Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs across the United States attempt to ensure that the country is a place where everyone is treated fairly and able to equally participate in workplaces, campuses and more.
According to the 2024 North Orange County Community College District Institutional Commitment to Diversity Report, the district has used these principles to create a more diverse faculty and staff to mirror the population of students enrolled.
Based on the report, from 2014 to 2023, racial and ethnic diversity among employees has increased from 38.1% to 55.7%, an increase of about 17.6%. In 2023-24, 83% of new full-time faculty came from ethnically diverse backgrounds, surpassing the state average.
There remains a gap between student and faculty diversity, however, with Latinx students making up 52.6% of the student population and only 23.7% of the faculty. Meanwhile, White/Non-Hispanic individuals make up 48.9% of the faculty and only about 13% of the student body.
Flavio Medina-Martin, the district director of diversity, culture and inclusion, and a co-author of the NOCCCD Institutional Commitment to Diversity Report, says that this is a statewide issue, and one that the district is looking to remedy.
“We wanted to mirror our student population to our employee demographics, and clearly we saw that there was a need within our employee demographics,” said Medina-Martin. “All three campuses are looking at these demographics and constantly shifting to see how we can all do better in that area.”
Adriatico says that the lyrics from “Golden” by HUNTR/X are what inspire her. (Yasmine Kleinman)
An important aspect of Medina-Martin’s work is ensuring that campuses have easily accessible student resources for those who need them.
“Every campus has, what we call, a student equity plan, so that in particular outlines different facets of our students, demographics, equity-mindedness, and ‘what are our campuses doing?’” said Medina-Martin. “Through that, we’re able to use that as a tool to equip our employees with how to better navigate resources for our students.”
According to the report, some of the tools the NOCCCD hopes to use include hiring and retaining more diverse faculty members, creating DEI training sessions and seminars, and, specifically at Fullerton College, using the Hispanic Serving Institution (HSI) Transformation team to “shift from just enrolling Latinx students to actively serving them.”
However, with the current presidential administration’s dismantling of DEI programs, there is country-wide concern over how this may affect equal opportunity programs in education.
According to the Leadership Conference of Civil and Human Rights, the executive orders targeting DEI programs “may seek to limit what state and local education agencies and institutions of higher education can do to ensure equal access to education.”
Medina-Martin and the rest of the district are aware of these concerns, but do not foresee these actions affecting anything on the district level.
“It really doesn’t change much from what we’re doing, because our focus is our students,” said Medina-Martin. “If there’s a lot of stuff happening at the federal level, then let it happen. Luckily for us, we are in a state that is 100% supportive of staying on track with really putting our focus on our students and the students’ needs.”
In a 2023 campus climate survey, students were asked if Fullerton College was a place with a positive climate for diversity, 90.9% of the students polled agreed, and 88.3% of the students polled believed diversity is a priority at Fullerton College.
According to Brian Uteren, a student in his first year at Fullerton College, engaging with diversity on campus feels essential to a well-rounded understanding of the world.
“Being Hispanic, you tend to spend time in a Hispanic community. Being on campus, surrounded by different cultures, it can be an eye opener,” said Uteren.
However, some students, like Destiny Okechukwu-Nwabueze and Tony Nguyen, still see the gaps in representation.
“I don’t see many black faces,” said Okechukwu-Nwabueze, “I don’t think about it too much, but it would be nice to see more black professors.”
Nguyen stated that he doesn’t see many other Vietnamese people on campus.
While the report shows progress in making the district more inclusive on paper, Medina-Martin hopes students and the district go beyond only seeking diverse statistics and instead learn to engage with diverse ideas.
“Although representation is extremely important, from my perspective, I think it’s key to have [a district employee] who truly, genuinely cares about our students, who, generally, is supporting our students in their educational journey,” said Medina-Martin. “Go beyond what you see on the outside, because you’ll see that in the longer term, you have a lot more things in common with people who may not look like you than you don’t.”