During the second week of November, Juniata hosted a series of diversity panels in which students discussed subjects such as race, gender, sexual orientation, and faith. Juniata is clearly interested in promoting variety, but what do students think of the college’s diversity?

Elena Ostock ’14 Bethlehem, Pa.:

We have a large number of international students, which brings cultural diversity, but we don’t have a lot of diversity from America. We’re a predominantly white campus, let’s face it. It would be nice to have more diversity.

Chau Nguyen ’12 Hanoi, Vietnam:

I think it’s pretty good. There are African Americans, and international students, and students from Asia and Latin America. It’s a good environment to study, culturally and in general.

Ceth Parker ’12 Sabillasville, Md.:

Well, it’s a small school in rural Pennsylvania. A lot of the students come from Pennsylvania, and diversity has always been low here. There are a lot of international students, though.

Andrew Maul ’14 Portage, Pa.:

I think we have representatives of every group, but racially we aren’t that diverse. As far as sexual orientation, I think that it’s a little more diverse. It’s not a ton of diversity, but there’s more than with race.

Brea Meri ’14 Windber, Pa.:

I think culturally we’re pretty diverse. There are a lot of international students, but racially not so much. I went to an African-American Student Alliance forum, and it’s like, “Look around, we’re the minority.” Even though Juniata does a lot to make sure that they are culturally diverse, it’s still mostly white. But Juniata is still very accepting of people of all different backgrounds.

~Laura Bitely ’14, Juniata Online Journalist