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Deborah Freund (Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs)
My heart tells me that diversity is the most important goal for this university. We hope as educators that we will educate our students to be leaders in their professions, their communities, and their volunteer work. You can't be successful in a demographically changing world unless you are fluent - in different religious backgrounds, different genders, different racial backgrounds, etc.

We want to attract a large number of students of color - larger than now. It is crucial to our success. I am well aware that some students of color find this a chilly climate, and it is our responsibility to change that. We want a safe and welcoming community for everyone to be able to express themselves. We need to address their anger and fears. It is our responsibility to make that happen - for people to feel safe.

Horace Smith (Associate President of Undergraduate Studies)
When Professor Willie was here for the Brown v. Board of Education commemoration, he said that Harvard's entering class in 2004-05 will be 40% students of color (which does not include Asian students). What does that say about SU, which has been content with a much lower number, perhaps 10%? We need to start thinking much more broadly about the impact of diversity on the educational environment we're developing.

We need to plan for that to happen. Harvard understands diversity as its civic duty but also as a choice to advance their educational goals.

We currently enroll about 12,400 undergraduate students: 6.1% African American, 4% Latino, .5% Native American, and 5,2% Asian.

Our numbers for African American and Latino students have diminished; we've stabilized our overall enrollment but are losing our momentum for students of color. As we compare ourselves with peer schools, 60% have increased their enrollments of students of color. Something in our environment, our process, our world of students is keeping students away. Why? How can current students of color become ambassadors for us?

Nancy Rothschild (Assistant Dean of Admissions)
First I will speak about our general approach to recruiting students, and then I will address initiatives related to students of color and international students. There are three basic stages in the recruitment process: awareness, familiarity, and commitment. We begin by receiving a directive from the Chancellor's office regarding specific enrollment goals and the charge to improve quality and increase diversity.

The first stage of recruitment involves building awareness and developing a robust inquiry pool. We build contacts by purchasing names of prospective students, attending college fairs and college nights, visiting schools, our presence on the web, etc. Also, there is general visibility created by the reputation of the University and when we are in the news.

The next stage in the recruitment process is to convert inquiries to applicants by building familiarity with the institution. We do this by providing more in-depth information about academic programs and student life and through individualized communication. We offer personal interviews on campus and in the field, send e-mails, offer various chat rooms, and invite students and their families to visit the campus. The colleges and current students work very closely with us to help to tell our story.

We then turn to the final stage of commitment, when we encourage admitted students to enroll. While we offer admitted student programs in various metropolitan areas, bringing students and their families to the campus is the best strategy.

As we look at diversity recruitment, we focus most of our attention on the front end of the process to increase the size of our inquiry pool. We buy names through the College Board, participate in the Venture Scholars Program (which identifies students in underrepresented populations), search for transfer students by contacting community college students who have been successful, and attend college fairs and nights throughout the country that will attract diverse student populations.

Building relationships with high schools, agencies, and community programs that are engaged in preparing students for higher education is also an important part of our diversity initiatives. There is extensive outreach through our Metropolitan New York Admissions Office. While there are too many affiliations to mention now, some of them include Operation Link-Up, the Albert G. Oliver Program, Prep for Prep, and the High School for Leadership and Public Service. Within the City of Syracuse, we are actively engaged in the Gear-Up program and the Syracuse Challenge. Through this kind of outreach we help students to know more about opportunities at Syracuse University, and to be well prepared for higher education so they'll have college choices.

We also bring counselors to campus so they can see the University for themselves and encourage their students to consider Syracuse. Their reaction is often surprise about our beautiful campus and diverse student population. We have participated in the CRUSSH tour for many years. This includes Colgate, RPI, Union, Skidmore and Hamilton. This fall we will be joining the Finger Lakes Tour, which includes Ithaca College, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, and the University of Rochester. Susan Donovan, Dean of Admissions, recently created the Bridge Tour, a consortium with SUNY Binghamton and Cornell, specifically directed at counselors who work with students of color in the metropolitan New York area.

Throughout the second phase of recruitment, we seek to build familiarity. Communications and personal contact are very important. The schools and colleges at SU help us in terms of individualized outreach. As noted earlier, we visit with prospective students off-campus and on-campus, offer personal interviews, and communicate electronically. In the future, we would like to work more closely with our student ambassadors to host an overnight visit with prospective students in the fall.

