Succeeding on White Campuses 

Elite institutions explain why initiatives that support Black student success are essential to achieving the goal of diversity.
by Ronald Roach

Dr. Sarah Willie has devoted much of her career to studying the progress of Black students on predominantly White campuses. Her research on the subject began when she wrote a senior thesis on the topic as an undergraduate. Years later, as a sociology doctoral candidate at Northwestern University, Willie would complete a dissertation that compared the college experiences of Northwestern graduates with those of Howard University graduates.
Currently the director of Black studies at Swarthmore College, Willie says her professional interest in studying Black student performance has resulted in her becoming an expert on campus diversity. Such expertise has become critical to institutions, such as Swarthmore, because they have come under pressure to defend affirmative action policies designed to enhance student diversity. Swarthmore's commitment to diversity and affirmative action are, in part, rooted in its Quaker origins.
"People need help understanding affirmative action," Willie says, adding that minority student success also depends on initiatives that support their academic efforts once they arrive on campus.
In the midst of the current affirmative action debate, an increasing number of higher education professionals are attempting to better comprehend minority student performance and achievement on predominantly White campuses. Subsequently, researchers and campus diversity advocates are working together to explain and implement the programs that make diversity work and increase minority student achievement.
Among the 28 colleges and universities featured in the widely-acclaimed book, The Shape of the River: The Long-Term Consequences of Considering Race in College and University Admissions — authored by former Ivy League college presidents Dr. William Bowen and Derek Bok — a few have become eager to explain how their campuses have embraced affirmative action and created a climate that facilitates minority student achievement. At least one other institution has been prompted to re-evaluate and bolster its commitment to diversity.
"I think the study will spur a lot of institutions to work harder on diversity," Willie says. The Bowen/Bok book marshals forth a vast collection of data to argue that affirmative action in college admissions, particularly on elite campuses, has proven a substantial benefit to not only African Americans, but to American society as a whole. These conclusions have given much needed ammunition to presidents and administrators at American colleges and universities (particularly in the states of Texas, California, and Washington) who are in the position of defending and justifying their race-conscious admission policies.
"The study validates what I have believed intuitively for a long time," writes Emory University president, Dr. William M. Chace. "Strictly for pedagogical reasons, affirmative action has been and is a positive social instrument. The Shape of the River gives Emory an opportunity to consider its own history."
As a participating institution in the Bowen/Bok study, Chace continues, Emory's "institutional identity is rooted in what has been done with respect to the diversity of our student body....We have become stronger as an institution because of our commitment to diversity."  The president also boasts that "among the top 25 schools in the nation, none has a higher percentage of African American students or faculty than Emory."
Emory University dean, Dr. Steven Sanderson, says that while the Bowen/Bok study allows the school to trumpet its success in Black student achievement, the diversity discussion at Emory  is larger and has long preceded the current debate on affirmative action. 
"At Emory, there's been an active, ongoing conversation on diversity for some time," Sanderson says.
Creating an atmosphere that facilitates minority success has motivated Emory officials to recruit Black and other students by advertising the school's record on recruiting and retaining Black faculty. "We take great pride in rankings that show we're  [tops] in Black faculty representation. We've been excited and we've tried to tell people about that. It's really an attractive recruiting tool for us," he says.
Haverford College, another elite Philadelphia-area school established by Quakers, did not participate in the Bowen/Bok study. Nevertheless, Admissions Director Delsie Phillips says the college's admissions process demonstrates how predominantly White institutions can most leverage their strengths in attracting minority and disadvantaged students. 
Phillips believes that students seeking admission to small, liberal arts institutions, such as Haverford, benefit because they are given far more scrutiny and consideration in the admission process than they would from larger public and private institutions.
"We're looking for students with drive and the desire to do well," Phillips says. Motivation is the most important factor. We're looking for signs of motivation."
Once admitted and enrolled, Black students often flourish in an environment where, in many cases, they receive more individual attention than they did when they were in high school, Phillips says.

Better Places To Be
Swarthmore College, which participated in the Bowen/Bok study, is an institution that has traditionally gotten high marks for having a progressive campus environment where minority students can thrive. Willie believes that Swarthmore's cultural and financial aid resources make it "one of the better places to be" for a minority student on a small, predominantly White liberal arts college campus.
"It's not enough to just admit minority students. But admit them in large enough numbers where they can form a community of support for each other, and institutions have to make sure  they follow through with support so that students don't fall through the cracks," she says.
Not long after enrolling at Swarthmore as a freshman in the fall of 1996, Desiree Peterkins began working with the college admissions office to help it recruit minority students. During  her first two years of college, Peterkins served as a liaison between the admissions office and the Swarthmore African American Student Society.
"I wanted to make sure Swarthmore didn't fall short of its promise to enroll Black and Latino students," says Peterkins, a 21-year old junior from New York City who is majoring in political science and is an All-American triple jumper on the track team. 
Peterkins says the college has exceeded her expectations because it provides a friendlier place to Black students than she had imagined. She cites the month-long pre-freshman joint orientation for minority students at Bryn Mawr College, Haverford and Swartmore, and the Swarthmore Black Cultural Center as programs that provide  both academic and social opportunities for Black students in the tri-college community.
Though she acknowledges that a number of White students publicly question the existence of student groups based on ethnicity and entities this doesn't suprise her.
"I didn't expect [Swarthmore] to be different from the real world," she says.
Willie cautions that schools like Swarthmore are still "on the road" to becoming truly diverse institutions. She says that too many institutions, even those considered progressive, operate with an attitude of noblesse oblige or paternalism toward their minority students rather than in accepting them in a more egalitarian manner.
At least one institution included in the Bowen/Bok study, Tufts University, has recently elected to undergo intense scrutiny of its commitment to diversity. Tufts University spokeswoman Cindy Pollard says school administrators are convening a series of open meetings during February for the university community to discuss diversity initiatives on campus. Student groups have recently criticized the administration for not making sufficient progress on diversity.
"The events of recent weeks, exemplified by strong student action, reveal many of the challenges remaining as Tufts continues its efforts to increase and enhance campus diversity, among its students, its faculty, its programs, and its curricula," wrote Dr. Mel Bernstein, vice-president for arts, sciences, and technology at Tufts, in a letter to the university's arts and sciences community.
Pollard says that over the past year the university has established an Office of Diversity Education and Development; appointed a student/faculty/staff Oversight Panel to monitor race-related matters on campus; and continued to attract and retain students and faculty of color.
These initiatives have largely grown out of recommendations urged by a 1997 Task Force on Race report.