Students come to our campuses with big dreams and exciting plans for the future. Many aspire to become scholars, others seek a journey of self-discovery, while others are excited by the cadre of academic courses offered to them and the opportunity to decipher which field will best suit them. Many students going to college assume they will graduate, but a population of them -- in many cases, those that are poor and nonwhite -- will struggle with the fact that their college dreams might fall through the cracks at any time.

In a recent issue of Newsweek, an article titled, "Minority Report" discusses the challenge that many colleges face in graduating minority students. "The graduation rates for blacks, Latinos and Native Americans lag far behind the graduation rates for whites and Asians," the article states. "As the minority population grows in the United States, low college-graduation rates become a threat to national prosperity."

The higher education community knows how important it is to support these minority students and help them succeed in the classroom. Their success will not only result in a more well-educated population, but having the presence of minority students on U.S. campuses positively impacts the overall educational experience for all students. In the Winter 2005 issue of Liberal Education (Association of American Colleges and Universities) UCLA professor Mitchell Chang discusses the impact of racial and ethnic diversity on U.S. higher education in his article, "Reconsidering the Diversity Rationale." Chang's studies indicate that "racial and ethnic compositional diversity can create a rich and complex social and learning environment that subsequently can be engaged as an educational tool to promote all students' learning and development." He further asserts that the overall educational impact of racial diversity is strongest when there is a high level of student engagement or involvement and that it is up to institutions to create experiences that are mutually supportive and reinforcing.

At Jesuit institutions, there are many efforts underway to support and increase minority enrollment, participation and retention. One such effort is the Jesuit Network for Equitable Excellence in Higher Education (JNEE), which is housed at the University of San Francisco and funded by the Lumina Foundation. JNEE is comprised of representatives from Jesuit schools that seek to identify successful practices at Jesuit institutions that support the access, recruitment, academic achievement, and graduation rates of first generation, low income, and ethnic minority students. JNEE is in the midst of conducting a retention study, and the findings will be shared with participating institutions.

On several Jesuit campuses, there are initiatives in place that work with prospective or incoming minority students to prepare them for college. A good example of this and one that we profile in this issue of Connections, is the ACCESS program at Loyola Marymount University, which provides a select group of incoming minority freshmen with an intense three-week program focused on the sciences and engineering. The program prepares students for the academic rigors of college and introduces them to the fields of engineering and science, areas they might not consider majoring in while in school.

According to the AJCU Fact Files, the average percentage of the minority undergraduate population increased from 23.86% in 2007-08 to 24.2% in 2008-09. Although it is positive that the number increased, the fact remains that roughly a quarter of our campuses are comprised of minority students. Can we do better? As President Obama would say, "Yes, we can," and we're hopeful that the initiatives that Jesuit campuses have put in place will help increase these numbers.

In addition to the diversity projects and programs focusing on students, the AJCU office is conducting a diversity survey that will look at the minority population of faculty, administrators and staff at Jesuit institutions. That study is underway and, once complete, will provide us with important data on the diversity profile of our campus leaders.

Wishing you much success with all of your ideas and efforts to improve your campuses and especially those focusing on diversity!

All best wishes,

Melissa C. Di Leonardo