At times, UI shockingly white.doc

At times, UI shockingly white Margaret Poe - The Daily Iowan Posted: 2/22/06 For one UI graduate student, every stroll across campus is a reminder of just how few other blacks are at the UI. "Visually, it can be overwhelming to not see people of color," said mathematics graduate student Omayra Ortega. "It can be daunting." According to fall 2005 figures from the Registrar's Office, black students such as Ortega make up 2.3 percent of the school's enrollment. The UI's percentage of blacks mirrors that of Iowa - a state in which 2.1 percent of residents are black - yet it does not reflect the United States as a whole, which is 12.3 percent black. And the retention rates for these students at the UI remain significantly lower than those for white students. The most recent six-year graduation rates available from the state Board of Regents cite a 67 percent rate of graduation for white students, while the figure for black students is 51 percent. The lower black retention figures stems primarily from their low numbers on campus, said UI Associate Provost Lola Lopes. They often have a difficult time acclimating to campus life, she said, so many transfer to schools with larger minority populations. "It's a very understandable but sad thing," she said. "It's our loss." Lopes said retention will only improve with a growth in minority enrollment figures, which is a slow process. UI graduate student Alli Chambers speaks from experience. Iowa City boasts "shockingly nice" people, he said, but there are few opportunities to see works by black playwrights or filmmakers, and few events focus on the foods and music embraced by his culture. "The city doesn't scream out, 'Welcome, black people,' " Chambers said. But more than overt discrimination, the 27-year-old said, black students face subliminal messages discouraging them from staying at the UI. Walking through the library, Chambers noted, the portraits lining the walls feature white men, an observation he finds discouraging. Ortega, who studies math, said certain academic departments have made significant improvements in minority recruitment and retention. Her own department received three awards for its efforts to bolster minority enrollment in 2005. In May, the department earned one of 14 U.S. Presidential Awards for Excellence in Science, Mathematics, and Engineering Mentoring for awarding the most math doctorates to minority students of any institution in the country. The efforts have amounted to eight or nine degrees to these groups over the last six years, said Professor Philip Kutzko, who is the first director of the newly created Office of Graduate Ethnic Inclusion. Today, black, Latino, and Americans Indians make up about 25 of the 100 students enrolled in the graduate program, making it a "bright spot" for minority enrollment at the UI, he said. Yet, UI black graduate student Alex Carter, who is in African-American World Studies, said many of his peers do not feel the UI is doing enough. "They [his peers] are not totally convinced the UI is committed to diversity," he said. E-mail DI reporter Margaret Poe at: margaret-poe@uiowa.edu © Copyright 2006 Daily Iowan