Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, June 17, 1990 TAG: 9006190352
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE: DANIEL HOWES HIGHER EDUCATION WRITER
DATELINE: BLACKSBURG LENGTH: Medium
Some 293 college-bound blacks already have paid Tech their $200 non-refundable deposit, up from 199 for the same time last year. That's a 47 percent increase - a sizable return for officials who have invested extra time and money in minority recruitment the past few years.
"I think the word's gotten out that we have a lot to offer here . . . and it's a very supportive environment," said Gene Carson, the associate provost charged with, among other things, tracking student admissions and performance.
Come August and the start of fall semester, Tech expects to have nearly 1,000 black undergraduates enrolled, the most in the history of the school. Overall black enrollment at the university hovers around 5 percent and the incoming freshman class likely will be about 7 percent black, officials said.
Tech is posting the banner year in new minority students despite a trend of fewer 18-year-olds seeking admission to many colleges in the state and across the country. And those who did apply filed fewer applications than in recent years.
Applications to Tech from blacks were up nearly 40 percent over last year. The university received some 15,000 total applications for 4,200 spaces, a 2 percent increase over 1989.
Meanwhile, black freshman enrollment at the University of Virginia is expected to be up about 7 percent over last year, officials said, creating a first-year class that should be about 14 percent black. Overall black enrollment at UVa is about 8.3 percent.
Admissions directors at Radford University and at James Madison University in Harrisonburg expect little growth in black enrollment this fall. JMU has been assembling 13-percent black freshman classes for the past several years, while Radford's freshman classes have been about 3 percent black in recent years.
This spring's success story seems to be Tech, where a racial incident involving a fraternity and black coeds at an Ohio college appears to have had no detrimental effect on recruiting blacks, officials agree.
A report several months ago in The Washington Post detailing Tech's racial climate, including the hazing affair, caused the mother of one prospective black student to cancel a visit to campus, officials said.
But calls from President James McComas, a communications studies professor and some black student leaders seem to have allayed the parent's fears. The young man from Northern Virginia will be enrolling this fall.
The administration's swift reaction to last year's incident - Delta Kappa Epsilon, the offending fraternity, was banished from campus for five years - conveys the impression to prospective black students that the university is responsive to minority concerns, said David Bousquet, admissions director.
Tech's success among blacks this year can be attributed, in part, to the increased involvement of currently enrolled black students, some of whom return to their high school alma maters to talk about the university and the surrounding community, officials say. They also credit new, glossy publications with helping to showcase the Blacksburg campus.
And efforts to make more frequent contact with prospective students, including phone calls and letters from upperclass students and faculty, also appear to have increased Tech's yield in black student recruitment.
Early recruiting programs in Roanoke and Fairfax County schools seem to be on the verge of bearing fruit, Bousquet said, using agricultural vernacular to make his point. "You've got to prepare the soil, plant the seed and tend your fields before reaping your crop."
In Project Pipeline, a 3-year-old program of Virginia Tech, IBM Corp. and the Roanoke City Schools, Tech students mentor high school students and IBM employees, in turn, mentor the college and high school students in the program.
"The whole administration is very heavily committed to minority recruitment - and that includes faculty, staff and students across the board," said Carson, the associate provost.
Indeed, admissions officials credit the McComas administration for its persistent emphasis on minority recruitment, whatever the squeeze on the university's budget from the governor and state lawmakers.
"I'd say that [change in top administration two years ago] had a tremendous effect because they set the attitude and campus climate," said Glenn Valentine, Tech's associate director of admissions who oversees minority recruitment.
"I've noticed that McComas is very committed to enrolling more black students," said Barry Dorsey, associate director of the state Council of Higher Education. "And our experience has been that when a president is committed, that strongly conveys that message to the rest of the institution. And the numbers do increase.
"I can't stress too strongly how important that commitment from the top down is."
by CNB