With respect to attracting a diverse staff and Faculty, he said, the University is making progress. McClelland hopes that someday the University's leaders will look like its students.

"I find it disappointing in a way--it's nice to see the people who are teaching you are as diverse as the people who are learning," McClelland says.

Gomes, who is black, says while he thinks it is important for students to have role models, he does not see why having role models who are "ethnic matches" is necessary.

"I can buy the point that you might be more intrigued if the person looked like you, but I don't think that that is a qualifier or an essential or a requirement," Gomes says.

"If I had waited for that, I wouldn't be doing what I am doing," he says. "It's more important to have access to a mentor or role model...I don't think that the mentoring relationship would necessarily be fostered by more minority administrators."

Ali S. A. Asani, professor of the practice of Indo-Muslim languages and culture, says role models are important.

"Some of these positions... they're influential positions which provide the vision for an institution," he says.