U-M president reaches out to Detroit students Talk sets welcoming tone, demystifies entry process

Wednesday, January 23, 2008
BY DAVE GERSHMAN
The Ann Arbor News

DETROIT - After fielding questions about the intricacies of financial aid forms, study abroad programs and campus life at a forum in a Detroit church Tuesday, University of Michigan President Mary Sue Coleman called on a man in the back of the sanctuary.
He asked a trickier question: Why should a student choose U-M over a private, out-of-state university in the wake of the passage of Proposal 2, the Michigan constitutional amendment that banned consideration of race and gender preferences in public education.
Coleman replied that she is committed to maintaining access to U-M, and she compared the university to five others she has known during her academic career.
"I will promise you none of those schools holds the candle to the experiences that students get (at U-M) and (to) the degree of dedication that runs up and down the institution for equity and social justice in this society,'' she said to applause. "... And so that's what I would tell a student, why you should come to Michigan: We want you.''
The dialogue came during a forum on access to higher education that doubled as a minority student recruitment event at the Greater Grace Temple, one of the largest churches in Detroit. It was the eighth time since 2004 that Coleman has lent a personal touch to minority student recruitment efforts by visiting black churches across the state.
Coleman brought more than a dozen top administrators to provide detailed answers to questions from an audience of about 350 parents and teenagers. She talked about the supportive environment on campus that would allow students to reach their full potential.
"We help people find their way at Michigan,'' she said. "Even though it's a big university, we work hard to make it small and make those connections right away so that students can get into their comfort zone and have somebody to talk to, and go find out what it is that makes them just want to jump out of bed in the morning and be really excited.''
Getting the message out to prospective minority students that U-M is a welcoming place has been a priority for many years. After student demonstrations in the early 1970s when the percentage of black enrollment was in the low single digits, U-M administrators set 10 percent as a goal. Three decades later, U-M has not achieved it, despite several variations of affirmative action admissions methods, including the process adopted in 2003 after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled race could be considered as one of many factors in admitting students.
Then Michigan voters passed Proposal 2 in November 2006, forcing U-M to alter its methods again. It had to stop any consideration of race and gender preferences in admissions midway through the application cycle for the freshman class that arrived on campus last fall.
Although the 334 black freshmen who eventually enrolled was four more than the previous year, the overall numbers in the class also increased, making the black enrollment 5.8 percent. That was the smallest proportion of black students in a freshman class dating back to at least 1998.
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