Kamala said she feels the need is urgent to match minority students and their requirements with the privileges that non-minorities enjoy. Minority students need the same opportunities to look at their options early, she said. CNU’s minority initiative changed that for Kamala. She realized a college education was a possibility.

“I didn’t know much about CNU before I was invited to an Honors Visit Day,” she said. “That visit also proved to be the deal-sealer. I fell in love with the beautiful campus, the cost, the small class sizes, the community atmosphere and the location. I used to be terribly introverted. But CNU was small enough for me to feel like I could find a niche here. I filled out many applications, but only turned in CNU’s.”

Stacy Davidson, assistant director of student life for multicultural affairs, explains why CNU is an ideal college to nurture minority students. The University is set in an intimate urban area; it has all the advantages of a big school even though it has fewer than 5,000 students. That means that faculty members have fewer students in their classrooms, unlike other state-funded colleges, and students have the full attention of their teachers. Many of the buildings are new, and facilities are top-notch. CNU is by far one of the most “personalized” colleges out there, Ms. Davidson said. In addition, it is located in Hampton Roads, one of the most ethnically diverse regions in the United States.

But are programs like Captains for Excellence and the Multicultural Student Association enough to foster a feeling of security among minority students on college campuses? Mr. Holloman points out that it is incredibly important to make sure minority students not only come to CNU but also stay to graduate.

“While mentoring programs like Captains for Excellence are a great start, we also need to be proactive,” explained Kamala. Stressing the need for a support system for minority students in colleges, she said, “There were so many times I felt out of place just because I couldn't find a brown face anywhere near. I didn’t have people who could share some of my experiences as a minority and for some students, that’s enough to leave.”

Stacy Davidson agrees with Kamala, which is why Mrs. Davidson is passionately involved in trying to bridge the gap between the different races and promote multicultural diversity at CNU. She animatedly describes an ideal utopian world where she could have open and honest debates between students from different races and communities and where issues could be dealt with in a forthright manner.

Mrs. Davidson feels that much headway can be made by introducing aspects of pop culture into students’ lives, which in turn could spark intellectually stimulating and thought-provoking debates about diversity issues in the world. She would also love to show movies such as “Crash,” which tells stories about people from different races: blacks, whites, Latinos, Iranians, Koreans, the rich and the poor and deals head-on with an American society that is still plagued by racism.

According to Mrs. Davidson, diversity in colleges is of utmost importance because it helps students to associate with others unlike themselves, which is critical to their growth. Mrs. Davidson keenly believes that students need to have meaningful interactions with people of different races, religions and sexual orientations if they want to be successful after college.

There is more work to be done with minority recruiting and ideals to achieve, Mrs. Davidson said. She said that she would love to organize smaller get-togethers for new minority students with many more trained diversity counselors. As for Mr. Holloman, if money were not an issue he “would increase scholarships for minorities so that more students wouldn’t have to stress about being faced with debt.”

If passionate leaders such as President Trible, community members such as Thaddeus Holloman, administrators such as Stacy and Curtis Davidson, programs such as Captains for Excellence and students such as Kamala Hill are any indication of CNU’s support for minority students, the future is filled with amazing possibilities for students as well as colleges and universities everywhere.

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