Editor’s note: This article is part of a series of articles that attempt to take a closer look at the impact of this year’s decline in minority enrollment on the campus.

The University wants to promote an ethnically diverse climate for students, but the minority enrollment decline suggests that the University has not done enough to achieve its goal.

With the number of minority students down this year, some students, such as former Illini Union Board (IUB) member Oliver Hatchett Jr., said they feel the climate of the campus might suffer if the trend continues.

Hatchett, junior in communications, said his removal from the Illini Union Board last semester, with only a few weeks left in his term, was unexpected. Hatchett said he believes the removal was triggered by institutionalized racism.

“Majority of the board was white, and I was very outspoken,” Hatchett said.

However, current IUB President, Crystal Green, who was a board member at the time of Hatchett’s dismissal, said racism had nothing to do with it.

“The policy is if you miss three meetings you are dismissed from the board unless you have a good excuse – such as a car accident – for your absence,” said Green, who is African-American.

Green said Hatchett missed three meetings, and as a result an executive session was called to talk with him about his absences.

Nicole Jorwic, IUB’s vice president of finance, said IUB’s election procedure is lengthy.

“A person will fill out the application for the interview. The current board goes through the applications and narrows it down to whom they want to interview. The Board then comes up with the questions to ask,” Jorwic said. She said the interviewing process is not repeated for a board member who has served for one year, but if the person serves for two years, as in Hatchett’s case, they repeat the interview process.

After his dismissal, Hatchett decided to join Actions United, an organization formed to actively seek answers from the University’s administration concerning issues related to students of color, to work closer with other minority students on campus and to protect the rights of minority students on campus.

Nina Bell, another member of Actions United, said she fears that racial discrimination may occur more frequently if fewer minorities are on campus.

Bell said the organization is prepared to challenge the University on its minority outreach efforts in order to ensure ethnic diversity on campus.

“I feel that the time is right for this action, and African-American students are ready to act,” Bell said.

Actions United presented a proposal to the University before the end of the previous semester. Bell said the proposal addressed the low enrollment of African-American students, recruitment of more African-American staff, the retirement of the Chief and funding for the African American Cultural Program and African-American Research Studies.

The University has already begun to address the issue by creating outreach programs, such as Experience Illinois and the President’s Award Program.

Experience Illinois brings students who have been accepted to the University to visit the campus with their families, according to Stacey Kostell, associate director of undergraduate admissions.

“These programs such as Experience Illinois allow students to come to the campus and see the support system available for them on campus,” Kostell said. Students can come to the campus and meet with an adviser from the college to which they have been accepted, she added.

The University’s Peer Recruitment program also works with the Office of Admissions and Records. University students working for this program visit high schools and talk with minority students to encourage them to apply to the University.

“We are slightly ahead of last year as far as the number of (minority) students we have admitted, and we are also currently up in the number of those students who have accepted our offer of admission,” Kostell said.

Other universities have experienced a similar drop in minority enrollment.

Tyrone Winfrey, director of minority recruitment at the University of Michigan, said the university has also seen a drastic decrease in numbers of minority students on campus. He said the school has also stepped up its outreach programs.

At the University, students are proving to be a vital part to the recruitment effort of minorities. Actions United has already taken the first step by creating surveys that were passed out to African-American students on campus last semester.

Hatchett said Actions United is going to reach out to other cultures on the campus, as well, because decline in minority enrollment is a campus-wide issue.

“We have to build up our own community, and then we can step out and help others,” Hatchett said.

As a result of the group’s proposal to the administration last fall, the African American Cultural Program building was re-painted and furbished with new rugs. But Tiffany Johnson, sophomore in LAS, said that although she appreciates the gesture, the accommodations barely met the demands of the proposal.

“This is not enough. We asked for a lot more than that,” Johnson said.

However, Hatchett said he is confident the University will be responsive to the Actions United’s demands.

“The administration will respond to this in some shape or form, so we are not going to give up. Students are excited and motivated and we are mobilizing as a community,” Hatchett said.