The College Fix

Several Delaware legislators and the state’s NAACP are putting the University of Delaware on the hot seat because of its “lack of diversity.”

Delaware NAACP President Richard Smith said his group is “outraged by a ‘serious systemic problem regarding diversity'” in a letter sent to UD President Patrick Harker.

UD’s black population is just over five percent. The school has seen a drop in black enrollment of half a percent over the last decade.

The News Journal reports:

“For students, it’s easier to warm up to the college environment socially and academically if you see faces that look like yours,” said Julian Jackson, 20, a University of Delaware sophomore from Philadelphia, who is black. “It can be hard to approach people. It can be hard to ask for help if you feel like a sore thumb, if you’re ostracized because of your skin color.”

Harker responded to diversity concerns Monday during a General Assembly budget hearing at Legislative Hall.

Committee members had also received a letter from Newark branch of the NAACP on Sunday that highlighted the “lack of racial diversity” on the university’s campus.

Sen. Harris McDowell, a Wilmington Democrat and co-chair of the budget committee, said the university’s record on diversity is “disappointing.”

“The data is very discouraging,” McDowell said.

Budget committee member Rep. James “J.J.” Johnson, a New Castle Democrat, said the university must work harder to close the racial gap.

“They should be reaching out to the minority communities in the state,” Johnson said.

UD junior Jasmine Anthony, who’s working to re-start the school’s NAACP chapter, says that the college “should admit more minority students, offer additional financial aid targeted toward minorities and mandate through coursework that students work together with students of different races and ethnic backgrounds.”

Ah yes, yet another mandate to ensure the “right” kind of thinking.

Interestingly, no one seems concerned about the “lack of diversity” at nearby Delaware State University. An historically black institution, DSU is 72 percent African American and only 11 percent white.

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