I have always defined diversity weekends as “mechanisms to trick prospectives/admits that an institution has more black people than it actually does.” Others have defined it as opportunities to “experience underrepresented communities at particular institutions.” Regardless, we attend to complete our touch points with respected institutions in addition to see if they pass our black test. You know the black test? It’s where you go and see “is this school black enough?”

But what you may not realize is that these business schools are excellent students and have been preparing for your black test for months. I remember dialogue being initiated in June (three months prior) on the content of programming, lodging arrangements, and the structure of the two days. When test day comes, most schools do a decent job of keeping the pervasive conservatism in the closet. How so? Well for one, internally (students/residents of the MBA program), the…