In his new blog, Temple University Professor and political activist Marc Stier has written an interesting post about the changing face of his school: The Real Problem at Temple.
Looking at the declining enrollment figures for African-American students at the school, and considering Temple's recent efforts to attract suburban students, Stier wonders whether Temple is abandoning its traditional mission -- "to teach first generation college students for whom a college education is a key step up the class ladder." Stier writes:
Two years ago I walked into my first class of the semester and found that I had only two African American students in my class. (My classes had typically been over fifty percent African American when I started teaching at Temple eight years ago.) After the class was over I complained to an higher level administrator.
His response has been repeated as the company line for the last few years. Given the increase in the number of students, and especially students from the suburbs, the percentage of African American students at Temple was dropping.
Stier argues that recent changes at the university constitute "a real problem."
A robust conversation on the figures Stier cites, and on the direction of Temple as a whole, has sprung up in the comments to Stier's post. What do you think? Do you share Stier's concerns about Temple specifically, and diversity more generally? And if the students Stier describes are being turned away from the school, where are they supposed to go?
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Previously at Philly Future: What Would Johnny Ring Say? (6/6/05)
Elsewhere: Philadelphia Will Do looks at Temple's (blindingly white) ad campaign
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