The University has slipped this year to second place in the Ivy League for largest percentage of black students in the freshman class, a new study says.
The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education recently said that 98 African-Americans accepted University admission offers, making them 8.4 percent of the freshman class. Last year, 112 black students matriculated at the University, which made them 9.5 percent of their class. The University's percentage decrease is the second highest among the 25 top universities ranked in the study, though the University holds the seventh place spot overall.
Yale University took Princeton's old spot among Ivies, with a freshman class that is 8.5 percent black.
These data follow the University's effort last year to improve its African-American studies program. Last term, the University hired Eddie Glaude GS '95 and Harvard University professors Cornel West GS '80 and K. Anthony Appiah.
Despite a drop in black freshmen, the University has experienced growth in other areas: in 2001, 13 students received AAS certificates, and 21 received them in 2002, said Jean Washington, AAS program manager. She said the program is planning for hundreds to take West's AAS course in the spring term.
Despite this commitment to its program, the University did not reveal how many black applicants applied for admission, and thus the percentage of black applicants accepted cannot be calculated, the journal said.
"The percentage of black applicants who receive invitations to join the freshman class is a strong gauge of an institution's commitment to racial diversity," the journal said. "This figure remains the most sensitive of all admissions data."
Admission Dean Fred Hargadon could not be reached for comment. However, many deans joined him in declining to release these data. Seven of the 10 top universities in the survey did not tell how many black students applied, the journal said.
"Unquestionably, public and private threats to existing affirmative action policies in college admissions are a factor in producing this sensitivity," the journal said.
Harvard also slipped in another one of the journal's rankings. For a decade it has produced the largest yield of black students.
But this year 113 black student applicants accepted admission offers out of 184 total offers, making Harvard the school with the second highest yield. Last year, 118 students of 185 applicants accepted offers. The new figure still gives Harvard a 61.2 percent yield, in contrast to Princeton's 50.8 percent yield.
In addition to attracting fewer African-American students, Harvard has also suffered in its black studies program. The losses of Appiah and West dealt a blow to Harvard's African-American studies department, long regarded as the best in the country. It is still unknown if the chair of Harvard's department, Henry Louis Gates, will also leave.
For now, Gates is teaching the introductory African-American studies course at Harvard, after West's teaching it for several years. Last year, nearly 600 students took the class, but this year, fewer than 100 are signed up.
Sandra Walker, a representative of the department, said, however, that the department has not seen a decrease in the number of students seeking African-American studies degrees.
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