Since I'm not interested in the "white man debates race as an intellectual exercise without understanding the daily implications it has for people of color" genre, I want to talk about a portion of ISU's demographics in light of the Jack Trice article.

In Fall 2018 ISU had a record undergraduate enrollment of 29,621. 786 of those students were Black (2.8% of the student body). 1,743 of those students were Hispanic (5.9%). 1,032 of those students were Asian (3.5%).

Iowa's general population is 4.1% Black, 6.3% Hispanic, 2.7% Asian. Suffice it to say that the state of Iowa is not diverse, but even using those standards, ISU is behind on a student body that represents the state's demographics.

Which is a flawed argument in itself that I don't feel like debating so I won't. The bottom line is that ISU is not a diverse school by any stretch of the imagination. My work at ISU is to make it more inclusive and to work towards equitable outcomes for marginalized students.

And speaking of ISU workers, that same semester there were 1,933 faculty members at the institution. 46 of them were Black. 79 were Hispanic. 328 were Asian. There were 6,480 staff members. 162 Black (including your boy), 200 Hispanic, 565 Asian.

An aside on the Asian numbers--just because Asian students are often over-represented at American higher ed institutions, they are still marginalized because they are not white and don't benefit from whiteness like white students.

They still report strained relationships with faculty members at high rates, report feeling isolated in classrooms, report feeling unwelcome at PWIs. International Asian students/grad students have additional challenges related to coming to American universities as well.

ISU has work to do to make the campus more appealing to students/workers of color. That goes beyond numbers. I know that because I work at the school and I know what my students have to put up with daily. And what I and my colleagues of color have to put up with daily.