The Oberlin Review
<< Front page News March 2, 2007

In the Conservatory, Ongoing Efforts for a Diverse Student Body
 
Black and White, Side by Side: Seeking a more balanced student body, the Conservatory is collaborating with two diversity-promoting organizations.
 

During an audition season in which Oberlin’s Conservatory received an all-time high number of applicants — 1,400, ten percent higher than last year — Conservatory officials are trying to find ways to ensure that increasingly competitive classes are diverse and inclusive of minority musicians. While Oberlin has long had a history of student diversity, many similar institutions are now beginning to amp up their diversity efforts.

“We are already a very competitive program,” Conservatory Dean David Stull said, “[but] we have to work hard to matriculate [accepted students]&hellip;because many of our peer schools are also interested in being diverse.”

Although the College and the Conservatory face similar challenges recruiting a diverse student body, Director of Conservatory Admissions Michael Manderen explained that the Conservatory also faces unique challenges.

“Balance is critically important in the Conservatory,” Manderen said. “[Diversity] can’t always drive the [admissions] process.”

Conservatory admissions criteria are dictated in part by openings in each area of applied study, and these positions are largely determined by the Conservatory’s private studios and ensembles.

Nevertheless, the Conservatory says that it is taking steps to enhance student diversity.

“I focus my energy on identifying students who are likely to have the qualifications for an audition,” Manderen said. “I have my antennae out. I look for students who would add to the mix.”

Like the College, the Conservatory is planning to work with two organizations — QuestBridge and Pathways to Student Success and Excellence — that link minority and low-income students with higher education institutions. POSSE recruits diverse student-leaders from urban areas and QuestBridge is an Internet-based recruitment tool that introduces qualified students to admissions officers.

According to Manderen, however, the Conservatory’s audition-based admissions process will require a relationship with POSSE and QuestBridge that is different from the College’s.

Conservatory admissions officials are working to develop a campus fly-in program similar to the College’s, which will give prospective students an opportunity to see Oberlin firsthand.

In addition, departments are undertaking recruitment efforts of their own. In the Conservatory’s jazz studies department, the Oberlin Jazz Septet visits communities that are often neglected by admissions counselors. Since 1999, the OJS has performed in Detroit, Philadelphia, Atlanta and Chicago, among other cities.

“In the overall picture, students didn’t know about jazz studies at Oberlin,” said Peter Dominguez, professor of jazz studies and double bass. “Oberlin is known as a classical conservatory&hellip;jazz is often overlooked.”

“[These OJS performances] have created a buzz for Oberlin across the country,” continued Dominguez. “They really put Oberlin on the map.”

Dominguez also stressed the need for more diversity in the Conservatory’s faculty and administration. Currently, the jazz studies department is home to all six of the Conservatory’s black faculty members.

“The staff and administration need more diversity,” said Dominguez. “If they don’t move in those cultures, how are they going to know where those cultures are?”

Associate Professor of Jazz Guitar Robert Ferrazza agreed. “If you don’t have a faculty that is diverse, how realistic is it to recruit a group of students that can’t relate to you? I think it starts there.”


 
 
   

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