Features

PASADENA – The California Institute of Technology has the lowest percentage of black freshmen among the nation’s top 25 universities, according to a survey by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. 

The journal tracked the number of black students accepted at universities ranked the best by U.S. News & World Report this year. It found that only three of the 13 black students accepted by Caltech actually enrolled, which is slightly more than one percent of the freshman class. 

In contrast, 63 black students enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology this year. The university also had 443 black applicants compared to only 44 at Caltech. However, both schools reported a similar acceptance rate for black applicants, close to 29 percent. 

The leading schools in the survey were Duke University, the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Stanford University. The 2002 freshman class at these three schools was more than 10 percent black. 

The survey also found black enrollments declined this year by 6.6 percent at the University of California, Berkeley. There are 142 black freshmen, making up 3.9 percent of the first-year class. 

The survey said the university is still trying to recover from Proposition 209, which banned affirmative action at California state universities. As a result, black enrollments dropped from 273 in 1997 to 113 in 1998. 

Over the years, Caltech officials said they have made an effort to boost minority enrollment. In 1997, the university established presidential scholarships that considered diversity and merit. That year, Caltech had the largest number of black freshman, with eight students. 

“Change doesn’t happen overnight,” said Miriam Feldblum, a special assistant to Caltech President David Baltimore. “But we are very optimistic about all the different initiatives we’ve put in place.” 

Caltech has created new staff positions to focus on minority affairs, encouraged administrators to create scholarships and initiatives for underrepresented students and urged faculty members to expand outreach efforts. 

“If a prospective African-American student comes and sees very few (peers), that makes it more difficult. We initially had a very similar problem with women,” said Gary Lorden, a Caltech mathematics professor and former vice president of student affairs. 

John Dabiri, a black graduate student from Toledo, Ohio, said Caltech needs stronger recruitment efforts. 

“Some people worry about stigma of affirmative action, but I think there are so many well-qualified women and minorities in science and engineering now it really becomes a moot point,” he said.