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November 4, 2005 Arkansas State University – Jonesboro Two African American students, Walter Strong and Fred Turner, enrolled at Arkansas State College in the fall 1955. They became the first to integrate the previously white and segregated institution. Last month, the homecoming queen and king were African Americans, elected from a student population of 10,500, of which 1,500 are African Americans. In the period of 50 years between those pairs of students, diversity has become a fact of life on the Jonesboro campus, and without fanfare or even much controversy. This First Friday report is about diversity at ASU as we now may see it, and about some future plans that are related to diversity initiatives. These initiatives are designed to cause change. A change in the Civil Rights laws made it possible for Strong and Turner to come to an all-white university, and caused a continuing pattern of participation here by students of color. A young teacher, Calvin Smith, changed the traditional profile of the faculty here by becoming our first African American professor. That appointment caused others to come, and led to the fuller integration of our faculty. A talented leader, Dr. Mosse Richmond, changed the tradition of all-white administrators when he became first a vice president, then for a short time the interim president. His spouse, Mrs. Velmar Richmond, changed her role from a public school teacher to be an ASU Trustee. These changes have caused additional appointments of African American administrators and trustees, and added to the numbers of those on faculty and staff appointments. In 1989, the Arkansas Legislature wrote Act 99, a law that changed admission policies for public universities to focus on minority recruitment. This caused university student populations to become more diverse. Act 1901 of the Arkansas General Assembly of 1999 further changed the operations of public colleges and universities, by requiring programs to enhance the retention of minority students, faculty, and staff. This law has caused concerted efforts to not only attract, but to keep minorities throughout higher education. ASU changed our efforts to recruit and retain minorities by the appointment of a senior diversity officer as a member of the university’s executive staff. The focus of Dr. Glen Jones’ work here has been to help ASU comply with the laws of the state and nation, which we must do. He also has helped change an institutional view of diversity to something that we ought to do, because it is the right thing, and something we should want to do, because it will make this a better university. Changes have been caused by effort and a solid plan, which has produced results over the last decade: • The faculty has changed from 5% minorities in 1996 to 10.8% in 2004-05. • The staff has changed from 7.6% minorities in 1996 to 13.4% in 2004-05. • Minority student headcount has increased from 11.1% in 1996 to 16.9% in 2004-05. • Retention rates for minority students increased from 59.6% in 1995-96 to 67.4% in 2002-03. • Graduation rates have increased from 17.9% of the freshman cohort that entered ASU in 1990, to a graduation rate of 29.3% among the cohort that entered in 1997. The plan is one thing, but the credit for its accomplishment and for the numbers above must go to many ASU faculty, staff, and administration in academic departments and colleges, and in student support services. Many of you dedicated professionals have made the diversity effort successful. Additional data to underscore this success is contained in the attachment to this report, the Minority Retention Plan 2004-05 Progress Report. The document also contains a review of activities, which are conducted on campus to achieve diversity goals. All who have taken part in these activities are to be commended. Thank you. The recent strategic planning process, reported in previous First Friday issues, also contained a segment that focuses on diversity issues. The Diversity Strategic Plan lays out a range of goals designed to take diversity initiatives into the future of the university. In addition to the recruitment, retention, and graduation targets, and the financial support necessary to achieve diversity objectives, the plan challenges us to consider ways in which the curriculum at ASU can become a tool for diversity. This next step is an important one, and will affect the nature of our programs in general education. The Diversity Strategic Plan is appended as a second attachment. In order to increase the number of faculty members who may animate a plan to bring diversity to the curriculum, an innovative concept is taking form in the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, where many of the general education courses are taught. The new program will provide financial support for pre-doctoral fellowships for scholars of color who demonstrate outstanding academic achievement, are committed to a career in teaching and research at the university level, and who demonstrate the use of diversity as a resource for enriching the teaching-learning process. The teaching fellows will mentor students of color and supervise teaching assistants. It is hoped that the fellows may also show, by example, or to the rest of us that methods of including diversity in their courses will improve learning for all students, not only those of color. That process of learning may be about those we see around us. What students see around themselves, especially in the faculty who stand before them, points to the need for this innovative fellowship program; 15% of our students are African American, while 80% are white; of our faculty, 6% are African American, while about 90% are white. It is entirely possible that a student may pass through this university and be graduated, yet never have had an African American professor. That is not the best educational experience we are capable of delivering. That is not the social preparation we should provide for the real world beyond the collegiate experience. We should and can do better, and this teaching fellowship program may produce faculty who will remain to enrich our efforts. Despite our best work at ASU and at many universities across America, the most startling failure we see is our inability to retain African American males through to graduation. Of the group of these students who enter ASU, less than 5% will graduate. In six years, only about 15% of the entering cohort will have graduated. These percentages are well below the graduation rates of African American females, and male and female white students. I have asked Dr. Glen Jones to take up an initiative to address this phenomenon at ASU. He has worked with others to develop a plan which is appended here as attachment three. The goals are to produce enhanced graduation and retention results, and to create among African American males a greater level of satisfaction with the collegiate experience. The program will begin in the spring 2006 and will place priorities on monitoring the progress of the students, on establishing clearly the measures of accountability for performance, and on frequent personal contact with the students. Tutors, advisers, graduate assistants, faculty, and staff will be brought into closer and more intense interaction with the students in classroom and residential environments. Here, again, is an initiative that is a focused effort to address diversity goals in order to change Arkansas State University. Certainly the quantitative improvements in student performance will lead to better retention and graduation rates. If the students can be taught study and learning skills to make them more productive in the classrooms, studios, and laboratories, they will be assets rather than liabilities in the instructional process. If ASU can become known for our effective efforts with these students, or if we are only better at it than other schools in Arkansas, our image will be enhanced. And in the area of enrollment management, if we can find ways to keep and graduate considerably more than 5% of the 500 African American males who are now enrolled, we will make progress toward stabilizing our enrollments. Diversity as a component of our campus is a good thing, and we are getting better at realizing some goals we have set for ourselves. The credit for that success goes to many individuals throughout the ASU campus. The challenge for a better and more diverse campus is before all of us. Mr. Strong and Mr. Turner would be proud to see what we have made of their first efforts, but they would also tell us to climb higher on the mountain. Let’s keep going. Thank you for reading First Friday. If you have questions about this or any other aspect of Arkansas State University, please contact me at president@astate.edu. Leslie Wyatt President
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