JBHE Ranks UNC No. 1 For Black Freshmen

With black students constituting 12.5 percent of this year's freshman class, UNC had a higher percentage than both Stanford and Duke universities, which ranked second and third, respectively, in the study.

Robert Slater, JBHE managing editor, said the survey strives to separate the top universities that actively recruit black students from those that do not.

"The purpose of (the study) is to let everyone know the situations of schools and how they are doing recruiting black students," he said.

"Some do well, and some do not do well."

Slater said he hopes the study will inspire colleges to make a greater effort to enroll black students.

"I hope it will encourage competition (among colleges) for (black) students," he said.

Jerry Lucido, UNC director of undergraduate admissions, said the study publicly recognizes the efforts of the University to create a diverse campus.

"We pay attention to who we admit to create a diverse freshman class," he said. "The study reinforces our efforts. It makes us feel good about what we are doing."

The Office of Minority Affairs, under the direction of Archie Ervin, has created outreach programs to encourage top black high school students to apply to UNC.

"We work with public high school systems to find (black) students who, by various indicators, have the profiles that Carolina likes to enroll," Ervin said.

After these top students are identified, they are able to attend workshops at UNC over the summer, he said.

Lucido said UNC also has financial aid services for minority students, a minority honors program and Tar Heel Target, a program in which black students speak about the University to students in their old high schools.

Despite the study's findings, Erin Davis, a sophomore and secretary of UNC's Black Student Movement, said she was not aware the campus was so diverse until she arrived in Chapel Hill.

"(Black freshmen) are shocked at the number (of blacks) here," she said. "There is not a lot of diversity in the brochures. Projecting the image that there are black students here could be helpful."

But Ervin said UNC has made considerable advancements in reflecting the diversity of the campus in all university publications.

"I think students realize the campus is accessible to anything they want to do," he said. "It is up to the students to access it."

Though she said UNC could do more, Davis also praised the efforts of the University to attract black students.

But she said UNC lacks facilities, such as minority advancement programs, that provide support to minority students already enrolled in UNC.

"The issue is more of retention," she said.

"There are not a lot of programs motivating (blacks) to stay here."

The State & National Editor can be reached at stntdesk@unc.edu.