 | Board of Visitors minutes October 3, 1986 |  |
RECOMMENDATION FOR GROUP TO CONSIDER MINORITY ENROLLMENT
- The following statement was approved:
- Several developments in recent months have heightened the Board's concern about the status of minority students at the University. While the goals set by the Virginia Plan for graduate and professional minority students have been met and exceeded, the same is not true for undergraduates, and especially for first time black Virginians. Withdrawal rates tend to be higher for minority undergraduates than for others, even though many minority students excel in a broad range of academic programs. We are especially concerned that the University's properly rigorous academic standards not impact unduly or unfairly upon those minority students whom we should and must seek to recruit and retain.
- These concerns have caused us to ask the President of the University to create at once a small internal working group to assess the current programs available for the academic support of minority and disadvantaged undergraduate students. Such a group would complement the work of the recently appointed Task Force on Afro-American Affairs, which will devote much of the coming academic year (and perhaps longer) to assessment of many related issues. The working group would gather and report to the Board, among other data:
- (1) Trends in the recruitment and retention of minority students over the past decade, with special information about differences (where they exist) between Virginians and out of state students, and an analysis of the long-range value to the University of a strong recruitment and retention program for in-state minority students;
- (2) Special efforts that have been and are being made (by the Admissions Office and other arms of the University) to recruit minority students;
- (3) Special academic support programs currently in place or planned for early implementation, and other positive steps that might be taken by the University to enhance the academic and extracurricular experience of minority students; and
- (4) Special concerns and needs of minority and disadvantaged students to which special attention should be given by all University offices that work with undergraduate students.
- A report from this working group is expected as soon as possible ideally by early November.
3109
| Board of Visitors minutes October 3, 1986 | |