At the final stage of recruitment, we encourage all admitted students of color to visit campus. The campus visit is the single most important activity. With the help of the academic divisions we call each admitted student of color to encourage participation in one of our Spring Receptions or Multicultural Spring Weekend (about 130 students this spring). Multicultural Spring Weekend is multi-faceted. It includes academic dinners in the colleges for students; a parents dinner with speaker Colleen Bench, Director of the Parents Office; the Spring Reception program; recreational activities in the afternoon; a closing Presentation and Dessert Reception with speakers James Duah-Agyeman, Director of Multicultural Affairs, and Professor Dan Holliman addressing academic success; and a karaoke dance party.

We address financial considerations in order to make Syracuse a viable option. We are competing with many, many other fine schools for the best students.

International recruitment is a little different. The challenges there relate more to world issues than things we have control over (e.g., SARS, visa restrictions, war). We have less direct contact, though we know it's important to our recruitment success. For many years we have participated in the Linden Asia Tour and last year we went to various countries in Latin America. In addition, we coordinate with faculty, administrators, and alumni to cover college fairs in other countries.

Monthly chatrooms for our international students have been very helpful. We have streamlined the admissions decision process, using email as well as regular mail. Right now more than half of our international applicant pool is already studying in the US. About 25% of the applicants are from Asia, and 25% are from everywhere else. The most attractive programs are engineering, computer science, management, and VPA

Pat Burak (Slutzker Center for International Services)
I indirectly recruit international students, both undergrad and grad. We have over 2,000 students who have SU affiliation, and a few more at SUNY ESF and UC ' 2,437 students. How do they find out about us? Word of mouth and reputation -- the sons and daughters of students who were here before. Despite economic and political difficulties, students still believe it's worthwhile to come.

The Writing Program is central to that, teaching students to write and understand across cultures. To write in another language requires far more sophisticated skills than to read and to speak. You have to think in another language - writing teachers help them learn how to think in English.

Our students must write and must learn how to express their ideas in good English. Part of this is cultural. One student said I don't have the courage to speak in class, or I am afraid to express ideas because they may not say what I'm thinking. Some topics are harder too. The Brazilian student who said, My woman will be here soon. That sounds different in English. Inflection matters. Our idiomatic expressions are hard for them. Reality is structured by language and cultural context, including caste.

We recruit by example, reputation, and hospitality.

Students find support from departmental secretaries, from faculty, etc. But it's not perfect - we have a great deal to learn. We as Americans are very reluctant to admit what we don't know. Take this opportunity to learn more about the world.

Anne Shelly and Barbara Yonai (Executive Director of Student Support and Retention & Director of CSTL)
Anne and Bobbi have collaborated a long time on retention studies, both qualitative and quantitative measures.

[They showed charts with the graduation rates and drop out rates in terms of the categories required by the Federal Government: Asian, African American, Hispanic, Non-Res, Unspecified, Caucasian, and all-University.]

Consistently by the end of four and six years, the differences in cumulative graduation rates shows Caucasians graduate at a consistently higher rate.

When these numbers were presented to the Student Retention Council, the question was, why? We did a study of three cohorts - about 400 'leavers' - 50% interviewed. We focused on the reasons for their leaving and who the students were. There were no differences by school college, gender, ethnicity, but big differences by the GPA range and cumulative GPA. So we looked at the high GPA leavers, and interviewed 70% of them. We got interested in the 3.5 or higher GPAs who had left Syracuse.

The number one reason for leaving (regardless of GPA, etc.) was "I don't fit." What students meant when they said that differed. African American students said 'fit' worked along ethnicity lines. They were so surprised by what a white campus was, and what that meant. Many mentioned were unhappy being in a class and being asked to speak as the one representative of their group.

The high GPA students talked about class - the rich kids and the Greek kids - the sense that they can't find anyone to talk to intellectually.

The number one reason among the high GPA leavers was that courses were not intellectually challenging enough - and WRT 105 came up a lot. Those who had positive experiences, had wonderful things to say. But when it came down identifying the courses that didn't meet intellectual challenges, 100% of the time it was lower division A&S courses.

The anecdotal data claims SU is too expensive. No, the leaver reason was value - it's not worth the money.

One bright spot - the students who leave have doubts as early as October, and they are talking to their parents about leaving at Thanksgiving break, but they come back spring semester. So the retention council is asking, how do we identify those students (3.5 - 4.0 GPAers) in the fall and address their concerns in the spring?

As the selectivity of the classes increase and as the profile of the entering class increases, the issue of intellectual rigor will. We need to challenge these students.

