Keeping Dartmouth Diverse

America's lingering problem of racial segregation can again be seen on college campuses as black enrollment at predominantly white schools drops in response to this nation's "new conservatism" and rapidly rising tuition rates at private institutions. At Dartmouth, a dedicated group of alumni, administrators, and students have been working on a special recruitment project to ensure that all undergraduates here can enjoy the benefits of a diverse student population for years to come.

The centerpiece of this year-long effort was the "This is Dartmouth College Weekend," held during the final week in April. All told, 57 of the 159 accepted black students made the trek to Hanover to acquaint themselves with life at the Col- lege on the Hill. Dartmouth students took an active role in planning the events, coordinating the activities, and hosting the visitors in their dormitory rooms. There were speeches by deans, admissions officers, professors, and President McLaughlin; meetings with financial aid officers and representatives of student organizations; dances, pizza parties, and even time for prospective '87s to contemplate springtime in the Upper Connecticut River Valley.

The Weekend was organized in response to the sharp decline in the number of blacks who chose to attend Dartmouth last year, according to Leslie Skinner '83, student intern in the college's affirmative action office. Though the black student pop- ulation here has climbed rapidly in the past two decades from fewer than a dozen to nearly 90 per class only 59 blacks matriculated with the 1050-member class of 1986.

The results of the Weekend in reversing that trend were dramatic: the Class of 1987 will have 87 black members, the second-highest number in the College's history. Indeed, 47 of the 57 prospectives who attended the weekend eventually chose Dartmouth, even though many of them said they intended to enroll at other schools before the four-day event.

Skinner blamed last year's lower black enrollment on two factors: ever-increasing tuition costs at Dartmouth and the racist antics of the Review. And, judging from the questions she answered that weekend, she thinks she guessed right, particularly with respect to the Review, which was the focus of many of prospective-initiated discussions.

The conservative weekly which has featured a cover photo of a burning cross, published an interview with a leader of the Ku Klux Klan, and printed a staged picture of a black being lynched has created an unpleasant environment for blacks, Skinner said. The Weekend, she continued, was a chance for blacks to obtain a more complete view before making their final decisions about which college to attend.

David Moore '83, chairman of the College's Afro-American Society, hosted two of the prospective Big Greeners. He remarked, "Dartmouth has been great for me, and I wanted to share my insights and experiences with other blacks to help set the record-straight." Skinner felt much the same. The whole weekend went off very well, but it was definitely a team effort," she said, giving much of the credit to the administrators who volunteered their Saturdays to help with the many activities!

Some of the blacks who were accepted could not attend the Dartmouth weekend Brown, Columbia, and Cornell held similar weekends in that two-week period between acceptance letters and student rePlies - so 20 more visited Dartmouth the following weekend.

The College's interracial concerns committee, a group of students, faculty, and administrators, participated in the discusions with the prospective students. Composed of blacks and whites dealing with racial issues, the group is in its second year. Skinner also credited David Dawley '63 with organizing a group of alumni volunteers. She said he organized approximately 50 alumni to call black students, offer congratulations on their acceptance, and encourage them to find out more about Dartmouth by attending the weekend.

The success of the weekend can be seen most clearly in the letters sent to the admissions office after the event. The notes, even from those blacks who eventually decided to attend other schools, agreed that the weekend was excellent and expressed the hope that it would continue to educate others about the College. Many others said they would not have chosen Dartmouth were it not for the presentation.

"I don't think that you should change a single thing," a woman from Washington wrote to weekend organizers. "Everything was perfect."

"I can't wait to get back to Dartmouth to meet the challenges that await me there," wrote a high school senior after returning to Minnesota. "I really felt at home in Hanover," he continued.

"I wasn't just told this is a wonderful place and that I would like it," a student from New York noted. "I was told both the good and the bad, and I found out Dartmouth is a really nice place."

Plans are underway to make the Weekend an annual event, Skinner said, adding that it would be nice to have all potential students sample the College in this way.

"A lot of blacks don't even know about Dartmouth," she explained, adding, "I don't see it as preferential treatment. Many blacks are used to cities and they have heard about the racism here," she continued.

"Besides," she went on, "there's plenty of recruiting that goes on here. There's a weekend for hispanics and I believe one for native Americans as well. And then there are the athletes, who know more about Dartmouth because they've been recruited."

Skinner, who has greatly enjoyed her Dartmouth experience, plans to attend law school next year and is currently in the process of deciding between several schools where she has been accepted: Pennsylvania, the University of Virginia, Georgetown, and New York University. "I want my gift to Dartmouth to be more student diversity," the organizer of the Weekend said.

Both Skinner and Moore stressed that a diverse student population is a benefit for all students. "It's necessary for everyone to know what it's like to be black. For many of my classmates, Dartmouth is the first time they have ever had to deal with people who weren't white," Skinner said.

Fortunately, for all of us, Dartmouth a college which has been among the nation's leaders in promoting student diversity is full of people concerned about segregation in this nation, many of whom are working to eliminate the problems in their own neighborhood: the venerable College on the Hill.

The front porch of the Hanover Inn, a landmark, for men and women of Dartmouth, is a natural forconversation among prospective Dartmouth '87s and their undergraduate mentor.

Professor Rassias weaves his magic.