Outreach offsets I-200 decline

UW minority enrollment has risen back to pre-Initiative-200 levels, in large thanks to the school's outreach program designed to encourage minority applicants.

The Diversity Outreach and Community Relations Program has sought to recruit underrepresented minorities for the past six years in an attempt to regain academic diversity.

With the passage of I-200 in 1998, prohibiting the UW from granting preferential treatment based on ethnicity, minority admission plummeted and, surprisingly, so did the number of minority applicants.

"They didn't feel welcome; they felt that the state institution was sending them a message," said Stephanie Miller, director of the outreach program. "A lot of (minority) students chose not to apply."

In response, former President Richard McCormick and the Board of Regents mandated a program to recruit underprivileged minorities from around the state.

The state-funded program uses UW student ambassadors to reach out to prospective students, encouraging them on their path to higher education.

Site counselors based around the state target black, Pacific Islander, Hispanic and American-Indian high school students by working within various schools with classroom presentations and workshops. The program is designed to work with students throughout their four years of high school.

"We are just now starting to see the yield from some of our activities," Miller said, noting that those students who are now graduating from high school have received four years of support from the program. "We are pretty much where we were prior to 1998."

The 2004 freshman class boasted a 3.04 percent enrollment of blacks, 1.27 percent American-Indian and 4.64 percent Hispanic/Latino. These numbers are on par with 1998 enrollment which shows 2.94, 1.26 and 4.65 percent for the respective demographics.

Statistics on Pacific Islanders were only recorded beginning in 2000 when the demographic had a .48 percent enrollment. Pacific Islanders made up .74 percent of the 2004 freshman class.

In 1999, enrollment statistics show about a one-third drop in minority enrollment from the previous year, with African American enrollment at 1.84 percent, American-Indian at .91 percent and Hispanic/Latino at 2.9 percent.

The Diversity Outreach and Community Relations Program was founded in June of the same year.

"It sure would have been nice and a lot easier if I had an ambassador come talk to me or do programs at my school," said Richard Lasso, a UW junior who also works as an outreach ambassador. "I missed out on that, so that's part of the reason that I enjoy doing it. I didn't get the opportunity, but I want to make sure other students do."

Lasso, who has a Latino background, attended Clover Park High School in Lakewood, a school that the ambassador program does not reach. The outreach program is only recruiting in a select group of schools throughout the state.

"We selected the high schools based on student demographics, so we looked for schools that had large populations of underrepresented students," Miller said.

In King County, six high schools are targeted: Chief Sealth, Cleveland, Franklin, Garfield, Rainier Beach and Renton.

"It's still difficult though," Miller said. "There is still that perception about the UW (that minorities aren't as welcome). It's also very competitive, and all students still have to compete against each other."