Black identity questioned in admissions

Despite what most schools would have you believe, black Americans are under-represented at top-tier universities, and that number, dissatisfying to some, has raised issues concerning black identity in academia.

During the Civil Rights Movement, affirmative action programs - like the one that Penn has - were instituted to open academic doors to black natives whose ancestors experienced racial injustice in America.

But according to a recent study, the so-called black populations at many universities counts students who don't fit that criteria, leading academic experts to review the current purpose of affirmative action and explore whether Ivy League universities, like Penn, should be making more of an effort to recruit black natives.

The study, "Black Immigrants and Black Natives Attending Selective Colleges and Universities in the United States," appeared this month in the American Journal of Education and referred to an admissions survey conducted seven years ago that found that, among black freshman entering 28 top colleges - including Penn - 27 percent were either first- or second-generation immigrants from Africa or the Caribbean, not from the U.S.

But the statistics from the article, which was co-written by Africana Studies professor Camille Charles, still hold weight today, shedding light onto the deeper topic of black representation at the University.

Dean of Admissions Lee Stetson said that African-Americans make up about eight percent of Penn's undergraduate population. This number does not differentiate between black natives - those with American roots - and black immigrants.

Stetson said that the admissions office does not make an effort to differentiate between the two groups, but rather, to diversify each Penn class as much as possible. Thus, there are no numbers available regarding how much of each group is represented.

But some professors and students said that this policy should be amended - or changed altogether.

The non-immigrant "African American population needs to be looked at separately," said Valerie Allen, director of the African American Resource Center.

"Otherwise, it makes the low number of [non-immigrant] African American students not seem so much of a concern," she said.

At the end of last semester, UMOJA, the umbrella organization for black groups on campus, held a discussion in December based on black identity in America.

"Blackness means everybody who is black. I don't see this as a problem," said College sophomore Erica Evans, co-political chairwoman of UMOJA and a black native. "But I do agree that affirmative action was meant to give black Americans an opportunity to overcome racial injustices."

Charles pointed out that many wrongfully think of the black community as a homogenous group with the same background and the same origin.

"At the level of the administration, they don't think about [these] issues," she said. "There is a consciousness among admissions officers that we need to create a critical mass of black students, but they aren't concerned with the origin of these students."

Penn's admissions policy, it seems, reflects that approach.

"I see America as the great melting pot," Stetson said. "We have people from all backgrounds here and if they are black, they still have that background."

To Wharton freshman Umar Henry, a black native, the over-representation of black immigrants is noticeable - and problematic.

"I was surprised when I got [to Penn] that [black natives] are even more under-represented than I thought." Henry pointed out that being from Michigan, where affirmative action policies are currently being "attacked, these issues particularly hit home."

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