Religious, Philosophical, and Socioeconomic Diversity

By CAROL M. SWAIN

I have found myself an outsider in a place that values conformity. What makes me an outsider are my roots in the lower class, my strong Christian faith, and my race.

The chill I feel on campus is that of an accomplished woman who, more often than not, finds herself devalued. Navigating a campus is difficult if your path, like mine, is nontraditional. When I first entered college as a high-school dropout with a GED, I encountered professors who warned me that I would not perform as well