College of Charleston hopes to boost campus diversity

College of Charleston officials hope to enroll 100 more black and other minority students next year to stem the decline in diversity on campus.

Interim president Conrad Festa said several efforts are under way, including considering admitting students whose SAT scores are slightly below the freshman-class average, a partnership with Trident Technical College to develop a "bridge" program to help students successfully make the transition from a two-year to a four-year institution and the administration of a schoolwide "campus climate" survey to determine how comfortable different groups of students feel on campus.

The number of minority college students is rising nationally, Festa said, but at the College of Charleston, "we're not getting our share."

In 2002, nearly 9 percent of the school's undergraduate students were black, and about 3 percent were other minorities. This fall, only 6.5 percent of undergraduates were black, and 2.5 percent were other minorities.

About 30 percent of South Carolina residents are black, and about 3 percent are from other minority groups.

Festa said with his interim role, which ends when George Benson takes possession of the presidency Feb. 1, he's trying to keep up the momentum on recent efforts to make the college more diverse.

He said the goal of increasing minority enrollment by 100 is "just a goal, something to shoot for."

"It's a good target that's achievable," he said.

He also said he's not sure why so few minority students enroll, but he thinks it's likely because of the school's increasingly high admission standards.

"We've heard reports across the state that the word on the street (among black potential students) is don't bother to apply to the College of Charleston," he said.

The college's freshman class this year had an average SAT score of 1,220, the highest of any public school in the state.

But, Festa said, "minority students don't compete as well on the SAT" as white students. He doesn't know why that's true. "It's a mystery to me," he said.

However, he said, many minority students meet the school's other standards, including having high grade-point averages and class ranks.

The SAT, he said, is not "the be-all and end-all." He said he would consider accepting students with SAT scores of 1,100 or 1,050 if they met the other admission standards.

"There's a link between the SAT and college success," he said, "but in the minds of many statisticians it's a weak link."

He plans to make an effort to encourage blacks and other minorities to apply to the college if they are interested in enrolling.

It's important for minorities to see the college as a place that will welcome them, he said, because "the competition is fierce" for high-achieving minority students among higher-education institutions statewide and across the country.

He also said negotiations are under way with officials at Trident Technical College to make it easier for students to transfer to the College of Charleston after a year or two. About 27 percent of students at Trident are black, and about 5 percent are from other minority groups.

The effort might include programs to help students develop connections to the college while still attending the technical school.

Festa also said a "campus climate" survey is under way.

Von Bakanic, a sociology professor at the college who designed the online survey, said officials hope the results will help them understand how comfortable different groups of students feel on campus. About 2,800 students, faculty and staff members have completed the entire survey, she said, and many others completed at least some of it.

"We had a very good response," she said, "more than I ever dreamed."

Festa said that when the survey data is analyzed, the college's diversity staff will use it to "lay out the problems and decide how to solve them."