From an outsider’s perspective, the undergraduate college at American Jewish
University in Los Angeles may not seem diverse. After all, the college, while
not a religious institution, is predominately Jewish. However, AJU students –
much like American Jewry as a whole – are differentiated by homeland, customs,
beliefs, and individual personality traits, despite being generally unified by a
common culture.
In order to research how the undergrads view their school’s diversity, I asked roughly 70 percent of the school’s 125 students to complete an anonymous survey. The survey included demographic questions such as age, birthplace and major, as well as questions about students’ personal observance of Judaism and their perception of the AJU community.
According to the survey, the student body is 95 percent Jewish and 88 percent Caucasian. When you delve deeper, however, you will find that considerable diversity exists within the mostly Jewish population. Thirty percent of students were born outside of California, and an additional 12 percent were born outside the United States. AJU students come from seven other countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Israel and Ukraine.
While AJU exhibits a remarkable diversity of nationalities for a university of its size, the distribution of Jewish ethnicities closely parallels that of the global Jewish population. The survey revealed that Ashkenazim constitute 74 percent of Jewish students at AJU, compared to roughly 80 percent of Jews worldwide, according to an article published by the Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs.
One part of the survey asked students to state whether they “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree” or “strongly disagree” with the statement “AJU has a diverse student body.” The student body was evenly split: 50 percent selected “strongly agree” or “agree,” and 50 percent selected “disagree” or “strongly disagree.”
In order to research how the undergrads view their school’s diversity, I asked roughly 70 percent of the school’s 125 students to complete an anonymous survey. The survey included demographic questions such as age, birthplace and major, as well as questions about students’ personal observance of Judaism and their perception of the AJU community.
According to the survey, the student body is 95 percent Jewish and 88 percent Caucasian. When you delve deeper, however, you will find that considerable diversity exists within the mostly Jewish population. Thirty percent of students were born outside of California, and an additional 12 percent were born outside the United States. AJU students come from seven other countries: Australia, Belgium, Canada, China, Czechoslovakia, Israel and Ukraine.
While AJU exhibits a remarkable diversity of nationalities for a university of its size, the distribution of Jewish ethnicities closely parallels that of the global Jewish population. The survey revealed that Ashkenazim constitute 74 percent of Jewish students at AJU, compared to roughly 80 percent of Jews worldwide, according to an article published by the Jerusalem Center of Public Affairs.
One part of the survey asked students to state whether they “strongly agree,” “agree,” “disagree” or “strongly disagree” with the statement “AJU has a diverse student body.” The student body was evenly split: 50 percent selected “strongly agree” or “agree,” and 50 percent selected “disagree” or “strongly disagree.”
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