Recent statistics show that the number of AHANA students that enrolled in the class of 2008 has dropped to 7.8 percent, while the current class of 2009 has shown little improvement.
“This is definitely something to be concerned about in terms of race and ethnicity and socioeconomics,” said Dr. Renee White, associate professor of anthropology and sociology and co-director of black studies, who is worried about the lack of diversity.
White, one of the few new black professors at Fairfield University, emphasized that the community residing on campus is not preparing students for the real world.
“We need to have a diverse land of faces in order for the university to do that,” she said.
Director of Admissions Karen Pellegrino said that these statistics are an overall concern on the part of the university, not just the admissions office. Pellegrino stated that the highest levels of administration realize it requires full effort to bring up the numbers.
Fairfield is not alone in the battle to heighten the number of ethnically diverse students at a Jesuit university. Other Jesuit schools such as Boston College and Georgetown University have also taken initiatives to promote diversity.
Georgetown has instituted new associations such as Pluralism in Action and the African American Advisory Board, while Boston College has promoted its location near a multicultural major city as well as special services and associations specifically geared toward AHANA students.
Unlike Fairfield, Georgetown has 21 percent minority students in 2005. As for Boston College, statistics show that they have succeeded in luring minorities with 27.1 percent for the class of 2009.
“Academically strong minority students are being offered more money by other schools,” said White. “We need to ask ourselves what this university can specifically offer to these students.”
Previous Mirror articles have reported on Fairfield’s attempts to improve the lack of diversity through the development of a “task force” to examine how the university can attract and retain more AHANA students, and more recently announced the hiring of four new African-American professors to increase diversity among faculty members.
Yet, today’s enrollment numbers do not show any signs of improvement.
von Arx stated that for the future, the university will increase the percent of financial need, as well as work to establish a more welcoming and supportive community for the students.
Meanwhile, admissions is currently working on more focused recruitment efforts in hopes of actively encouraging AHANA students to visit Fairfield’s campus, in addition to visiting schools in urban and diverse areas to recruit minorities, according to Pellegrino.
Yet Orin Grossman, academic vice president provided a broader picture of what needs to be done by the university as a whole in the future.
“We have made some efforts, but obviously are not as successful as we would like,” said Grossman.
Leave a Reply