RYAN MILLER, GARETH PATTERSON, LOGAN WEBSTER STAFF PHOTOGRAPHERS, PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY: ERIK NORTHFELL
Faces of the 4,400: Lost in the Crowd by CHAD WOODARD Asst. News Editor
Editor’s note: The Faces of the 4,400 is an ongoing Traveler series profiling different freshmen students.
Tiffany Bounkhong lives two lives. In the first, she is a happy daughter and sister living out her parent’s dream. In the second, she is a minority student who sometimes feels isolated in an unfamiliar world at the UA. She is one of 608 students, or three percent of UA students, who identify themselves in the ethnic category of two or more races this semester, according to school enrollment records. “It is different for me when I walk around the campus, because it is very apparent that I am a minority,” said Bounkhong, freshman journalism major. Earlier in the fall semester, Tiffany briefly attempted to join a sorority. However, she opted to not join greek life because she felt out of place as a minority and because of her personality. “Not to say minorities can’t be a part of Greek Life,” she said, “but I would look out and it was like I was sticking out like a sore thumb,” she said. Tiffany’s strong family background and joyous personality contrast with the lone-
Tiffany Bounkhong is one of the 608 students who identify themselves as two or more races. liness she sometimes feels. Tiffany grew up within walking distance of the majority of her family. When she was young, there was a particular drainage ally behind her house, about 15 feet wide, that could transform from cement into molten lava or a terrifying jungle in which her and her cousins had to rescue one another. Reality only settled in when her aunt, uncle, parents or grandmother would yell for them to come home.
“We were supposed to stay within the vicinity between this tree and that bridge [about 20 feet], but my cousins and I would be like, ‘They’re not gonna know we left,’ so we would run off and we would get backpacks full of rocks and go on adventures and stuff and sneak off down the trails and mess around until we heard ‘Kids you better come back,’” she said. “So we would run and say ‘It wasn’t our fault,’ and blame it on someone else, but as we
got older we played in our grandma’s front yard,” she said. Tiffany’s grandmother lives behind Tiffany’s parents home, across from the drainage ally. “Since everyone lives so close, like, my grandma lives right here, my aunt lives a street over and then my other uncle lives on another street over, so we are all like a street apart from each other,” she said. Even though UA minor-
GARETH PATTERSON STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
ity enrollment has increased, it does not provide the closeknit feeling that Tiffany has at home. The total minority student enrollment from fall 2010 to fall 2011 increased from 3,314 to 3,820, which is an increase in total enrollment from 15 percent in fall 2010 to 16 percent in fall 2011. “If you look at the increase in minority enrollment, it is actually impressive,” said Charles Robinson, vice provost for diversity affairs. “The
growth in diversity is exceeding the rest of [the categories] at the UA.” Caucasian enrollment, 78 percent of total enrollment, increased from fall 2010 from 16,813 to 18,098 in fall 2011, which is an increase of 8 percent, according to enrollment records. Out of nine groups identified by race or ethnicity, Caucasians placed sixth in total enrollment growth at the UA, according to the records. Robinson’s leadership in diversity affairs is directly responsible for minority groups outpacing other ethnic groups, said Laura Jacobs, director of strategic communications. “We have always done outreach and recruiting, but under Robinson we initiated outreach last spring where we travel to different parts of Arkansas like West Memphis or the Delta,” Jacobs said. The recruiting is designed not just to attract minority students, but any students who lack a voice at the UA. “Many are minorities, but also underrepresented students [from areas like south or east Arkansas], so it is not just ethnic recruitment,” Robinson said. “We partner with schools and we have after-school events with the faculty and talk [to kids] about the UA and various degree programs, scholarships and ACT training,” Robinson said. The Delta Schools College
see PROFILE on page 6