Bringing the right mix to campus

By Sharon Lin

Although March and April are the prime months for college decisions, admissions at Yale is a year-round process. Admissions officers travel around the world to spread interest in the University, and alumni interview applicants to add a personal aspect to the process. Student recruitment coordinators plan an exciting slate of activities to attract accepted freshmen. Underlying all of this, however, is Yale's ongoing effort to recruit minority students.

Breaking down the numbers

The ethnic background of admitted applicants at Ivy League universities is always a heavily scrutinized, and often controversial subject. One recent admissions issue that has spurred discussion at Yale is the apparent drop in Asian-American applications and matriculations. The Class of 2001 has only 189 students identifying themselves as Asian-American, compared to 242 in the Class of 2000, and 229 and 212 in the Classes of 1999 and 1998, respectively. This represents a drop from 17.2 percent of the class to 14.5 percent.

There was so much concern about this decline that the Asian-American Students' Association (AASA) organized a meeting on Mon., Mar. 30 with Rob Jackson, director of minority recruitment for Yale undergraduate admissions, to discuss the decreases. "We were hoping they would reveal the applicant and admit statistics," AASA Political Action Co-Chair Andy Song, BK '00, said. "[Jackson] didn't promise, so we weren't expecting it, but if they were really willing to share..." Song said that the purpose of the meeting was to give concerned students a chance to seek an explanation. "As some of the student leaders, we're only trying to be a voice for those who are concerned. I was glad [Jackson] was willing to confront and answer some questions even if he was only able to give us half answers."

"Last year, Asian-American applications went down, and matriculation rate also decreased," Jackson admitted. He pointed, however, to a decrease in other minorities as well. "The largest, most dramatic drop was in Puerto Rican students," Jackson said, noting a 40 percent decline, This was especially disheartening because Assitant Dean of Student Affairs Edgar Letriz-Núñez made a personal recruiting trip to Puerto Rico. Jackson did report slight "increases in Chicano, African American, and Native American matriculations." He insisted, however, that "there are not any concerted efforts to decrease the number of Asian-Americans. Numbers just are the way they are. I can't tell you why the numbers went down--it would just be speculation."

According to Jackson, the Admissions Office suggested that one possible reason for decreasing Asian enrollment was that Yale does not have well-known science and engineering programs--something Asian applicants tend to be interested in. "If this is true," Song said, "I think that's a really, really bad stereotype."

Minority Recruiter and Bulldog Days Co-Coordinator Simmi Singh, CC '98, while concerned about the drop in Asian-American enrollees, did not speculate about its source. "I don't understand it myself--numbers fluctuate, but we do similar things from year to year." Jimmy Ho, BR '99, thought that a possible reason for decreasing Asian-American enrollment was that "Yale is not dedicated to East Asian Studies or languages, or South Asian Studies and having tenured Asian-American professors."

In continuing to assure his audience that these numbers are nothing but an aberration, Jackson said that there is a coalition of Ivy League and Seven Sisters Colleges financial aid officers that "has pledged to increase diversity" at their respective institutions. In addition, Jackson praised student recruiters such as Singh for being "very active in ensuring diversity." He pointed to a letter writing campaigns and phon-a-thons as ways that undergraduates get involved with minority recruitment. Singh also mentioned upcoming phon-a-thons as a tool the Admissions Office and Minority Recruitment Program uses to encourage minority matriculations. She noted that the "Fly-Out" program, where current Yale undergraduates travel to their home communities throughout the year to drum up applications, has "worked particularly well in the Chicano community."

In his closing remarks attempting to dispel the myth that Yale is unfairly singling out Asian-Americans as a less academically worthy group, Jackson pointed out that Yale has had "trouble matriculating males of all minorities." Most African American Yalies are women (about 60 percent). Finally, he suggested that as the applicant pool becomes more multi-racial, there will be increasing numbers of applicants checking the "Other" box on their forms, thus decreasing figures for other ethnic minorities.

Jackson hopes that the disturbing numbers from the Class of 2001 are not the start of a trend, or at least, a Yale-specific trend. This year, according to Jackson, "other schools have also had a drop in numbers of applications from Asian-Americans." He was quick to add, however, "Harvard's numbers are steady--they almost always have twice the number of Asian-American [applicants] as Yale." Jackson, who seems to consider the recruitment of minorities as an intense competition between universities, also noted some other exceptions. "Columbia and Stanford went up [in Asian-American matriculants], but we beat them [and Harvard] in the Puerto Ricans and Native Americans. We are winning the competition in some ways."

