U-M African-American enrollment increases in wake of Prop. 2

BY ROBIN ERB
FREE PRESS EDUCATION WRITER
October 20, 2008

Nearly two years after Michigan voters banned the use of affirmative action in college admissions, University of Michigan’s incoming class shows a marked increase of African-Americans — even at a time it has also shrunk the size of its freshman class.
The reason?
Targeted recruitment of underrepresented minorities, said senior vice provost Lester Monts.
“Proposal 2 doesn’t prohibit targeted outreach,” Monts said. “You can target high schools, you can target neighborhoods, and you can even target minority groups,” he said.
Meanwhile, other minority groups lost ground and the portion of white freshman from the United States increased slightly from 65.2 % of the freshman class of 5,783 to 68.5 %.
According to numbers released today, the numbers of African-American students grew from 334 to 374, an increase of 12% at the same time the university, fearing its freshman class had grown too much over the years, thinned its class this year from 5,992 to 5,783.
U-M was ground zero for the debate over Proposal 2 in 2006 because it openly considered race in its admissions process. The measure, passed in 2006, went into effect in January 2007 and — halfway through the admissions process for the fall 2007 class — admissions officers had to stop considering race or gender as a factor.
Opponents of Proposal 2 feared sharp declines in enrollment of underrepresented minorities, but proponents had called the use of affirmative action considerations unfair, saying universities can find other ways to diversity their student bodies.
University officials have said they have been in good position to search for diverse applicants because its admissions process had become increasingly sophisticated over the years, asking candidates things like: Do you work to support your family? Are you a first-generation college student? Do you have dependent children?
They also target specific areas of Michigan.
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