Northwestern having its lowest black freshman enrollment since 1995 is a disappointment. Both admissions officers and students are to blame.
In response to low enrollment, the student group Freshman Activities Board, an affiliate of For Members Only, held a rally at the Rock on Monday intent on "burning" the number of black freshman, 81, into student and faculty brains. ("Students rally for diversity," Oct. 4). The event laid the blame on admissions officers for not doing more.
With black enrollment falling since 1976, admissions officers are aware there is a problem and are creating programs to address it. NU admissions has made positive progress making increased black representation a top priority for 2013, joining existing initiatives and instituting new programs.
Admissions has been proactive in trying to promote the university to minorities. A program beginning in December sending black and Latino students to their high schools to promote NU show the university is being proactive, but will require time to prove whether they are effective. Joining programs like Questbridge, which provides talented minority students with applications and matches them to universities, should help to make a more immediate difference.
As admissions officers try to bring more minority students to campus, it is time for students to play a larger role in improving the racial climate for students once they've arrived. More than pressuring admissions officers to do more, organizations like FAB should work to make NU more hospitable to black students and increase true diversity on campus through greater racial integration.
Measuring the level of integration on campus is difficult, if not impossible, but racial divisions on campus remain deep. Comments by a representative at a 2007 forum sponsored by The Daily indicated that minority students arrive on campus to find navigation between various racial communities to be more difficult than expected.
Other representatives said students still tend to group themselves by race and multicultural groups have difficulty reaching out to each other. Events such as Monday's rally, mostly attended by black students, indicate the difficulty racial groups have in bridging gaps.
2008 Woodie Awards
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Viewing Comments 1 - 5 of 5
Kevin
posted 10/15/08 @ 4:53 AM CST
This editorial is right on target. The problem isn't that, as in days of yore, minority students are being barred from higher education. The problem is that elite universities are competing for talented minority students and that some campuses are more congenial for minority students than others. (Continued…)
Ben
posted 10/15/08 @ 1:23 PM CST
I wonder if the author of this editorial even showed up to the rally. The rally did not blame admissions. Far from it. They said that we all need to work together to make this a more welcoming place. (Continued…)
Aldo
posted 10/15/08 @ 2:13 PM CST
great job.
Jim
posted 10/15/08 @ 5:03 PM CST
Wow, we don't have enough students of color, so it must be the student's fault! Hold your University responsible for who they invite to attend, not the student body. (Continued…)
A. Ganjani
posted 10/16/08 @ 12:13 AM CST
There are three scenarios that could be affecting NU's black enrollment issues:
1. Fewer black students are applying to NU than in the past.
2. Fewer black students are getting accepted to NU. (Continued…)
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