Columbus State ranked among South’s most diverse regional universities

Columbus State University put another feather in its cap after U.S. News and World Report rated the school as one of the top 10 most diverse regional universities in the South. It’s the first time CSU has ever made the list.

“Our combination of value and academic excellence continues to attract recognitions,” said CSU president Chris Markwood in a press release. “It indeed nice to be lauded for this as well as for how our student body reflects this community and this state.”

The report measures how likely undergraduate students are to encounter someone from a different ethnic group than their own by taking into account the proportion of minority students to the overall mix of students at the campus.

The formula leads to an index that ranges from 0.0 to 1.0, with a rank of 1.0 indicating the most diverse student population.

Columbus State scored a 0.59, which made it 10th on the list. Two other Georgia schools scored higher — Armstrong State in Savannah scored a 0.6 and Brenau Univeristy in Gainesville scored a 0.61. The top school for diversity in the South was Keiser University in Ft. Lauderdale, Fl., with a rank of 0.69.

Last year, a little over half of CSU’s student body identified as white, while 37 percent identified as African-American or black and 5 percent as Hispanic or Latino, according to the school.

The University said the ranking reflects its “emphasis on inclusion,” which is listed among the university’s six core values. A 2012 strategic plan specifically mentioned the need for the university to sustain a diverse student body.

This story was originally published September 19, 2017 at 11:57 AM with the headline "Columbus State ranked among South’s most diverse regional universities."