A survey administered by SGA showed that 50 percent of the students who responded said they cared about diversity in some way and thought about it often or very often. 

Yet, only 10 percent of those who responded said they thought TCU discusses diversity.

In efforts to reconcile the gap, the diversity commission defined diversity and stressed the importance for TCU to specify its goals regarding diversity, co-chair of the diversity commission Pearce Edwards said.

The commission defined diversity as “the unique blend of people of various backgrounds and ethnicities, focusing solely on socioeconomic and ethic backgrounds,” junior mathematics major and member of the diversity commission Drew Curd said.

It is necessary for the university to define diversity in order to be effective and to know what exactly the university is working towards, Curd said.

“If we don’t define explicitly what we think diversity is, then it just becomes an empty statement and nothing gets solved,” he said.

Curd said his job was to analyze the raw data from both the university and from the Office of Admission. His findings showed that around the year of 2006, there was an increase in the number of Hispanics who were accepted and coming to the university.

It was no coincidence that 2006 was “when the university focused on getting more Hispanics and bringing the TCU product to the Hispanic community,” Curd said. “This shows that we can accomplish our goal if we put in the effort.”

The goal of the commission is to make sure true efforts are being made by the university, to provide constructive feedback to the university and to make sure it stays on track to reach its own goals, Edwards said.

One simple idea the commission came up with is to make contacts for different kinds of help accessible for students who may be victims of discrimination, Edwards said.

“There are people like that on campus, they’re just not as visible to students and we want to create a connection for students who need to deal with any discrimination issues,” Edwards said.

Currently, the members of the commission are working on informing as many people within the TCU community of the report’s goals and purpose, junior sociology major and co-chair of the diversity commission Miles Davison said.

“We want to work with student leadership, staff, faculty and upper administration to really start to discuss the issues presented in the report and formulate plans moving forward,” Davison said.