DISCUSSION

[1] Why do students of color or international students want to come to SU?

Nancy: Our size is attractive to students, because there are lots of choices academically - lots of programs, lots of majors/minors. They look at special opportunities. They are looking at 'product value.' Though fun is important, it is mostly about the academic choices and the outcome.

Horace: we have a lot going for us, and this isn't different for students of color. We do need to recruit faculty of color and advertise that more broadly. We haven't communicated that effectively, to explain how this will affect students of color. For example, Georgetown has Washington DC to attract students of color. Duke, too, is in a progressive, warm climate, etc. We don't have those natural attractions, so we need to establish references that would give us a competitive edge - e.g., recruiting high profile faculty of color.

Pat: International undergraduate students are mostly self-supported by their families, because they aren't eligible for many work study programs, etc. We have a family from Lebanon who graduated five PhDs from SU - based on family membership and word of mouth.

[2] Could you speak to the role of cohorts, for example the McNair students?

Horace: I think it's too soon to tell. The potential is there. The same characteristics that would attract any student would attract students of color. What we can't capitalize from is creating the image of SU as being caring and nurturing - which would encourage students of color to choose us. We've become smug in ways, complacent. The world has moved beyond us. 10% is a very dismal statistic to think about in an enrollment the size of Syracuse. We have about 1000 students + in the context of 12,000 students. And the faculty representation is worse. Fewer administrators are now African American - and other institutions have worked much harder to do much better. I'm disappointed that we are not more progressive in a world that has become so much more diverse.

Anne: On the positive side, we have some pockets in some programs, like Engineering and IST, and that really support students of color in their professional life (mentors, networking, etc.).

[3] How is the community of Syracuse itself a recruiting resource?

Nancy: It's a challenge on the undergraduate level. We talk about the cultural opportunities, but students don't see a lively downtown scene- plus the weather. We rely upon the university community.

Horace: We're a residential campus. The drawing power is what this campus has to offer in its residential nature.

Anne: The university does a good job of connecting to the city, though. We have grabbed hold of first generation students and worked with them - here's the skill set you need, here are mentors, etc. We can partner with the local school district and community to raise awareness and get skill sets going.

[4] What is the campus like for students - in dorms, in classes?

Anne: In the leavers study, they say that they have rarely talked to an adult. In the dorms, they are bumping into people who are relatively hostile. How do we make sure that every student has a meaningful connection to a knowledgeable adult? Hannah Richardson, from the Management School, sent a personal email to the high GPAers, and said that high achieving students often need more advising, and over 50% of the students came to see her. They came in with a game plan in hand, but had no idea of how to do it. They were only talking to their peers.

[5] I came up in the Syracuse Challenge, I knew it was greatly being reduced, and there is a whole talent pool that is not being addressed. These kids don't think there's any chance for them. What can we do to improve the Syracuse Challenge?

Horace: I'm not sure we've found the right means of communication internally and externally to make it clear to students and their families why they should come, even though we have these great resources.

[6] Does the issue of recruitment have implications that are even broader? For example, smaller liberal arts colleges have made diversity an extremely important goal because all students (including white students) don't want to go there unless the student population is diverse. This is a larger campus, but do you think these concerns will also make themselves known here too? Will students feel that the campus isn't diverse enough?

Nancy: There is so much that we're doing, and there's room to do more. We welcome ideas or approaches. I'm concerned if in any way you have the sense that it's not enormously important to us. Every aspect of our admissions planning includes diversity; it's primary in all of our thinking. We need to do more with outreach and our ties with alumni. It's about being connected. We welcome more ideas. We do have trouble engaging the faculty and administrators of color, because they are busy, but we want more contact.

[7] Did you ask if SU was the first choice school for those who left?

Anne: The vast majority of them chose SU first.

[8] In terms of the whole environment that the student encounters, what kinds of connections are people in the retention office making with the dorms etc. to make the space more comfortable or safer in their 'private' lives?

Anne: We are working closely with ORL, and we've tried to follow up on several things. We have a follow up to the JumpStart program, so we are there to talk throughout the fall. But it's a small number. Two things that students have told us are very problematic: the old housing process that put students of color in one place, white kids in another. But students have said, in the new process, we don't like to be spread out so that we become the people who make the dorms diverse. Second, some first year students are placed in dorms with sophomores, and feel very isolated.

Bobbi: Some people are exploring how learning communities fit into this and make things better for students.