University of Virginia Library

Recruitment Program
Contacts 152 Students

From the 35 students at the
high school recruitment meeting
held before Spring Break, 13 have
reported back on their efforts over
the vacation.

The aim of the program which
was set up shortly before Spring
Break is for University students to
visit high schools near their hometown,
seeking out black and disadvantaged
white students as possible
applicants to the University.

High school students contacted
will be visited this summer and next
fall in order to promote their
interest in the University and to ad
them in applying if they wish to do
so. The 13 students who did report
back to the meeting had contacted
152 students from 15 high schools.

Two students suggested that
many of the recruiters didn't report
back because of the great difficulties
in recruiting over the break.
Student attendance and school
cooperation were the main obstacles
in the recruiter's plans.

Those students who reported
back had good records. One team
was especially successful. Ken
Lewis, and Bob Hill, both College
students, visited partially-integrated
high schools in
Portsmouth area at each high
school they were old there were no
black students "qualified" to apply
to the University.

The students said they then
checked the advanced placement
courses at the school and found a
black student, a junior, who had
represented the school in competition
requiring high intelligence.
Realizing the hypocrisy they were
up against, Mr. Lewis and Mr. Hill
began visiting only black high
schools. Eventually, they contacted
37 black juniors.

Of the 152 students visited, 51
were black male juniors and one
was a black female junior. About
20 disadvantaged students were
included in the 64 white male
juniors contacted. White female
juniors visited numbered 32 while
the black male seniors numbered 4.

Most of the recruiters agreed
that recruitment would be more
effective net fall, when seniors
would have college decisions to
make. They agreed that careful
preparation of the recruitment
program would also make a large
difference.

Some of the recommendations
made at the meeting of recruiters
are to pick recruiters with initiative
and send them to all-black schools
in their areas. Black female must be
recruited more diligently with the
beginning of coeducation was also
recommended at the meeting.

Other points made were that
dormitory space at the University
should be available for high school
students to make inexpensive visits
here and that the "Black Students"
pamphlet should be mailed to black
high schools in addition to the
regular recruitment materials.