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Reprinted from: Green Bay Press-Gazette
http://www.greenbaypressgazette.com/

April 13, 2004

UWGB efforts to boost minority enrollment face challenges

By Cynthia Hodnett
chodnett@greenbaypressgazette.com

Though the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay has made a slight gain in minority enrollment in the last five years, more needs to be done to improve minority retention and graduation rates, according to a five-year review of a diversity plan.

"It's hard to get some African-American students who want to come to Green Bay, despite all the efforts the university makes," said Theresa Okokon, a 20-year-old junior, social work major and president of UWGB's Black Student Union. Okokon also works with Opportunity Knocks, a program that works with college-bound high school students.

The University of Wisconsin System recently reviewed the progress UWGB and 25 other campuses are making under the Campus Diversity 2008 plan.

The 10-year project to increase diversity at UW schools was developed in 1998 and implemented the following year.

Minority enrollment at UWGB was 303 in fall 2003, compared with 296 in fall 1998, according to the UW System Office of Policy Analysis and Research.

"Some African-Americans who come to the university (for campus visits) really don't feel comfortable in Green Bay and on campus," Okokon said. "A lot of them come from areas that have more people of color, like Milwaukee or Kenosha. They aren't used to being in a place that doesn't have a lot of minorities."

But attracting minority students is only part of the challenge; keeping them here is also difficult.

"There are several students I know who have left after a semester or a year," Okokon said. "A lot of it involves retention. It's kind of hard to get people to stay if they aren't grabbed up by another student or faculty member of color and have that support."

Gradual change

Michael Stearney, assistant dean for student development at UWGB, is pleased with the university's progress.

"We didn't expect to see a quick change," he said. "We're investing now, with pre-college programs, which we won't see these students until six or seven years down the line. We've also hired a new recruiter to focus on minority students."

Seventy-three percent of minorities who were freshmen in 2002 returned for their sophomore year, compared with 83 percent of white students.

"We're making progress but not as rapidly as we need to be," Chancellor Bruce Shepard said. "When I first got here, the retention rate from freshmen to sophomore for students of color was dismally low, about 55 percent. Last year, we had a retention rate of about 77 percent, so we're pleased with that number.

"The bucket isn't as leaky as it used to be, but we won't raise minority enrollment or retention just by recruiting more people," Shepard said. "The university can't make the necessary changes alone. We need the community's help."

Targeting students of color

The UW System as a whole is seeing increases in its minority student enrollment.

In fall 2003, there were 160,703 students enrolled at UW schools and about 13,800 were minorities. Five years earlier, there were 152,926 students and 11,891 were minorities.

"It leaves us at about 9 percent of our student body being minority while about 12 or 13 percent of the state population is minority," said retiring UW System President Katharine Lyall. "We'd like eventually to mirror the state's minority population in our student body."

Lyall said one major concern is the low high school graduation rate at Milwaukee public high schools, which is about 70 percent minority and has a 40 percent graduation rate.

Tuition increases and reductions in financial aid will also hamper the UW System's efforts to recruit more minority students, Lyall said.

"I think there's a lot of low-income kids, including a lot of minority and disadvantaged kids and the families, who are reluctant to start a college career or to think about it because they see our tuition going up 15 percent," she said.

While the plan shows improvements in retention among minority students in the UW System, it doesn't show whether the graduation gap between minority and white students has improved since the plan was implemented. University officials expect to have a better idea about the graduation gap by 2008.

According to recent figures, 43 percent of minority students who were freshmen at UW schools in 1997 graduated in six years, compared with 64 percent of white students.

The university's annual Native American powwow and Phuture Phoenix, a program which exposes younger students to the university and encourages them to pursue a college education, are examples of how the campus is encouraging diversity on campus.

The UW System is also making strides in recruiting more minorities for faculty and staff positions. Lyall said about 100 minority faculty and staff were added systemwide though the total number of staff was reduced by about 650 during recent budget cuts.

'More guarded'

Many students said attracting a more diverse student and faculty body is only part of the equation.

Initially, diversity wasn't important for Melissa Skenandore, a 23-year-old senior, communication processes major and president of the Intertribal Student Council at UWGB.

But Skenandore, who transferred to UWGB after one semester at UW-Madison, said she would consider attending a college with more diversity if she had to select a college over again.

"UWGB is friendly and comfortable, and my experiences so far have been good," said Skenandore who transferred to UWGB to be closer to family.

"At UW-Madison, it seemed people were a little more willing to meet people from different backgrounds," she said. "But at UWGB, it seems that people aren't looking to get to know other people as much. A lot of them come here with their friends from high school. To me, it's not uncomfortable to be here. It's just that people are little more guarded."

Ronald Morris, minority recruiter for UWGB Admissions Office, said the university needs to do a better job at letting prospective students know what the university has to offer.

"The most talented students with the highest GPAs and ACT scores are being recruited by every other state university or college and every other private university or college who have more resources," Morris said. "There is a small pool of fish and there are a lot of nets in the water."