A diverse culture needs a diversity of ideas.

Changing a school's culture is like turning a battleship. It can be done, but not without substantial effort, time, resources and strong leadership. The task can be more difficult if the school is religiously affiliated and potential changes may generate controversy over church doctrine.

Over the years, the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota has created a variety of initiatives to improve diversity. While each was a step in the right direction, together they have yet to reap the expected results.

Corrine Carvalho, director of the Luann Dummer Center for Women and associate professor of theology, spoke about the challenges facing the school's diversity initiatives at the National Association for Women in Catholic Higher Education (NAWCHE) conference held at St. John's University in New York City in June.

Like many single-sex Catholic schools, the formerly all-male St. Thomas admitted undergraduate women in the 1970s while continuing to house the diocesan seminary. Its primarily Midwestern student body does not reflect the ethnicity and diversity of its surroundings in the Twin Cities.

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Despite staffing an Office of Diversity since the 1970s and considering diversity through the lens of social justice, St. Thomas's number of ethnically diverse students has actually declined from 10% in 2002-03 to 6.7% in 2007-08.

Female students have also declined from 51.7% in 2002-03 to 48.9% this past year. "In public forums women students have expressed frustration that they continue to not feel welcomed or included," Carvalho said.