School News
By the Numbers
The Four-year Shift in Minority Enrollment
By Lamaretta Simmons
 While national numbers* show a slight but steady increase in the enrollment of minorities in four-year colleges and universities, the undergraduate black and Hispanic student population of SAIC has declined since 1996.
According to statistics received from the Office of the Dean, SAIC's undergraduate enrollment of blacks between the 1996 and 2000 school years fell by just over two percent, from 4.9 percent in 1996 to 2.6 percent last year. The undergraduate Hispanic population for that same period declined from 6.9 percent in 1996 to 5.6 percent in 2000, despite an increase in total school enrollment.
While black and Hispanic populations decreased, the numbers reflect another noticeable shift in the minority undergraduate population. During the same four-year period the Asian population grew from 109 students in 1996 to 150 in 2000, an increase of 1.6 percent. The white student enrollment has remained virtually steady, hovering at around 70 percent for the period. Total undergraduate enrollment for the period rose from 1,485 to 1,678.
Asked what factors contributed to the decline, Kendra Dane, Executive Director of Admissions and Marketing, said, "It is difficult to determine the causes of the decline, but the school is certainly committed to studying the causes."
According to Dane, the decline does not reflect a decrease in the number of applicants or in the number of students accepted, but instead may just reflect a shift percentage-wise.
Kendra Coleman, director of Multicultural Affairs, said via email that SAIC must focus on retention in order to promote the attendance of traditionally underrepresented students at the school. "Recruitment and retention are inseparable concepts when it comes to building a community that values diversity at SAIC," Coleman said.
 Dane, via email, went on to explain that she feels that the school's admissions staff works hard to enroll qualified students from all ethnic backgrounds, and that SAIC has always been committed to recruiting qualified minority applicants.
"With the addition of Kendra Coleman in the Director of Multicultural Affairs position, and a very thorough review of the history of minority enrollment at the school through the Self-Study Review process, I am confident that we will know a lot more about this issue in the next few months," Dane said.
*Source: The U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics
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