Panel discusses minority recruitment

Attendees discussed how to attract more minorities and which groups are under represented. Campus leaders and Penn officials met yesterday for a tense, 1 1/2-hour discussion about the shortcomings of University programs geared toward increasing the number of minority faculty members and students. The key issue discussed was minority recruitment and retention, particularly the progress of University President Judith Rodin's 1996 plan to give increased amounts of funding to minority professors, and to provide larger financial aid packages to minority students. A panel of Penn officials answered questions from students about what the University is currently doing to accomplish Rodin's goals. The panel discussion was part of the United Minorities Council's Unity Week. Most of the 35 students and six panelists agreed that not enough was being done, but for the most part no one could agree on exactly what tactics to employ to increase recruitment. Also, those at the forum argued about which minority groups should receive attention first. Many different ideas were brought to the table. The general idea was to make Penn more attractive to minority students either through financial aid or cultural programs. Latino students pointed to the fact that there are African American and Asian studies programs, but no Hispanic studies program, which might make Penn less attractive to Latino students. Additionally, they pointed out that the percentage of Latino Americans in the United States will soon pass that of African Americans and all other minorities, but there are still fewer Latinos at Penn than African Americans and Asian Americans. Panel members kept reminding students that they needed the cooperation of student groups to recruit more minority students. "We need more critical mass helping out, especially getting more minority freshmen to help out," said Rodney Morrison, director of minority recruitment. Later on, students questioned why Asian Americans were not included in Rodin's minority recruitment and retention initiatives. "The plan was intended to be a strategy for increased numbers of underrepresented minorities, and Asian Americans are not underrepresented on Penn's campus," said Steve Schutt, Rodin's chief of staff. But Asian Pacific Student Coalition Chairperson Seung Lee, a College senior, pointed out that even though Asian Americans are not underrepresented at Penn, Asian American retention has been slowly dropping. He also said that Penn still has relatively few Asian-American faculty members. In the end, although no consensus was reached, the panel members and student leaders said they were happy that a dialogue had been started. "There are a lot of groups here, and we all have the same goals, just a different order of priorities," said Charles Howard, chairperson of the United Minorities Council.

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