NYU Shanghai claims to operate "in accord with the values of curiosity, rigor, integrity, respect, harmony, responsibility, and deep engagement with all humanity." Amid the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement, the university community has begun to question whether or not NYU Shanghai has lived up to its mission, especially regarding Black community members.

As a jointly established higher education institution, the inclusivity of Black students is a crucial measurement of the mission of NYU Shanghai. This measurement can be reflected in various factors including the proportion of Black community members, the admission and recruitment of Black applicants, Black people's feelings, opinions of non-Black personnel toward Black people, and the initiatives the school has taken for maintaining the equal integration of Black members.

When asked about whether racial factors are taken into consideration for the admission of international students, Anna Cheng, the director at the Office of Undergraduate Admissions said, "We aim for equal opportunity in our admission process in order to create the most academically accomplished and diverse campus possible for NYU Shanghai."

As for whether she thinks NYU Shanghai has a relatively low representation of Black students, Miss Cheng responded, "As you know, one of NYU Shanghai's missions from inception is to help students master the skills of cross-cultural effectiveness and we pride ourselves in the increasing diversity year after year in our student body."

Adding that the racial and other demographic breakdown of the Class of 2024 will be shared once the matriculation is completed this Fall, Miss Cheng mentioned that a racial breakdown of NYU as a whole can be found at NYU Facts. However, this page doesn't provide the specific proportion of Black to non-Black students at NYU Shanghai.

Although the admissions office is proud of their endeavours in selecting the most academically accomplished students and promoting multicultural effectiveness, perspectives from Black students vary.

"Yes, I have experienced racism at NYU Shanghai," said Isaiah McKnight, a rising junior from Washington DC, who shared his experience as a Black student at NYU Shanghai in a previous OCA article, "You will see that a lot of the groups who hang out with each other have the same skin color or have the same ethnicity/background. There is nothing wrong with that, but when you get excluded from entire discussions and hangouts because you don’t look like them, that is going too far."

Despite the fact that he finds it pleasant to be at NYU Shanghai, Bongani Musikavanhu, a rising junior from South Africa, pointed out the racial separation on campus: "I think it would be unwise to assume people don’t carry prejudice. It may be part of the reason why there are social groups at the school."Moreover, Bongani believes that there is a relatively low representation of Black members at NYU Shanghai.

"My Black experience at NYU Shanghai has been fine. It seems to be a place where people from all different countries can thrive." said Christina Bowllan, a rising junior from New York City, "When I'm at NYU Shanghai I don't see my race. But back in the States I'm very aware that I'm half Black, half White. I'm always concerned about what groups I need to follow."

Perspectives from non-Black students also supplement the question of inclusivity, as Yifan Ouyang, a rising junior from Shandong, China said, "I've never seen any discriminatory behavior in classes and campus events at NYU Shanghai. But I can't be sure that there [isn’t discrimination] in other areas." Last year, Yifan performed in the short film OCA's Post-Valentine Special Project, which explores how cultural gaps and stereotypes can act as major obstacles in interracial relationships.

In addition to the levels of Black representation among the student population, members of the community have also expressed concerns over the levels of inclusivity among faculty and staff members. In a previous interview with OCA, Professor Almaz Zelleke, from the Social Science Department, said: "I am very much aware that I am one of very few African American professors at NYU Shanghai. I wish there were more of us."

In a follow-up interview, Professor Zelleke attributed the underrepresentation of Black members to a systemic issue: "US blacks may not have China on their radar screens as a place they could work or study. That means we have to work harder to reach out when we do faculty searches and student recruitment if we want to reach minorities in the US or other countries."

Regarding the low representation of Black faculty members, Professor Maria Montoya, the Dean of Arts and Science at NYU Shanghai, said: "Diversity is a very complex thing to measure, especially in a place like NYU Shanghai, which is, in fact, incredibly diverse. Our faculty come from all over the world!" She emphasized that the university leadership and current faculty place a high priority on recruiting and retaining students from different backgrounds.

Professor Montoya's response echoes Professor Yuxin Chen’s, the Dean of Business at NYU Shanghai. According to Professor Chen, diversity, including racial diversity, is a among the top priorities during faculty recruitment at NYU Shanghai.

"Currently we do not have Black faculty members in Business. Our experience with past searches has taught us that our location in China keeps many Black academics with no previous connection to China from applying." Professor Chen responded to the question of low representation of Black faculty members, "We are modifying our recruitment efforts to convey the message to [potential Black] candidates that NYU Shanghai is a great place to launch or build a career."

Professor Zelleke pointed out that having a diverse faculty and student community is the best way to address the dominance of Eurocentric discourses in academia. As she elaborated, people with various backgrounds can reach out to each other for help in diversifying our syllabi and research.

"It's one of the reasons I'm so grateful to teach in China, since being here has helped expand my own scholarship and teaching to include perspectives and cases beyond the US and Europe." Professor Zelleke commented.

