(Other on each chart above could be: American Indian, Pacific Islander, Unknown Race, White Non-Minority, or Multi-Race)
Part II
At the University of Virginia, minorities have a presence in the classroom and around the grounds. That is a sharp contrast to UVA's reputation 20 or 30 years ago.
Valerie Gregory, Associate Dean of Admissions at UVA, says "the university was referred to in the black community as a plantation and the only thing we could do is work here, we could never attend here."
These days out of the more than 14,000 Undergraduate students who attended UVA last year, more than 1,200 were black, about nine percent.
As we did at Virginia Tech, News7 gathered some black students at UVA to talk about race. We asked them whether they think the University of Virginia is racially diverse.
Daniel Grimes, a UVA Junior, told News7 "I'm not consciously aware of my race everytime I walk around the grounds so I feel very comfortable in the classroom."
Chloe Jordan, a UVA Junior, told News7 "I'd say it's pretty diverse campus compared to others my colleagues that go to other institutions."
That may be because UVA is centrally located in Virginia and it's a liberal arts college. But the UVA students we talked to admit it hasn't exactly been picture perfect.
The university had some well publicized racial incidents in 2003 and 2005. For example, an African American student running for student council president was assaulted during a racially motivated attack.
As a result, administrators say UVA's black population slightly went down. There was another incident last spring. A UVA student made racial slurs toward a minority student. It sent shockwaves through the campus once again.
Daniel Grimes told News7 "it was jarring thing for me just because even though I was from a majority white community at home, I never really experienced racism."
UVA used to award points to applicants based on race to give minority students an advantage. The university ended the practice in 2000, four years before the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that practice was unconstitutional at the University of Michigan.
Valerie Gregory's focus as a dean of admissions is to help increase minority enrollment at UVA. She admits it hasn't been easy. Gregory told News7 "when I first took this position and visited high schools, minority students particularly would say no way UVA because blacks just got there and they don't want us here.
For the last decade, UVA targeted black churches and high schools with high minority populations to encourage students to visit the campus.
Virginia Tech does something similiar but only for the last three years. Today, Virginia Tech and UVA allow race to be a factor in admissions, it just can't be the only factor. But both schools have much different minority populations. Virginia Tech's is about 16%- UVa's 26 percent.
Administrators believe one reason that minorities may be attracted to UVA is because of its AccessUVa program where students essentially get a free ride to the university. Now it's important to point out that's based on financial need, not race.
AccessUVa started seven years ago and this year more than a thousand students have been awarded a full scholarship to UVA. Virginia Tech started a similiar program last year... and this year 98 students will get a full scholarship to Tech.
Despite these efforts, the minority populations at Virginia Tech and UVA has only grown by 3-percent in the last decade.
Karen Sanders/Virginia Tech's Interim Vice President of Diversity told News7 "I would not agree that our programs are not working. The students are coming to Virginia Tech, there are being academically successful and they are being retained and graduated."
Valerie Gregory, of UVA, told News7 "Despite the fact of where their background of race whatever, anyone who wants to go should have the possibility of going so for that reason, our work will never be done."
UVA believes its minority population could grow to as high as 40 percent within the next five years. Gregory says that is because the hispanic population is exploding in this country.
News7 looked at the overall minority population of several state schools:
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) is 34 percent Old Dominion University (ODU) is 31 percent. Geroge Mason is 26 percent. William and Mary is 21 percent. Virginia Military Institute (VMI) is 14 percent. Radford University (RU) is 11 percent. James Madison University (JMU) is 10 percent.
PART I SPECIAL REPORT: Virginia Tech's diversity
Race is always a sensitive topic. Recently, Virginia Senator Jim Webb reignited the debate by calling for the end of many affirmative action programs.
In an editorial in the Wall Street Journal in July, Senator Webb said diversity programs have "...expanded so far beyond their original purpose that they now favor anyone who does not happen to be white."
Seven years ago, Virginia Tech voted to end a major affirmative action program and administrators admit that action from the Board of Visitors still haunts the university today.
