Diversity university: minority enrollment at predominantly white colleges is increasing.

RACIAL DIVERSITY AMONG FIRST-year students is increasing at Ivy League institutions and other high-ranking, predominantly white colleges and universities.

The number of first-year African American students for the 2005-2006 academic year increased at universities such as Vanderbilt, Princeton, and Columbia, according to "The Progress of Black Student Enrollments at the Nation's Highest-Ranked Colleges and Universities," a study by The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

Of the 30 institutions supplying data, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill showed the highest percentage of African Americans among its first-year students at 11.1%, a 3% increase from 2004. At Princeton, blacks constituted more than 9.4% of first-year students, a more than 38% increase over the last year and the highest of any Ivy League university.

Bruce Slater, the journal's managing editor, says such significant gains are due to a combined effort by the institutions and the students. "The competition for top black students is very keen among these schools. Also, more and more black kids are taking advanced courses in high school and looking to apply to top colleges."

Several schools had poor enrollment of African American students. Only one black student was accepted at the California Institute of Technology in 2005, unchanged from the year prior.

The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education has been conducting this survey since 1994. Over that time, the University of California, Berkeley has seen the most substantial drop in African American students (-39.7%). Vanderbilt University has seen the most significant growth (91.4%).

Admission of African Americans at Ivy League Universities,
Fall 2005

 Total
 All Students Black
Institution Applicants Accepted Applicants

Princeton University 16,510 1,807 **
Harvard University 22,796 2,098 **
Yale University 19,451 1,880 1,134
Columbia University 18,115 1,317 1,390
Dartmouth College 12,156 1,171
Univ. of Pennsylvania 18,824 3,913 1,219
Brown University 16,911 2,588 1,089
Cornell University 24,452 6,621 1,126

Institution Accepted Enrollees Class

Princeton University ** 116 9.4%
Harvard University 221 153 9.3%
Yale University ** 112 9.2%
Columbia University ** 114 8.5%
Dartmouth College 81 7.6%
Univ. of Pennsylvania 367 193 7.6%
Brown University 253 97 6.6%
Cornell University 410 175 5.6%

** DECLINED TO PROVIDE INFORMATION
TO THE JBHE RESEARCH DEPT.

Black Freshman Enrollment at the
Nation's Highest-Ranked Universities

 Blacks in the Percent Change
 Freshman Class

 1994 2005

 Vanderbilt University 70 134 91.4%
 Rice University 28 50 78.6%
Carnegie Melon University 45 79 75.6%
 Princeton University 79 116 46.8%
 Stanford University 114 156 36.8%
 Columbia University 85 114 34.1%
 Cornell University 134 175 30.6%
 Univ. of Pennsylvania 154 193 25.3%
 Georgetown University 103 121 17.5%
 Duke University 148 163 10.1%
 Harvard University 146 153 4.8%
 Northwestern University 123 114 0.8%
 Washington University 76 76 0.0%
 University of Virginia 320 319 -3.0%
 Brown University 101 97 -4.0%
 Emery University 115 110 -4.3%
 Dartmouth College 86 81 -4.7%
 Yale University 131 121 -7.6%
 Univ. of Notre Dame 15 66 -12.0%
Mass. Inst. of Technology 13 55 -24.1%
 Johns Hopkins University 123 75 -39.0%
 Univ. of Cal., Berkeley 214 129 -39.7%