Earlham College regularly organizes intense meetings on campus issues, with faculty, staff and students all getting a chance to speak. That's what the Indiana college did Thursday when it canceled classes to allow hundreds of students and faculty to gather with administrators in the campus gymnasium and discuss diversity concerns raised by a group of students. More unusual is that the concerns were presented earlier in the week as a list of demands. Protests by minority students in recent months have featured many similar lists, but the idea of students making demands is virtually unheard of at the Quaker college. At Earlham, less than 10 percent of students are Quaker, and the small Quaker population nationally means that colleges in the faith almost by necessity welcome people of a variety of backgrounds. But one aspect of the religion that many students and alumni agree has remained a core part of the college is its commitment to Quaker consensus.

February 10, 2016 ・ From Inside Higher Ed