Last winter, after a racist video was shared by a Texas Tech student, the Black Student Association spent the winter break carefully crafting a list of suggestions for the university. They wanted to help build a more welcoming environment for the students of color on campus. In mid-January after a townhall meeting between students and administrators, they presented this list to the university administration. Together they created a set of actionable goals.
While COVID has halted many things, it hasn’t stopped administration from working towards these goals. President Lawrence Schovanec says that recruitment of students of color as well as faculty and staff has remained a priority even through the campus being closed.
According to the president, enrollment numbers for first time college students and transfers is up to nearly 900 compared to this time last year. But the number of Black student confirmations isn’t where he would like to see it.
According to recent enrollment numbers, the number of Black prospective students who had applied was up in the double digits, Schovanec says. “However, the confirmations are still we think too low.” Confirmations of Black students is still less than five percent, which he says is up, but “It’s something we have to continue to work on.” The university has strategies to do so.
Part of that strategy involves identifying schools with large Black populations, where the students are actively preparing for college. He says Tech has had well over 300 visits to those schools in the past year. Another incentive for recruitment in the works is an endowment for incoming students, and they’re working with representatives from the BSA to write it.
“We’ve asked those students to write some of the opening material,” the President says. Administration would like the writing in this endowment to be the students’ voices. “It’s not just focused on Black or African American students, it’s for those who support the causes that are important to them and also other diverse student groups,” Schovanec says.
Other actionable goals include the construction of a Black cultural center on campus, which has halted but will resume in the fall. “Also, we are going to create a Texas Tech intercultural center in the Student Union building,” he says. There will be a separate facility for the Black cultural center.
Administration is working towards implementing educational programs for staff, students and faculty. The BSA also requested the need for Texas Tech to promote and enhance events the connect the campus to East Lubbock.
The President holds weekly meetings with members from the Black Student Association. He says that the university will pick up working on more of the goals when classes resume in the fall.