Coming into Cornell, I was thrilled to see so many clubs centered around minorities in pre-professional industries. Walking through Club Fest, I saw signs like “Women in ___” and “Underrepresented Students in ___,” and for the first time, it felt like there was a place for me. As a Muslim woman, I had always felt unsure about how to break into competitive industries, and these clubs promised a supportive space where minorities could get ahead in fields that often felt out of reach.
But as I attended more interest meetings, I that many many general clubs also boasted their dedication to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion. They spoke of DEI workshops, diversity-focused recruitment, and inclusive spaces. On the surface, this sounded amazing — a University-wide effort to address underrepresentation. But the more I thought about it, the more I questioned what DEI really meant in these spaces. In Cornell’s professional clubs, DEI seemed more like a box to check rather than a core value.
After talking to minority-specific organizations, I learned that many of them held workshops exclusively for minorities, offering a “safe space” for us to learn and grow professionally. It seemed like the perfect solution — until I saw a deeper issue. The uniformity of these efforts made me wonder: At what point does the strength in numbers found within the POC community blur the line between tokensim and genuine representation, leaving DEI efforts ambiguous in addressing the distinct needs of each minority group?
Cornell, like many institutions, has adopted the idea of “people of color unity,” assuming that all minority students face the same barriers in the workplace and need the same solutions. But to what extent does a recruiter’s knowledge of “diversity” apply equally to everyone in the room? The challenges faced by, say, an African American woman in tech are not the same as those faced by an Asian American man in finance. And these differences matter.
The experiences of minority groups are not monolithic. For example, Asian Americans often face a “bamboo ceiling” in the workplace, a term used to describe their underrepresentation in leadership despite their achievements. A study by Ascend found that although Asian Americans make up 12 percent of professionals in Silicon Valley, they hold less than three percent of executive roles there. Meanwhile, a 2019 McKinsey & Company report found that Black women are 58 percent more likely to feel the need to prove themselves at work compared to white women. Latinos, the fastest-growing demographic in the U.S. workforce, hold less than five percent of executive positions. When we lump all minority groups together under a single DEI banner, we fail to acknowledge the specific barriers each group faces.
As a Muslim hijabi student, I’ve experienced firsthand how assumptions about my background affect how people perceive me. From teachers who assume I have a particular set of beliefs to peers who wonder how I fit into professional norms, these biases are always at play. Through my years of involvement in DEI initiatives both at my highschool and at the non-governmental organizations I’ve worked at, I’ve seen how minorities’ needs can sit on opposite ends of the spectrum, yet it’s easy to act as if one diversity initiative can solve all these problems at once. In reality, this approach is superficial.
This need for specificity became clearer when I saw how Cornell Latinos in Business interacted, united by their shared language and cultural heritage. It gave them a sense of community and understanding that allowed them to address issues specific to the Latino experience — issues other minority groups may not fully grasp. I remember thinking, “I wish there was a similar space for Muslims at Cornell”. Like CLB, such a space could address the intersection of our religious and professional challenges.
Studies have shown that one-size-fits-all diversity programs are often ineffective. Cornell needs more individualized support systems that cater to the specific challenges of different groups. This could look like a mentorship programs tailored to specific minority groups or workshops addressing the unique needs of Black women entering the finance or Muslim women navigating corporate America.
At the same time, collaboration across different minority groups remains essential. The goal shouldn’t be to create silos, but to foster an environment where differences are acknowledged and respected, while still working toward common goals. Cornell has made undeniable progress in promoting diversity, but as minorities now make up over half the student body, grouping us together under one DEI initiative is no longer sufficient. The next step in fostering true inclusion is recognizing the distinct challenges minority groups face, and supporting them accordingly. While something is always better than nothing, it’s time to rethink how we approach diversity— and this is it.
Sophia Dasser is a freshman Computer Science and Philosophy major in the College of Arts and Sciences. Her fortnightly column Debugging Ethics explores the intersection of technology, ethics, and social justice, with a focus on the overlooked and underrepresented. She can be reached at [email protected].
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