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POPULATION: Programs hope to increase number of applicants
► From Pag* 1
grown by 900 students. In
that same period of time,
the number of white
University students has
decreased by 100, accord
ing to UQA Pact Books.
The University is not
alone in the diversity gap.
At the University of
South Carolina, nearly 16
percent of the student
population is black, though
a little more than 28 per
cent of the state's popula
tion identifies as black. At
the University of Tennessee
and the University of
Florida, the universities’
population of students
who identify as black dif
fers from the state popula
tion by about nine and
eight percentage points
respectively.
University demographer
Doug Bachtel said black
students choose not to
attend schools such as the
University because of a
historical view of southern
universities.
“There was a time when
black students weren’t
welcome anywhere that
dies hard,” Bachtel said.
Horace Ward became
the first black student to
apply for admission to the
University on Sept. 29,
1950, and spent three years
battling for his right to
education, regardless of
the color of his skin, after
being denied entry.
On Jan. 9, 1961,
Hamilton Holmes and
Charlayne Hunter became
the first two black stu
dents to successfully enroll
at the University, ending
more than 176 years of
segregation. Their enroll
ment was a landmark
achievement in the deseg
regation of higher educa
tion in the South, the end
to more than a decade
long fight to desegregate
the University.
Since 1961, the number
of black students steadily
increased, but a judge’s
ruling seemed to threaten
the progress the University
had made until that point.
In 2001, Johnson v. Board
of Regents of the University
of Georgia ruled the
University’s affirmative
action plan was unconsti
tutional.
Since the ruling, the
population of black stu
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dents at the University has
increased from 1,791 stu
dents in 2001 to 2,681 stu
dents in 2009. In February
2010, the University
System of Georgia report
ed the minority population
of the University had
increased 70 percent over
the past decade.
“One of the things is
UGA is a very different
place than it was two
decades ago,” said
Deborah Gonzalez, direc
tor of diversity and inclu
sion in the Office of
Institutional Diversity.
“That is a very positive
point to highlight. Alums
who may not have felt wel
come 20 years ago now
have children here who
have found campus to be a
very different place.”
A typical student?
When asked, most stu
dents had a similar
description of what “a typ
ical University student” is.
“I’d say typically a
6-foot tall white male,
blond, North Face [jack
et], bookbag. Female
leggings with Nike shorts,
maybe an oversized jacket.
The female would have
brown hair, maybe blonde,”
said Jesse Hocking, sopho
more film studies major
from Athens.
“Fairly intelligent, I
guess. Mostly white. I
guess upper-middle class,”
said Susanna Paetzhold, a
junior advertising major
from Atlanta.
It comes as no surprise
that white is mentioned
in the sea of faces gath
ered at Jittery Joe’s in the
Miller Learning Center on
an afternoon in December,
only three students sitting
in the area were not white.
“When I think about a
typical UGA student, the
majority of students are of
course white. I think of
frat boys and sorority girls,
who live on Milledge,”
Mains said. “And I guess
that’s very stereotypical
because it is a very diverse
population, but because
it’s so diluted, I guess,
that’s not the first thing I
think of when I think of
UGA students, although
they do exist. And I’m one
of them. But even when I
tell people that I go to
UGA, that I’m a part of
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2009 UNIVERSITY POPULATION BY RACE
HU
'v Hispanic
Hawaiian/Pacific Islander 5 1,027
American Indian 77
Source: 2009 UGA Fact Book
this community, they’re
like, ‘What?’ and really
amazed because it is so
rare I guess.”
Bachtel said the state
of Georgia has the fourth
highest population of peo
ple who identify as black
in the nation and the
University also has a large
total population, which he
said skewed the popula
tion comparison numbers.
“We have a small per
centage of African
Americans, but a high
number, because our
enrollment is so large,”
Bachtel said.
As Mains was looking at
colleges in high school, she
said she initially wanted to
attend a Historically Black
College and University, but
for financial reasons ended
up at the University.
For Mains, any histori
cal or societal assumptions
about the University had
no influence on her deci
sion she came for the
academic environment.
