With enrollment at the University’s Ann Arbor campus at an all-time high and an increase in underrepresented minority enrollment this year, students and faculty members expressed mixed reactions to the University’s changing demographics.

The University’s Office of the Registrar released figures last month stating that undergraduate enrollment increased by 3.1 percent and graduate enrollment by 6.7 percent from last year, for a total of 41,924 students on campus this semester. Additionally, the Office of the Registrar reported a 1.5-percent increase in the enrollment of underrepresented minority students at the University. This spike could, however, be attributed in part to changes in the Higher Education Opportunity Act reporting guidelines that altered the way data on student ethnicity is collected.

Student leaders and officials said though they are pleased with the uptick in underrepresented minority enrollment, more could still be done to have minority students enroll and stay at the University.

Nina Grant, director of Multi-Ethnic Student Affairs, said that while University officials are pleased with the number of underrepresented minority students who are offered admission, they have been working over the past year to increase the number that accepts admission.

In the past few years, even as the number of underrepresented minority students who accept offers of admission has risen, the number who actually enrolled has decreased — a trend that has changed this year.

As part of the effort to reverse this, Grant said MESA met with members of the Office of the Provost, the Office of Undergraduate Admissions and the Center for Educational Outreach each month during the 2009-2010 academic year to provide students with a way to “connect to the recruitment efforts.”

When asked whether or not she was pleased with the level of diversity on campus, Grant commented on the relative nature of the word. Diversity, Grant said, “is like cold. If I grew up in Florida and I’m here, it’s freezing cold to me, but if I’m from the Midwest this is a pretty good day. So I think diversity is a relative term — it’s based on somebody’s experience and exposure.”

Nonetheless, Grant stressed her approval of the “strong commitment” by students, faculty and administrators to increasing diversity. “It makes me proud to be part of an institution that has that level of commitment,” she said.

Andrea Hernandez, a third-year law student and co-chair of the Latino Law Students Association, suggested that to increase the number of accepted underrepresented minority students who choose to enroll, the University might consider offering more application fee waivers, scholarships and financial aid.

“I don’t doubt that everyone is working hard,” Hernandez said, “but the bottom line is that minorities are still in the minority, and we still have a long way to go in achieving a more diverse student body.”

LSA senior Samantha Martin, the Black Student Union spokesperson, echoed Hernandez’s sentiments, saying she would like to see more results from the University's efforts to attract underrepresented minority students. Martin said that while numbers have increased since last year, the general trend over the past several years has been a downward one.

Martin also discussed the need for better efforts to retain underrepresented minority students once they decide to enroll.

"I still see a lack of attention to those students as they come in, and a lack of active retention," she said. "Many people I knew when I came in aren’t here now, and that’s a problem."

Martin suggested that retention could be improved with a greater effort to educate students about racism on campus.