Apart from the faculty's perspectives, Jill Shen, the Recruitment Manager of Human Resources at NYU Shanghai, also responded to the question of low representation of Black staff by saying: "Chinese nationals constitute a larger part of the staff members at NYU Shanghai. It might be because the school is physically located in Shanghai and thus is more popular among Chinese applicants.Meanwhile, non-Chinese citizens must meet certain requirements to be eligible for obtaining a Work Permit to legally work in China which also prevents many from joining us. While among non-Chinese applicants, Blacks only make up a very small percentage, according to our statistics."

Shen further explained that NYU Shanghai follows Chinese labor law first, which doesn't include as many requirements for Black equity. However, the hiring team does receive training from the Office of Equal Opportunity of NYU and they intentionally follow certain US regulations which have more requirements on racial equality. Shen also mentioned the NYU Shanghai Career Site used for staff recruitment, and stressed that "the University is an equal opportunity employer committed to equity, diversity, and social inclusion."

In fact, beyond the recruitment and admission of community members, NYU Shanghai is also making efforts in promoting campus inclusivity for Black members by organizing several relevant events. Among those event organizers, Joyce Tan, the specialist of Diversity Initiatives, is the most influential staff member promoting campus diversity and inclusivity.

Within the Diversity Initiatives, there are two major programs held at NYU Shanghai: the LEAD Program and Ally Week. According to Joyce, numerous events regarding race have been held at NYU Shanghai, and the latest Ally Week event, which took place last year, focused on "How Does Color Matter in China." Participants to this event were able to discuss how colorism manifests itself in different contexts in the West, China, and other places.

In terms of how these events helped to promote campus inclusivity for Black members, Joyce holds that having Black people in the events and enabling the participants to listen to their experience is essential to helping community members stay informed and educated about what it means to be Black.

Joyce revealed to OCA that the Ally Week event for Fall 2020 will cover racial issues. Additionally, Joyce hopes to have more opportunities to work with a lot more community members to pursue the goal of campus inclusivity, especially for Black members.

Declan Mazur, a rising sophomore from Boston, shared his thoughts about the Ally Week events.

"Yes, the events are quite impactful in terms of [their] purpose." said Declan, "The events were very educational to the people present there. But obviously not all community members attended those events." Declan also suggested that the school could invite more Black guest speakers to give lectures on their personal experience. What's more, he thinks that Afro-centric experiences should be added to the curriculum.

While Joyce's endeavors have been widely praised, there are still some students who believe that the university could do better in promoting campus inclusivity for Black members.

Bongani raised concerns over what he thinks is an example of prejudices controlling the actions of the school: "There are some students who get searched more frequently for potential possession of drugs, just because they are Black - even if they have never done them. It’s just an example of prejudices controlling the actions of the school. They should make sure cases are reasonably initiated."

In response to Bongani’s concerns, the current Student Government President Taylah Bland said: "I would be happy to work with whoever I can and will reach out to my great connections to see what is going on and make sure that doesn't happen because this is not what I stand for."

Taylah also introduced that the Student Government is planning to change the current policy which doesn't allow ethnic and identity groups to form clubs and societies at NYU Shanghai. Moreover, a diversity committee aiming to promote campus inclusivity for all members will be established. As Taylah mentioned, the university leadership has been very supportive of the efforts being made by the Student Government.

In addition to efforts taken by the school and the student government, a number of Black students are taking actions to improve campus inclusivity for Black members. One of them is Chelsea McLean, a rising junior from New Jersey. Beyond her opinion that the school could definitely do more in promoting inclusivity for Black members, Chelsea told us about her and her friends' ideas of establishing an association for Black students.

"Our primary goal is to get recognized by the Student Government under the Student Organization Committee so that we can get funding and hold events. We want to create an atmosphere where Black students do feel included at NYU Shanghai." said Chelsea. With these ideas in mind, Chelsea and her friends hope that this association could ultimately evolve into a Black Students Union at the university.

Overall, the perspectives from various members serve as an effective mirror of whether NYU Shanghai is inclusive enough of Black community members. But the most fundamental determinant of inclusivity mostly resides in close interaction among people of different backgrounds.

Boyu Wang, a rising junior from Henan, China, offered his thoughts: "I grew up in an inner city where there are not too many Black people and I didn't have a thorough understanding of the racial issue. So I think in order to fully understand the spirit of racial equality for Blacks, we need to have direct interaction with Black people instead of merely reading news reports."

At last, Joyce offered her suggestions to the university as a whole: "I will just say let's talk and connect. The very beginning work that leads to a higher level of equity or social justice is to care, for instance, caring about your peers and your community. By caring others, let's just get together and connect to each other instead of coming from a place with assumptions."

This article was written by Sicheng Fan currently based in Shanghai, China. Please reach out the author via [email protected].Photo credit: Alex Plaveski / EPA