Coming attractions

Yale wants you. It sent you that letter from Dean of Admissions Richard Shaw offering a place in the Class of 2002. Now it needs to convince you that you want it, too. Everyone hopes that the sun will shine when the prefrosh visit, coaxing undergraduates outside onto college lawns to read and toss footballs, recreating the halcyon pictures in the admissions packet.

In the past, Yale offered two separate prefrosh programs on consecutive April weekends: one for all accepted students and one exclusively for minorities. In 1996, when Yale changed from early action to early decision, Future Freshman Days was merged with both Early Action Days and Minority Weekend. This year's Bulldog Days are scheduled from Wed., Apr. 15 through Fri., Apr. 17. Recent prefrosh programs have been affected by scheduling problems and criticisms about the lack of minority-specific activities. "This year, we worked really hard to blend the Minority Recruitment Program with regular Bulldog Days...to make sure we were better joined," Bulldog Days Housing Coordinator Sunny Gettinger, TC '99, explained. "We added a Diversity at Yale panel. We are also diversifying the regular panels." According to Gettinger, not only will the panelists be diverse in academic interests and extracurriculars, but they are also ensuring that the panels are ethnically diverse. Despite the occasional controversies, "I really have no problems with the programs being combined," Singh remarked, adding that the Bulldog Days coordinators had been considering "trying to recreate or incorporate the two separate programs."

The consensus was, however, "If you want to celebrate Yale's diversity, why not integrate the two?" Singh said. She also emphasized that the old minority weekend was a duplicate of the Future Freshman Days open to all accepted freshmen. "It's hard to come up with something tangible," she explained. "We are keeping in mind all sorts of diversity--geographical, interests...we have to work with our volunteer base."

Gettinger also said that the program is trying to incorporate buildings such as the Afro-Am and Slifka Centers for larger activities. As for combining the minority freshman weekend with Bulldog Days, she commented, "It's not great but it's certainly a better compromise" than having two separate, expensive programs with repetition of the diversity and other panels. "It's too expensive--it's better to be pooling our resources...we've been working on this since the beginning of first semester."

Song reported that AASA has been working closely with recruitment coordinators all year. "We wanted to have a reception at the Asian-American Cultural House with the various groups, kind of like a bazaar for the prefrosh," Song said. "There is a significant number of Asian-Americans at Yale but when people come as prefrosh they only know the things they see, such as if there is a cultural house or ethnic programs." For the minority prefrosh, Yale offers the option of staying with a host of the same ethnicity.

A PROPer welcome

Once freshmen get here, Yale offers three pre-registration programs. Unlike Bulldog Days, a separate pre-registration program exists for minorities. Like Bulldog Days, there are programs geared toward both minorities and non-minorities as well. FOOT, a four or six-day long student-led backpacking trip is perhaps the best known, but there is also PROP (Pre-Registration Orientation Program) and Freshperson Conference (FPC). PROP is a free, five-day long program for minorities held on the Yale campus prior to FPC, which takes place at a nearby campsite. Students can do both PROP and FPC, but cannot register for both FOOT and PROP. "PROP and Frosh Conference are still on," Gettinger said, adding that "the Dean's Office is expanding the International Students' orientation" that is also offered.

"[PROP] used to be a Puerto Rican program in the '70s, standing for Puerto Rican Orientation Program, Singh said. "There was a higher number of applicants from Puerto Rico itself...so Yale created it specifically for them." According to Singh, "[PROP] used to be much longer and more academically geared to bring them up to speed because of differences in the Puerto Rican education system...now it's been whittled down to five days."

The program, which takes place on campus, is still more "academically focused" than FPC or FOOT, and includes "a series of writing workshops" where participants have their essays evaluated and discussed. PROP also offers lessons in notetaking and other study skills. Some PROP classes have a science lab focus while others are more for humanities. PROP also has introductory workshops for attendees who may not be familiar with the operation of computers. In addition to the academic aspects of PROP, ethnic counselors, residential college deans, and other Yalies participate in discussion panels.

Whichever program Yale's minority freshmen pick, all are bonding experiences that prepare freshmen for the Yale experience, replete with opportunities to participate in cultural activities of their choice.

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