JACKSON, Miss.
U.S. District Judge Neal Biggers Jr. has directed
the state College Board to monitor decreasing freshman enrollment at
Mississippi’s historically Black institutions [HBCUs). In the past
couple of years, there has been a noticeable decrease in freshmen at
Jackson State. Alcorn State, and Mississippi Valley State universities,
figures show. And while overall Black enrollment is up 7.3 percent at
the state’s eight universities since Biggers ordered new admission
standards in 1995, the freshman enrollment to decrease.
“The board is directed to continue monitoring the various elements
that affect freshman enrollment and advise the court of its findings,”
Biggers wrote in his four-page order last month.
“I’m delighted that they are going to be looking closely at this.”
said Robert A. Kronley, senior consultant to the Southern Education
Foundation. “We said before that the combination of new admission
standards and the abolition of remediation — and the way its been
done, the fast implementation of it — threatened access for Black
students and the current numbers prove that.”
The president of one of the schools to be monitored agreed with
Kronley’s assessment and said the decreases were to be expected, given
the new admissions requirements put in place by the courts. And
besides, he said, his institution has been monitoring its enrollment,
retention, and graduation rates all along.
“Certainly I don’t have any problem with them monitoring us. We do
that all the time, anyway. We monitor by sex, age, test scores,
everything,” said Mississippi Valley State President Dr. William W.
Sutton, who added, “He [Biggers] just wants that [monitoring data]
before the courts so that it appears like they are doing something.”
College Board members say the decline of freshmen at Jackson State,
Mississippi Valley State, and Alcorn State is a legitimate concern.
