Dean of Admissions and Financial Aid Karl Furstenberg said the low level of minority representation in the Class of 2000 is cause for concern, when he released a profile of the incoming freshman class yesterday.
The Class of 2000 has enrolled 1,085 students and will contain fewer women and minorities than last year's class but attained higher Scholastic Achievement Test scores, according to admissions office statistics.
The incoming class has the fewest minority students of any class in the last five years.
Only 4.7 percent of the Class of 2000 is African-American, 7.9 percent are Asian-American, 3.7 percent are Latino and 1.5 percent are Native American.
In the Class of 1999, 6.4 percent of students are African American, 9.9 percent are Asian American, 5.1 percent are Latino and 2.0 percent are Native American.
Furstenberg said the fluctuation is a cause for concern. He said the incidents during Winter term, when Asian students at the College had racist slurs written on the doors of their residences, may have discouraged some minority students from enrolling.
Furstenberg said competition from other colleges is another cause for the decline. "Everyone is trying to convince these students to come," he said.
Almost 53 percent of the 1,085 students who enrolled are male, and 47.3 percent are female. The Class of 1999 was the first class at Dartmouth to enroll more women than men, with women making up 50.2 percent of the class
Furstenberg said this fluctuation is a product of chance and not cause for concern.
More than 66 percent of the Class of 2000 are from public schools, and 30.3 percent are from private schools.
The mid-Atlantic states will be the most represented region of the United States, with 31.1 percent of students from that area.
The Class of 2000 will have fewer foreign students than last year, with 4.6 percent of students coming from other countries. Last year, 5 percent of students came from overseas.
The class will contain more valedictorians than ever before, with 186 ranked first in their high school class. Seventy-nine salutatorians have enrolled. Almost 90 percent of enrolled students were in the top 10 percent of their class.
Recentered scores on the Scholastic Achievement Test showed little improvement over last year's scores. Both the Class of 1999 and the Class of 2000 scored a mean of 704 on the verbal section of the test.
The mean on the math section of the test rose 10 points to 712. Statistics show the Class of 2000 is the smartest ever, Furstenberg said.
Almost 8 percent of the entering class are sons and daughters of alumni, and 41.7 percent will receive financial aid.