News7 gathered a group of black students to talk about race.
We asked them whether they think Tech's campus is racially diverse.
Shyrah Thomas, a Virginia Tech junior, says "overall I feel like Virginia Tech is not as it should be or could be."
Joshua Owens, a Virginia Tech Senior, told News7 "overall probably not."
Ashley Perry, a Virginia Tech Senior, says "as far as African Americans, no not at all."
Of the more than 23,000 undergraduate students who attended Virginia Tech in 2009, 900 were black---less than four percent.
Perry says "the majority of my classes I might be the only black student in the class."
The students we talked to point out Virginia Tech is a rural school and many African Americans are attracted to a more urban setting. In fact, if you look at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond (VCU) and Old Dominion University (ODU) in Norfolk, both have black populations closer to twenty percent.
Virginia Tech Administrators also say the university is mainly an engineering and science school and blacks tend not to gravitate to those majors.
Whatever the reasons, the reality is while Virginia Tech's
overall minority population has grown recently especially among
Asians and Hispanics, black enrollment was down between 2003 and
2009.
Virginia Tech believes one reason it looks like its black population has gone down at least for the last two years is because of new federal guidelines. When students are checking off the box, students can either choose to label themselves as mixed race or not put their race.
At a recent ceremony, we asked President Charles Steger why Virginia Tech's black student population has been declining. Steger told News7 "Virginia Tech is very difficult to get admissions and I think when the word gets out it's hard to get in your probably get fewer students."
Another reason may be back in 2003 when the university's Board of Visitors voted to reverse a major affirmative action program.
No longer would Virginia Tech weigh race as a factor in admissions, hiring, and financial aid.
It caused such a huge uproar protests broke out on campus and eventually the Board of Visitors rescinded its vote.
John Rocovich led the board at the time and after a six year absence was recently reappointed to Tech's Board of Visitors by Governor Bob McDonnell.
Rocovich says he has no regrets about that original vote. He told News7 "I guess my position has always been the same as Martin Luther King and that is you ought to judge people by their content of their character and not the color of their skin."
Several months later, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled colleges and universities can't give students an advantage because of their race.
Karen Sanders is the Acting Vice President of Diversity at Virginia Tech and candidly admits the university is still reeling from Virginia Tech's Board of Visitors vote seven years ago.
She candidly admits the university is still reeling from the Board's vote seven years ago. Sanders told News 7 "you are exactly right the 2003 action that was taken by the Board of Visitors are the time impacted black student enrollment and it continues to haunt us today."
Virginia Tech has taken steps to increase minority enrollment.
In 2006, for the first time in history Tech canceled classes in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior and brought in Reverend Jesse Jackson to celebrate the day.
In the past three years, the university has increased efforts to visit every high school in the state with a high minority population.
In the spring, Virginia Tech also invites every minority student who has been accepted to the university to spend the entire weekend on campus. We understand 81 percent of students who attend that program end up going to Virginia Tech.
Despite these efforts, Virginia Tech still has one of the smallest black population of any public college in Virginia. It is currently at 3.8 percent.
Karen Sanders, Virginia Tech's Interim Vice President of Diversity told News7 "Oh no, it's not something that we are proud of and we're not pleased with that and that's why we've taken steps in recent years to turn that around."
Charles Steger, Virginia Tech's president, told News7 "our numbers are still too low but I think we are making some positive progress but it's not an easy challenge."
The minority students we talked to tell us they have no regrets about going to Virginia Tech but they wish this campus was more diverse.
Shyrah Thomas says "my experience here in college I expect them to shape and mold me for the outside world."
Jasmine Williams, a Virginia Tech Junior, told News7 "with diversity comes opportunities to learn new things and to meet new people and step out of your comfort zone."
Virginia Tech points out black student enrollment is slightly up in the fall of 2010.
The university also encouraged News7 to look at other state schools, especially UVA. We did just that and we'll have that part of the story Wednesday night on News7 at 6.
