Concordia College tried to make its campus a inclusive atmosphere for students of color, but attempts ended up backfiring badly. The school learned that this year with a letter expecting these students to attend a special orientation, The Daily Caller reported.

Jeanine Flowers, an incoming freshman who received the letter, posted an excerpt on her Facebook, sharing how it made her rethink her decision to attend in the fall.

The letter was written by Cheryl Chatman, the school's diversity dean who is black. The letter has been sent out to students for years, in an attempt to be more welcoming. This is the first time it has received such a response she said, also noting that it was "interpreted as required or mandatory instead of warm and welcoming."

Flowers also only shared a portion of the letter. Chatman shared in a statement that "the letter was not shared in its entirety as the rest of the message highlighted the caring nature of our office and our community."

Chatman said that the invitation did not mean it was mandatory. "The meeting is intended to be a welcome to campus where people make lifelong connections. We know that attending college comes with a lot of new experiences that are hard to deal with on your own, this is why we strongly encourage our students to attend," Chatman's statement also read.

The portion Flowers shared shows with bold and underlined emphasis that "ALL NEW STUDENTS OF COLOR ARE EXPECTED TO ATTEND THIS MEETING."

Chatman linked to a copy of the full letter, with the opening emphasizing their "diverse community" and how the Diversity Affairs Office wishes to be "a resource for students, staff and faculty to assist in fostering an inclusive campus community that supports our belief that every student is important."

After Chatman reached out to Flowers, she made a follow-up Facebook post emphasizing that the letter was still discriminatory, despite its attempt, and that Flowers is "more than happy to giving a helping hand toward progression."

Despite Chatman's intentions, researchers have argued that such diversity efforts could actually make diversity and race on campus worse. Flowers' Facebook posts also both received outrage about the letter.