U. of Virginia transcends past to earn highest graduation rate of blacks among state schools

The University of Virginia (Charlottesville), which only began admitting Black students in the 1960s after a court order, now has the highest graduation rate for Blacks of any high-ranking, state-supported institution in the nation, according to The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

Eighty-four percent of the Black students who entered the University of Virginia between 1986 and 1989 graduated within six years, the journal says. The graduation rate for White students was 93 percent.

The high percentage of Blacks graduating from the school today contrasts with the school's past. It was once known for its football fans who waved Confederate flags, and in 1976, poor race relations stimulated Black students to stage a protest rally.

Officials at the school attribute its success in retaining and graduating Black undergraduates to a formal program for Black students, according to a recent New York Times article.

The program includes peer advisers, faculty mentors and a parents' advisory association. It also involves personal touches like birthday cards to every Black freshman from a dean's office.

"You've got to give them credit for the stuff they are trying to do" says the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education managing editor Bruce Slater in the article. "Its a school that 35 years ago didn't let Black students in the door."

Black students make up about 11 percent of the student body at the school. The percentage is one of the highest in the country for an institution that's not historically Black.

The University of Virginia has 11,000 undergraduates.

The school's graduation rate is a major factor for Black parents who decide to send their children to the university, Patricia A. Broussard, chairwoman of the Black parents' association, told the paper.

The university starts connecting with Black students the summer before their freshman year. Peer advisers, who are all Black upperclassmen, correspond with the students during the summer.

When the students arrive on the campus in the fall, designated mentors meet with Black freshmen weekly for meals, social events or study sessions.

The school uses the association to develop relationships with the families of Black students. The association has 450 members.

At the end of their freshman year, Black students are encouraged to sign up with a faculty mentor in the field of their choice in an attempt to continue the personal attention the students receive in their first year.