What's New North Florida Minority Enrollment Lags Without Affirmative Action - Brief Article

Black Issues in Higher Education, May 25, 2000

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. -- Black enrollment at the University of North Florida, where affirmative action ended in 1989, lags behind other campuses in the state, a university administrator acknowledged last month.

The testimony came during an administrative hearing on challenges to Gov. Jeb Bush's One Florida plan, which would do away with affirmative action for admission to all Florida universities and in state contracting.

State University System Chancellor Dr. Adam Herbert abolished racial preferences at North Florida when he was president there, says Lynda Lewis, assistant provost for the 12,300-student campus.

North Florida instead has relied on outreach programs to help minority highschool students in the Jacksonville area prepare for college, she says.

Although Black enrollment at North Florida increased from 6.9 percent in 1989 to 9.9 percent in 1999, it was lower than the system's 14 percent level and the 12 percent enrollment at Florida State University, Lewis acknowledged under cross-examination. The university also trails the University of South Florida, Florida Atlantic University and Florida International University, she says.

North Florida's overall minority enrollment, including Hispanics, American Indians and Asians, was 18.6 percent in 1999, up about 50 percent from 12.2 percent 10 years earlier.

"We're not using race for admission," Lewis told reporters later. "If I were using race for admission I probably would be up near 24 percent, 25 percent."

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People and the National Organization for Women as well as a Miami woman and her son, a high school student, asked for the hearing to prevent Bush from removing racial and gender preferences in admissions and contracting.

Bush contends his One Florida program actually will increase minority representation through better oversight and a Talented Twenty program. The latter would guarantee state university enrollment, although not necessarily in a student's preferred school, for the top 20 percent of each public high school graduating class if a student has taken college preparatory courses.

Lewis, who chaired a task force that made recommendations for implementing Talented Twenty, says she believes it would increase minority enrollment throughout the system and compliment North Florida's outreach efforts.

She says North Florida has identified 86 students at four Jacksonville high schools with high minority enrollment who are in the top 20 percent but cannot be admitted because they have not taken entrance exams.