Photojournalism major Ryan Blackwell says he is the only African American student in all of his major JMC classes, and that, he believes, says a lot.

According to data provided by the Office of Research Planning and Institutional Effectiveness for fall 2003, there are only 134 JMC or pre-JMC students of color at the Kent, Salem, Stark and Trumbull campuses combined.

But although racial and ethnic minorities are underrepresented in the statistics, JMC accreditation reports from 1996 and 2002 outline efforts to address the issue by incorporating diversity into its courses, faculty and informational resources as well as recruitment.

In the reports, the School lists the minority instructors on staff, scholarships for minorities and mentoring associations with organizations such as the National Association of Black Journalists.

The reports also name a number of JMC courses that push students to learn to incorporate people of all backgrounds into their stories, ads, photos and publication illustrations. Language sensitivity and ethics are also prominent topics related to race.

Academic Diversity Adviser Gene Shelton says teaching diversity in introductory classes such as Media, Power and Culture or Intro. to Mass Communication is important, especially for college freshmen who could be sitting next to students from other races and cultures for the first time.

Even exposing black students to shows with primarily white casts like Friends on NBC and white students to sitcoms with primarily black casts like Girlfriendson UPN can be educational, he says, because they get another perspective outside of their own experience.

Blackwell says diversity is crucial in a news context to make sure none of those myriad perspectives are lost.

“Back when there were no blacks in the media, the only time they were in the paper was when there was a crime,” he says. “I think it is important to have diversity because newspapers have a dual role as historians. Think of all the events and happenings in the ‘communities of color’ that have been missed, that would have given us as Americans a greater understanding of the cultural heritage of the country.”