“I knew some kids from
my high school, maybe like
two students who gradu
ated before me who came
here, so I figured there
were gonna be black peo
ple here but I was willing
to meet all different kinds
of people. So I wasn’t dis
NEWS
couraged that there
weren’t going to be many
black students, but now
that I am here, I know
there are a lot,” Mains
said. “It’s not really in
numbers, but within the
black community, all the
black students know each
other. I feel like we’re a
small black college within
the predominantly white
institution.”
At Riverdale High
School, where Mains grad
uated, she said most stu
dents attend smaller com
munity colleges, and don’t
see larger institutions like
the University as achiev
able goals for financial or
societal reasons.
Bachtel said black stu
dents have many different
reasons for choosing not
to attend the University
and it would be hard to
point to a single solution.
“There just isn’t one
answer it’s too complex
a question,” Bachtel said.
“There’s a zillion reasons
why it doesn’t make it
right.”
Progression
In the past several
years, the University has
enacted programs to help
increase campus diversity.
The Red a Black | Tuesday, December aoio
“We’re trying to break
down the stereotypes
[high] schools have about
UGA,” said Des Potier,
associate director of diver
sity recruitment and
access.
Potier is the head of the
Road to UGA Initiative, a
program aimed at recruit
ing students from under
represented high schools.
As part of the program,
the admissions office
spends an entire day at a
high school, teaching the
students about the college
application process as well
as about the University.
“We were trying to think
outside the box to recruit
the best students in the
state regardless of race or
ethnic background,” Potier
said.
Right now, the program
focuses on underrepre
sented schools in metro
Atlanta, but Potier said it
plans to expand to
throughout the state.
Though the program was
established only a little
more than two years ago,
Potier said it has already
achieved results.
“It’s a really innovative
program, and you’d be
hard pressed to find any
other program like it,”
Potier said. “Schools that
used to send 10 applica
tions have jumped to 60
applications after doing
the program.”
Potier said there are
many different groups on
campus invested in the
program. High school
alumni who attend the
University volunteer to
come to the events and
help students from their
high schools to connect
with the University.
“For us to be able to
take what we have and
bring it to them it goes
a long way,” Potier said. “It
moves you it’s not just
reading an application.”
The University also has
programs in place for stu
dents once they enroll at
the University.
The Office of
Institutional Diversity,
which was founded in 2002,
provides support for
minority students at the
University. Gonzalez said
the goal was not only to
encourage diverse stu
dents to attend the
University, but also to have
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a support system in place
once they arrive here.
“The main focus is that
students are able to learn
what they need to learn,”
Gonzalez said. “There are
a number of diversity
resources available on
campus for all students
disability, LGBT, the stu
dent center. There’s the
multicultural students and
programs, the institute for
women’s studies and fac
ulty themselves.”
Both Gonzalez and
Potier said misconceptions
and misunderstandings
about the University lead
many students to not give
the University a chance.
“The assumption is that
students know where to
go,” Gonzalez said. “It’s
been an issue of they need
to know where can they
get that information. A lot
of students find it through
groups they join, but how
do they find that organiza
tion to begin with?”
Potier said when he
came to the University he
heard from many people
the Admissions Office
needed to improve its out
reach to high schools with
underrepresented popula
tions.
At Mains’ high school,
colleges and universities
from different areas would
come to recruit students.
However, no PWIs pre
dominantly white institu
tions were in atten
dance. Mains said the act
of physically presenting
students with the
University as an option
could make a big differ
ence for the recruitment of
minority students.
“I think that the black
student population at
UGA needs to go out, back
to their hometowns and
the very urban communi
ties and encourage the
students,” Mains said.
“Because when they see a
black UGA student or an
ethnic UGA student, see it
materialize, they see ‘Oh
these students aren’t just
sorority girls or fraternity
boys, but they’re people
like me who come from
humble beginnings, or not
exactly the best schooling
or communities, but
they’re doing really well in
college.’ It becomes a real
istic opportunity for them
selves.”
3
