An often-expressed apprehension within the Black community is that
traditionally White institutions were never really committed to
integration, diversity, or affirmative action. The fear was that many
of these colleges undertook halfhearted minority student recruitment
and retention efforts and occasional Black faculty/staff appointments
while waiting for relief from conservative courts, legislatures and
voters.
Given the recent legal legislative and political environment, that relief seems to have arrived.
Colleges can achieve their goals if real commitment exists – as seen
by the fact that it is common for colleges to surpass multi-million
dollar fundraising campaigns.
The issue of whether there ever was real commitment for access and
equity, however, remains. And, of course, there are many opportunities
to demonstrate and prove it.
What follows is a small representative sample of actions and
activities that transcend rhetorical commitment. This sample is by no
means definitive or exhaustive, but it shows that there remains
individual and institutional commitment that has weathered the current
storm. We will all find out in the next few years if this commitment
will reverse, or move forward.
Engineering Diversity
African American and Hispanic students can be hard to find in
engineering and the hard sciences, particularly at the graduate level.
That is one reason why Georgia Institute of Technology stands out.
