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Think about the contribution you make to the diversity of the Penn community. Could you adequately describe it using one of 16 pre-determined categories? That is what the admissions office asks people.

In order to address the shortcoming of this system, it first becomes necessary to understand what intellectual diversity on a college campus entails. Certainly, a top-notch school like Penn ought to be concerned with promoting a varied and unique student population.

While I am all for a diverse Penn, based on the current application, diversity is too narrowly defined. Instead of having just one question which addresses ethnic diversity, why not give an applicant the opportunity to explain his or her potential contribution to the intellectual diversity at Penn?

An "optional" question on Form 1A of the 2006 application claims that the "University seeks to draw students from all racial and ethnic groups in our society" and goes on to solicit whether the applicant is "African American/Black" or "Caucasian (including Middle Eastern)," among some other choices. I am skeptical that this is truly a voluntary question because, by declining to pick a category, an applicant is essentially signaling his or her answer indirectly.

While the University promises the "information marked 'optional' is voluntary and providing or omitting an answer will not affect our decisions," in reality that statement must be inaccurate. When an applicant admits to being in a majority group or even declines to answer, others from underrepresented groups who answer the question gain an advantage, and thus, that applicant relatively loses out. There are only a limited number of spots.

In fact, the presumption that a person born into a specific race or ethnicity will undoubtedly add to the diversity of the University is, in many cases, questionable. I know plenty of people whose parents were born in a different country yet who were raised in a more American culture. We tend to form stereotypes that, just because someone's parents came from a certain background, he or she then is representative of that culture. While often this assumption at least partially holds true, other times it fails greatly.

Additionally, there are plenty of students who do not seek to share their culture with others, which weakens the justification for wanting diversity in a collegiate atmosphere. Especially at a larger school like Penn, it is too easy to form cultural or ethnic cliques. Often times, whether independently or through University programs, people choose to live in a homogenous atmosphere. When this happens, we all lose out.

If the University wants to select a diverse student population primarily through check-box questions, why not also have ones for religion or political views? Ideological diversity is essential to the intellectual environment of a top university.

I still fondly remember a certain Southern liberal feminist on my hall freshman year who smacked me on the back of my head because we were in a heated debate. Or maybe I was just being obnoxious. Nonetheless, I needed that.

Living in a homogenous population will not stimulate you to re-examine or re-analyze your convictions. The University needs to acknowledge more dimensions to diversity or none at all. Race and ethnicity cannot be on a pedestal.

Instead of allowing people to check a box, promising to add to the intellectual diversity at Penn, I recommend the University scrap that question and instead consider what many law schools ask for: a diversity essay.

Require applicants to actually contemplate what they propose to add to the school's intellectual atmosphere, and this should by no means be limited to skin color or ethnicity. By only having a quick check-box question, the application creates a sense of entitlement instead of promoting the advancement of diversity on campus.

Schools have used "diversity," as opposed to a quota system, by arguing that their interests lie in establishing a cosmopolitan atmosphere. I certainly agree that this type of campus is one where learning is most meaningful. However, it is unfortunate that the interpretation of a concept which is supposed to help open minds is applied only in a limited manner. We are at a day where applicants can be judged by the content of their character, not the color of their skin.

Mark Littmann is a senior, finance concentrator from New York. Case of the Mondays appears on Mondays.

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