By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
A week ago, the Bowling Green State University Board of Trustees became the first institution of higher education in the state, and possibly the nation, to establish a standing committee on Diversity and Belonging.
In December, Chair Betty Montgomery initiated the creation of an ad hoc committee. The committee met for the first time earlier March 5.
Then, at the regular session the trustees, amended their bylaws, and the standing committee status was approved.
“I think it’s a moment to celebrate,” Montgomery said.
Trustee Linda Forte, who will chair the committee, said “it’s going to make a tremendous difference for the university in terms of the learning environment and solidifying the enrollment and how we draw people to the university.”
Jennifer McCary, who has served as the chief diversity officer since June 2019, said for the trustees to “show this level of support” is “an incredible achievement.”
She continued: “It will certainly help us to continue advance our diversity and advancement initiatives on campus. It sends a signal to our student body, our faculty, our staff that we are serious about trying to move forward to make sure everyone on our campus feels valued and supported and respected in their actions, and continued involvement in this is something that’s just monumental.”
In the committee’s morning meeting, Cecilia Castellano, the vice president for enrollment management, briefed the trustees on some of the post-pandemic problems related to recruiting students of color and low-income students.
In fall 2020, she said, 18 percent of enrolling first year students were students of color. That’s a decline. The largest loss was in African-American students, she said.
But when looking at head count, there were nuances.
The number of graduate students of color increased dramatically, from 100 students to 194. The online Master of Business Administration accounted for much of that growth, as did programs in Health and Human Services.
Also, the number of students of color among the top scholars recruited, increased by 15 percent.
The decline in enrollment came among students in the university’s lowest ability group.
Castellano insisted that it is BGSU’s mission to enroll those students. “We’re very passionate about making sure all students have an opportunity at Bowling Green,” she said.
She noted she was in that ability 5 group when she graduated from high school. Based on her ACT scores and GPA, “I probably should not have been admitted to Bowling Green.”
So she wants Bowling Green to recruit those students as well as the valedictorians of Start High School in Toledo and Cass Tech in Detroit.
The pandemic has made this more difficult. In general, those students as well as students of all ethnicities who are eligible for Pell Grants, tend not to start applying for college until April.
With remote learning last April, they did not have the support from school counselors to help them with the application process. This was true across the country.
BGSU did what they could with virtual events.
Castellano reported that nationwide the number of high school graduates only declined 1 percent last year, but the number of college applications declined by 9 percent. BGSU was one of the few universities to see an increase in applications.
But those national numbers still bothered Castellano.
While out running, she thought about getting a recreational vehicle and driving it to urban schools and holding recruitment drives.
She thought it was a farfetched idea, but McCary encouraged her. So in April BGSU will be part of a mobile “Drive to Apply” in Toledo along with the University of Toledo and Owens Community College.
She’s working with community organizations in Cleveland and Columbus.
Another key factor is getting students and their families to complete the FAFSA (the Free Application for Federal Student Aid) that is essential to getting scholarships.
BGSU personnel have offered a number of workshops in schools on completing the FAFSA. Though the staff is decked out in orange, these are not geared just to prospective BGSU students, Castellano said, but for all students. She wants everyone to have a chance to go to college somewhere.
It is important, Castellano said, to leverage dollars raised by the foundation to provide both merit and need-based scholarships.
BGSU did waive the requirement for students to provide ACT or SAT scores in fall. That has been extended until fall 2023.
The administration is looking at the data to determine if BGSU should permanently have test optional admissions.
