Despite Boston University’s aggressive outreach and recruitment of local minority groups, the black community remains the most under-represented university minority, with just more than 100 black students per undergraduate class.
The Undergraduate Admissions Office, with the help of other university departments, has tried to increase black student enrollment with programs focusing on reaching out to Boston minority groups and making the university more attractive to prospective minority students.
Although the number of black students’ applications has increased by 39 percent in the last 10 years, enrollment remains low, said Undergraduate Admissions Executive Director Kelly Walter. According to the Admissions Office website, the classes of 2008 and 2009 were each 2.6 percent black.
“I would consider African-Americans under-represented,” Walter said. “We all wish that there were more African-Americans at the university, and we are doing an awful lot to identify these students and make sure they are in our applicant pool.”
In 2006, out of all accepted students who paid the enrollment deposit, only 4 percent were black, Walter said. Between 2004 and 2005, black students’ applications increased by 18 percent, but each freshman class had only 111 blacks, according to the website.
Boston city officials also said the city needs to actively support local minority students to overcome obstacles preventing them from attending local public and private universities.
“Each university, including Boston University, has a moral obligation to ensure that the student body, faculty and staff is diverse and, to the extent possible, reflects the demographic makeup of the city of Boston,” said Boston City Councilor Charles Yancey (Dorchester, Mattapan), who is black.
“[BU] should be embarrassed by such low numbers in terms of representation of people of color on campus,” he continued. “Those are deplorable numbers. It is a very small proportion. And in 2007, that is not acceptable.”
According to the 2000 census, Boston’s population is 25.3 percent black. The University of Massachusetts at Amherst, a public university, has 4.3 percent undergraduate black students, a figure showing under-representation at both private and public institutions.
Of the 1.4 million students who took the SAT last year, 150 thousand were blacks, Walter said. The average SAT score for BU’s accepted Class of 2010 was 1333, but black students nationwide averaged 863. The top 25 percent of black students averaged 1180, Walter said.
“So that means that even the best of the best African-American students unfortunately have test scores that fall below our average,” she said.
For accepted black students who choose not to enroll at BU, the top five universities they attend are Brown University, Cornell University, Harvard University, New York University and the University of Pennsylvania, Walter said.
To rival other first-rate universities, BU must be aggressive in recruiting and reaching out to minority students, said School of Education Dean ad interim Charles Glenn, who said the Admissions Office and his college spearhead efforts to diversify the applicant pool.
Walter said the Admissions Office sends representatives to urban centers around the nation to speak with minority high school seniors. Glenn said outreach should begin earlier than senior year, however.
Glenn said if proper guidance and education is provided in ninth grade, these prospective high school applicants will be more academically prepared for BU.
“There’s no quick fix that’s going to solve it,” he said. “One thing that will make a difference though, is working with schools . . . and also with the individual kids . . . early on so that they are in a position to do well in school.”
To reach out to students, the Admissions Office established the Admissions Student Diversity Board in 2002, a volunteer student group that advises and collaborates with BU staff to recruit under-represented minorities. The group helps students with their applications, answers their financial aid questions and attends local and national college fairs.
The Admissions Office also encourages prospective freshmen to attend Multicultural Weekend, also established in 2002. During this weekend, students stay with on-campus student hosts and spend a day as a BU student.
“This weekend has significantly increased the number of students that enroll in the university from under-represented minorities,” Walter said.
Francesca Okolie, president of UMOJA, BU’s black student union, said Multicultural Weekend often unintentionally causes a negative effect because some prospective students are disappointed with the low numbers of Latino and black students at BU.
“I don’t think that they find that it’s the right environment for them,” the College of Arts and Science junior said. “Some people who are not used to going to a school as un-diverse as BU might be a little uncomfortable being the only black student in . . . class. Sometimes, it’s like everyone is looking at you.”
One of the most debated aspects surrounding racial diversity in universities nationwide is whether to implement affirmative action programs, Walter said. Okolie said these programs are not the solution.
“I think it gives the wrong message to students,” she said. “It tells people that so and so was incapable of getting in on his own. I don’t think BU should resort to that because there are plenty of students who perform well enough to not even need it.”
Okolie said she supports need-based scholarships for minority students.
“Scholarships for Latinos and African-American students aren’t there because it’s fun to give them free scholarships,” she said. “It’s because these students are actually under-represented.”
The BU College Republicans drew national attention before Thanksgiving break last year for the “Caucasian Achievement and Recognition Scholarship,” a satirical whites-only scholarship meant to draw attention to what the group called the absurdity of race-based scholarships, according to a Nov. 21 Daily Free Press article.
Through its Boston Scholars Program, BU has provided more four-year, full-tuition scholarships to public high school graduates than any college or university in the country over the past 33 years, said BU spokesman Colin Riley.
The Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. scholarship, a full-tuition scholarship awarded to five incoming students from inner-city communities, is for students who show developing social consciousness and high academic achievement, Walter said.
Yancey said he would support affirmative action programs at BU. He also acknowledged the need to increase racial diversity in the city government as well as in universities.
“I agree we should be doing a lot, but I just don’t know any efforts at this point,” he said. “Informally, all of us have met with many of the representatives from various colleges and raised this issue. There should be a more sustained effort.”
Glenn said he recommends a long-term solution to address the current under-representation of black students at BU.
“We need to . . . cooperate with schools and community agencies to mentor and support youth, beginning in ninth grade or earlier so that they will want to come to BU and be ready to be a success here,” he said.
“That is the real ‘affirmative action,’ and more effective and ethical in the long run than racial preferences which often just seek to make the statistics look good without real regard for the best interests of the students,” Glenn said.