For the second year in a row, Ohio University's main campus ranks as the whitest in the state.
White or non-Hispanic students accounted for 88 percent of the student body, an increase from 87 percent a year ago, according to Board of Regents Performance Reports. In the state of Ohio, 78 percent of all college students are white, according to the 2007 report, which will be released Friday.
The Vision Ohio enrollment goal for ethnic and racial diversity is a two percent annual increase until the 2011-12 academic year, said T. David Garcia, director of Admissions.
Of the OU respondents, four percent identified themselves as black, which is higher than the three percent at Miami University. However, Miami University boasts a higher percentage of Asian students, with three percent, compared to less than one percent in the OU student body. G. Christine Taylor, director of the Office of Diversity, Access and Equity, will leave for Miami University in March.
Garcia said the numbers downplay advances in diversity in the past three years, and said OU's definition of diversity includes international students, but the Regents study did not.
We define diversity to be inclusive of international students
and last year we saw a 13 percent increase Garcia said. The majority of our international students are coming from China but we have a spattering from other countries as well.
While OU continues to make its own efforts to increase campus diversity, the state has also recognized diversity as a problem.
Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland has said that increasing diversity across state colleges is a major goal of his administration.In October, Strickland announced plans to build a leadership center for black men, but no details, including a location or funding, have been finalized.
The center will research why black men aren't taking advantage of education and suggest statewide solutions, said Eric Fingerhut, the chancellor of the Ohio Board of Regents.
The center is geared specifically toward black men because they have the worst statistics of any demographic for college enrollment and graduation, he said.
According to the U.S. Department of Education, only one-third of black students who attend college are men. OU's Office of Institutional Research does not keep data broken down by both race and sex.
What the workplace is asking for is not only a well-educated work force
but also a diverse one
which is why the governor thinks it is important to invest in this
Fingerhut said.
The center will not use state dollars and will be funded through a yet-to-be determined endowment, he said.
The center will recruit top social scientists and scholars who will be well-equipped to make recommendations
Fingerhut said. We don't want faculty to be subjected to government funding or oversights.
Strickland also hosted a roundtable discussion in the fall with 30 black men who are either in high school or college, including two students from OU.
We basically discussed lack of black men in Ohio colleges
said Michael Adeyanju, an OU junior who attended the roundtable in October. I think that it's great that our governor is addressing this.
Adeyanju is still skeptical about the proposed center, though.
I'm curious to see how long it will be before the center could make any real impact on diversity
he said. They have to find endowment
then build it
then research and make recommendations.
The reason colleges aren't more diverse is because of a lack of partnership between the state and higher education, said Charles Shahid, director of state grants and scholarships for Ohio.
Right now it's more of a retail operation
