions and recruitment working group, composed of students and faculty, recently released its draft of recommendations aiming to generate more diversity among the population of admitted students who decide to attend Georgetown. Some, but not all, of the working group’s suggestions are practical means to achieving this goal. We question, however, whether the group’s mission effectively targets the central issues related to diversity on campus.One of the working group’s primary suggestions is the creation of a new position within the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, entitled director of diversity outreach. Establishing one position to focus on diversity will centralize engagement efforts, and will hopefully make the process of outreach more efficient.The admissions and recruitment working group has also advised the university to reinstate the optional payroll deduction system. This is certainly a commendable proposal. In the past, faculty members were able to to automatically donate a portion of their salaries to the university fund for need-based scholarships. Re-establishing the opt-in salary deduction can only benefit the campus community; if faculty members wish to make a tangible contribution to multicultural outreach, they should be enabled to do so.A less viable suggestion is the working group’s proposed expansion of the Blue and Gray campus tour program to target younger prospective students. The group’s report states that such an expansion would allow the university to cater to a wider variety of age groups. We question how many pre-high school students are interested enough in college visits to fully appreciate a tour. Moreover, the Blue and Gray guides already lead several tours per day of high school students; adding tours for middle school students would likely strain the program’s resources and staff.The working group has also made several suggestions aimed at making Georgetown more attractive to prospective minority students. Currently, the Center for Multicultural Equity and Access conducts Hoya Saxa weekend each spring. The CMEA sponsors programs during the weekend designed to highlight Georgetown’s minority community. To better tap into diversity in the local population, the working group would like the university to replicate Hoya Saxa weekend in the fall and gear it toward local students. This would be a valuable step toward creating a welcoming environment for minority applicants.Similarly, the CMEA subsidizes the travel expenses of admitted students of color who wish to attend Hoya Saxa weekend and who demonstrate financial need. The admissions and recruitment working group has encouraged the office of the Provost to increase the funds allocated for this purpose. We have reservations about this recommendation. The Provost’s office increased the CMEA budget for Hoya Saxa weekend by $20,000 last year. While bringing as many accepted minority students as possible to campus is a high priority, university budgets are already tight in the current recession. We question whether it is feasible to increase the funds for this program for the second year in a row.In terms of the application process itself, the working group has advised the Office of Undergraduate Admissions to consider adding a new essay option to the application. The new prompt would ask applicants how their unique backgrounds would contribute to the fabric of the university community. We view this measure as unnecessary. The current essay topic allows students sufficient latitude for incorporating such material, without overtly pressuring applicants to make their background appear unique. Adding this new essay topic could create undue anxiety to an already stressful application process.A more reasonable measure suggested by the group is the hiring of a Spanish-speaking staff member in the Office of Student Financial Services. A bilingual staff member would allow the financial services office to better facilitate the financial aid application process for parents who are more comfortable with the Spanish language.Although these specific policy recommendations have different levels of individual merit, the working group is not approaching the broader goal of increased diversity from the best angle. The greater problem at hand is an absence of communication among all members of the university community. In addition to pursuing diversity for diversity’s sake, we ought to focus on fostering constructive conversation between students of different colors, creeds and religions. We have laid the foundation for a more diverse campus; it is dialogue we lack.*To send a letter to the editor on a recent campus issue or Hoya story or a viewpoint on any topic, contact [opinionthehoya.com](opinionthehoya.com). Letters should not exceed 300 words, and viewpoints should be between 600 to 800 words.*”