FAYETTEVILLE — This fall's minority-enrollment count at the University of Arkansas features a new federal reporting requirement that adds categories, including one for mixed-race students.
Though this makes it difficult for the Fayetteville campus to compare the numbers directly with those of past years, this fall's overall minority enrollment constitutes 14.3 percent of the overall student population, compared with 12.9 percent in fall 2008.
"That change makes it almost impossible for us to report apples-to-apples," UA'svice provost for diversity, Charles F. Robinson, said of the reporting shift.
UA officials can't tell for sure whether the new reporting method increased the minority numbers more than would otherwise have been the case, but it might not matter that much, he said.
"These numbers really suggest that we're still flat in our minority growth, and we have to redouble our efforts to grow," said Robinson, also director of UA's African-American studies program.
Schools in Arkansas mustsubmit their preliminary enrollment snapshot from the 11th day of classes to the Arkansas Department of Higher Education, with final, official enrollment head counts due Oct. 17. The state agency reports to the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics.
The previous chancellor, John A. White, had established an extensive set of 2010 improvement goals for the university. These included enrollment-growth goals of 22,500 for the student body, of which 4,000, or 17.8 percent, were targeted for overall minority enrollment.
After G. David Gearhart took over as chancellor in July 2008, he used White's goals as a guide to establish his own, one set targeted for 2015 and another for UA's sesquicentennial of 2021.
The new chancellor has said that in some cases, the goals were "recalibrated" to targets more in reach for the campus.
Gearhart's first set of enrollment goals ratcheted back slightly from White's goals, calling for 22,050 students on campus by 2015, with 3,530, or 16 percent, of them being minority-group members.
His 2021 goals aspire to a 25,000 enrollment - 20 percent of which would be minority groups, or 5,000 students.
On paper, Gearhart hasoutlined his vision for the Fayetteville campus in his "transparency and accountability document," released earlier this summer and posted online at chancellor. uark.edu.
In it, the chancellor says that the minority goals are ambitious, striving to "more nearly reflect the profile of the state of Arkansas in its ethnic composition."
"Since projections indicate that the minority population will grow in coming years, this goal should be revised as new census data become available to ensure that the goal continues to reflect the state's profile of minority, non-international citizens," Gearhart's document states.
UA's overall racial-ethnicity goal has long focused on U.S. citizens who are minority-group members, excluding international students - citizens of foreign countries who study in the United States on student visas with the presumption they will return to their home countries after graduation.
Under the former reporting method, UA put its racial and ethnic numbers in these categories: "American Indian or Alaskan Native," "Asian or Pacific Islander," "Black - not of Hispanic origin," "Latino or Hispanic," "White - not of Hispanic origin" and "not available."
Now, there is a separate category for reporting native Hawaiians, which this fall comprised 13 students. The Asian-American category dropped by 19 students this fall compared with last fall, but it's not clear whether there is a correlation to thenew Hawaiian category.
There also is a new, separate category for students "of two or more races."
The former Hispanic-only category now also includesstudents who report being a combination of "Hispanic and another race."
UA officials couldn't draw clear conclusions on whether these two changes hurt or helped the numbers for blacks, said Kathy Van Laningham, vice provost for planning and director of the Institutional Research Office.
But there is the potential for the reporting to reduce the black minority-group numbers, if for instance, a student reports being of Hispanic and black lineage, because the requirements would call for the student to be categorized under Hispanic, she said.
If one were to compare this fall's black-student raw numbers to last, the growth of 15 students was a more significant increase compared to a previous five-year window.
"In terms of African-Americans, we're up a bit in actual numbers, but we're down in terms of actual percentage," Robinson said.
He was referring to fall 2008's count of 1,025 black students comprising 5.3 percent of overall enrollment and this fall's 1,040 students making up 5.2 percent of the head count.
The new Hispanic category increased this fall by 116students over fall 2008's category, going from 3 percent of overall enrollment to the current 3.5 percent.
"We don't really know if we've increased our Hispanic population, or if it's the different reporting method," Robinson said.
Van Laningham and Robinson said the reason for the difference in the way the mixed-race and mixed-Hispanic are reported federally is a mystery to them.
According to the Association for Institutional Research, the U.S. Department of Education in October 2007 issued final guidance on how postsecondary schools would collect race and ethnicity data on students and employees. The changes were needed to implement classification standards that the Office of Management and Budget first issued in 1997.
"We won't be able to compare the new numbers with what's in that table - so it's a totally new definition," she said.
There were some interesting developments, nonetheless.
"We had 272 students mark 'two or more races,'" Van Laningham said. "And we had about 100 fewer students mark either 'unknown' or choose not to respond."
Robinson noted that from here on out, UA will have comparable numbers. He'd like to see the university break out of its flat growth and grow at least 2 percent to 3 percent a year.
One tool the university has in the works is a "bridge scholarship" program, he said. UA officials haven't announced the program and are still working on its criteria.
They intend for the new program to target a broader group of "underrepresented" students than its Silas Hunt Scholarship program as well as add to the students already helped by the Hunt program.
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 21, 23 on 09/27/2009