MONDAY,AUGUST 16,2004
ON THE HILL
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN. 9C
School strives for higher minority enrollment rates
By Jay Senter
jsenter@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Ashlen Williams' father hoped that she would consider attending a black women's college. The Rolla, Mo., freshman had, after all, spent four years at a high school where only 5 or 6 percent of the student population was black.
"He wanted her to experience what it would be like to be in the majority, for once," Ashlen's mother Connie Williams said as the two waited for orientation activities to begin at Kansas Union in July.
But Ashlen wanted to study architecture, and a reciprocity agreement between Missouri and Kansas, coupled with the reputation of the school's program, made the University of Kansas an attractive destination.
Moreover, Connie Williams said, the efforts of the University's recruitment team to make her daughter feel welcome, and to inform the Williamses about minority outreach programs on campus, made Kansas seem like a good fit.
"I honestly feel like they really care—and I tell people this and not just because my daughter is going here," Connie said. "They make a real effort to make the recruiting staff representative of the students they want to attract. And that makes me feel good about leaving my daughter here."
The Williams' story is representative of the University's increased focus on minority recruitment and retention over the past few years.
Last fall, minority enrollment of first-time freshmen increased to a record number, 12.6 percent.
"They make a real effort to make the recruiting staff representative of the students they want to attract. And that makes me feel good about leaving my daughter here."
Connie Williams Mother of new University of Kansas student Ashley Williams
Much of that success, said Lisa Pinamonti, director of admissions and scholarships, can be attributed to the school's retention initiatives.
their sophomore, junior and senior years.
Since the launch of HAWK Link, a student-of-color retention program, Kansas has seen an increasing number of its minority students returning for
But while enrollment numbers from the past two years suggest that the University programs aimed at recruiting and retaining minority students have been successful, projected population figures showed that keeping the University moving toward greater diversity could be difficult given Kansas's relative racial homogeneity.
The Kansas Board of Education projects that, outside of a growing Hispanic population, racial diversity at Kansas public schools will remain static in coming years.
Those figures are somewhat of a mixed blessing for the campus departments charged with increasing diversity because the University has been recognized for its support of Hispanic students by The Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education, a
But drawing more black, Asian and American Indian students from Kansas's predominantly white population presents a significant challenge.
national magazine.
In response to such a challenge, the University's Office of the Vice Provost for Student Success has commissioned the creation of a campuswide strategic plan for increasing diversity.
Santos Núnez, director of the Multicultural Resource Center, leads the committee that issued a preliminary report on the strategic plan last April.
That report called for the realistic projection of minority enrollment at the University for the years 2006, 2011 and 2016, and the five to ten best strategic initiatives to reach those goals.
"Right now we are just looking at the enrollment profiles," Núñez said. "But eventually this will be a university-wide initiative and we will have an overall plan for the University."
Pinamonti, who also works with the committee, said while there was no timeline for the formalization and publication of the plan, the committee's initial goal was to have students of color make up 14.22 percent of the incoming freshman class for 2016.
While the diversity committee has a difficult task and a considerable amount of work ahead of it, if the example of Ashlen Williams is representative, its members can take solace in the fact that the University's current diversity initiatives appear to be taking effect.
"Every time we visit, people welcome you here on every level," Connie Williams said. "I hope you all aren't tricking, or I'm going to be really mad."
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