A minority report

The University is still working on adding diversity to the student body.

Forty-nine years have passed since the official desegregation of the University of Georgia, and the editorial board couldn’t be happier about that.

Less than 50 years ago people were outraged at the thought of African-American students walking past the Arch, and now we’re worried about not having enough minority students.

The times sure have changed.

To increase diversity, the University must now make a concerted effort to encourage non-white students to attend.

Groups such as the Black Affairs Council are working with the Office of Admissions to help garner more interest in going to school here.

Still, there are many barriers that the University needs to overcome to even out the racial disparities here.

A major draw away from the University takes the form of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) such as Fort Valley State University and Morris Brown College.

These schools are excellent and did wonders to educate the black community before 1964. But now there are HBCUs with non-black majorities such as West Virginia State University.

Poor grade school systems may also be a factor in preventing minority students from coming to Athens.

Since we are the flagship school in our state the admissions standards are tough.

The University draws many of its students from the Marietta-Acworth area, a region that is predominately white.

The surrounding counties are well-developed with high schools that consistently rank on a national level.

Those schools offer a great deal of honors and Advanced Placement classes – courses that look impressive on college applications.

Georgia still has several underdeveloped areas where the schools may not offer such quality courses – and in these regions, Georgia sees much higher rates of minorities. And students in weaker school systems have a harder time convincing the admissions office to accept them.

Though the percentage of African-American students currently enrolled is not ideal, it is a significant improvement from years past.

The editorial board thinks the University to continue strenghtening its efforts in diversifying the student population.

It’s important that everyone has the equal chance to attend and with the economy continuing to collapse, we need to ensure that we are not overlooking quality students.

-Megan Otto for the editorial board.