University of Colorado Struggles with Diversity

The Denver Post has an interesting article about colleges struggling to create a "diverse" campus. The article focuses on the University of Colorado at Boulder and explores some of the reasons why the campus does not even come close to the same percentages of minorities that the state itself has. As the article reports, "The Boulder campus is under pressure to boost its 1.6 percent black population and 6 percent Latino population and build a student body that looks more like Colorado - a state that is 3.9 percent black and 18.7 percent Latino." I think one of the main reasons why the school does not meet these small percentages of minority students is that there is less and less funding each year for the University. The article does devote some attention to this as it states, "As one of the lowest-funded state higher-education systems in the nation, the university lacks funding to attract low-income students, particularly out-of- state students who would have to pay $21,000 in annual tuition. Students who chose not to enroll cited cost as a main reason."

Click here to read the article.

--Tom Hayes