A problem that plagues the University of Wisconsin is diversity, or lack thereof. As of the fall 2004 semester, the student body consists of 10 percent minorities: 4.5 percent Asian, 2.3 percent African-Americans, 2.6 percent Hispanics, and 0.6 percent Native-Americans. Walking around campus or through the dorms, it is obvious that there is a lack of diversity.
For those of us, such as myself, who come from the small-town or suburbia Midwest, being able to get to know those from different backgrounds whether a different ethnic group or from a different part of the country or even another country is an invaluable experience for our education.
The problem is, how do we attract more minorities to campus, or more precisely, how can UW attract more qualified minorities to campus.
UW-Madison Plan 2008 has a goal "to achieve the goals of significantly improving the representation and academic success of members of four targeted ethnic groups, namely, American Indian, African-American, Latino/a, and Southeast Asian-American, among the student body, the faculty and the staff…"
Has it made a difference?
There is a definite disparity between white students and minority students since Plan 2008 began in 1998. For example, the six-year graduation rate of students who began at UW in 1998 was 83.2 percent for whites and only 54.4 percent for black students according to the UW Office of the Provost. There are most definitely problems with both the numbers of minorities on campus and their graduation rates. The bigger problem, however, may not be on campus. The real answer to the problem of diversity at UW actually is right down Regent Street at Madison West High School.
Looking at the statistics of Madison West shows that the disparity in education becomes even more prevalent on a secondary-school level. According to Wisconsin's Information Network for Successful Schools, the average ACT score in 2003-04 at Madison West was 27.1 for whites, 23.3 for Asians, and 17.4 for black students.
In other words, black students are 10.1 points behind the average 2004-05 freshman at UW, and Asian students are 4.1 points behind.
The Madison Metropolitan School District reported that the average grade point average at Madison West was 3.07 for whites, 2.13 for blacks, and 2.66 for "other" students. Most disturbing of all, 96 percent of white students graduated from Madison West in 2003, compared to 89 percent of Asians, 75 percent of American Indians, 71 percent of blacks, and only 61 percent of Hispanics.
All of these statistics point to the fact that different ethnic groups achieve very different standards when they leave high school. Looking to the future, only 52 percent of the students currently enrolled in elementary schools in Madison are white, and 48 percent of students are in the groups that Plan 2008 targets. Unless something is done before students graduate high school, there are going to be even more serious problems when Plan 2008 becomes Plan 2018.
The problem with diversity at UW is the fact that the UW System is targeting the right groups, but entirely too late. If the average African-American student scores 10 points lower on the ACT than a white student, then there is going to be an obvious problem when that student reaches UW.
The problem with Plan 2008 is the fact that it looks only from the college application to graduation. Plan 2008 does not seriously focus on the long term from elementary school to higher education.
For any program promoting diversity to work, there has to be a comprehensive look at overall education. Every school, not just Madison West High School, is struggling with education disparities. UW needs to work in cooperation with local school districts in the state to integrate efforts dealing with diversity. Only an overall look at education in the state will help all students perform well from day one so that they can graduate from high school with a high GPA and ACT score. This way, more minorities can truly be quality applicants to UW and actually are ready to achieve the high standards that UW expects out of its students.
I applaud the minority students who are able to succeed at UW and get the education that every American deserves but does not receive. The current solution to ensure that more minorities get that privilege at UW — Plan 2008 — is only a Band-Aid to the problem. No real progress will be made to make UW reflect more diversity without an overall view of education from the first day of kindergarten to the day we have our undergrad degrees in hand.
Jeff Carnes ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in linguistics.
