During a childhood Sunday school picnic, the injustice of racism first crystallized for Ruth Bamford ’50, Wheaton’s former associate dean of students. Her church group was visiting an amusement park, and the church organist and his daughter—the only group members of color—were barred from entering. 

Sensitized by this experience as well as 12 years inside Detroit’s integrated public school system, Ruth has been a passionate lifelong advocate for Wheaton’s ongoing journey to become a more diverse learning community as well as a faithful supporter of a faithful supporter of the James E. Burr Minority Scholarship Fund. 

Ruth is far from alone in her passion. One of the goals of the College’s From the Heart, For the Kingdom capital campaign is a continued commitment to deepening ethnic diversity at Wheaton. Gifts to this campaign priority will augment the College’s efforts and longstanding commitment to ethnic diversity and racial reconciliation by increasing funding for endowed scholarships. These scholarships will benefit undergraduate students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds. 

Increased scholarship aid will help more students like Bianca Rodriguez ’14, who identifies as part African-American, part Venezuelan, and part French Canadian. The first in her family to graduate from college, Bianca is deeply grateful for the generous financial aid package, which included assistance from the Wheaton Fund as well as the Burr Scholarship, that helped make her education a reality. 

For Bianca, her time at Wheaton was an “incubation” period of enormous personal, spiritual, and intellectual growth. Today she pours her love for Christ and for learning into her freshman algebra students in Chicago’s underserved North Lawndale community. The College’s ongoing commitment to an ethnically diverse student body positively affects all students. Before coming to Wheaton, Peyton Finley ’16, a recent graduate with a double major in math and physics, had experienced few opportunities to befriend people from other ethnicities and cultures. That changed when he came to Wheaton. 

Day-to-day campus life and participation in Gospel Choir exposed Peyton to “a richness in perspective and culture, but also to a subtle level of hurt and disadvantage among students of color.” 

Peyton learned to better appreciate the challenges faced by his ethnically diverse peers—life lessons that will follow him long beyond his college experience. 

President Philip Ryken underscores that the College’s commitment to diversity is biblically based. 

“Insofar as possible,” he says, “we seek to reflect the full diversity of the people of God as a visible expression of our unity in Christ and an effective means of preparation to advance the gospel worldwide.”