When Black Enterprise Magazine recently published a ranking of the top 50 schools for African-American students, Dartmouth was one of only two Ivy League institutions that failed to make the list, to the surprise of at least one College administrator.
"Because of Dartmouth's academic reputation, I thought we would have at least been included in the top 50," said Dawn Hemphill, advisor to black students.
"I highly doubt that anyone on campus received this questionnaire," Hemphill said. I don't personally know anyone who has."
"Well, she's wrong," said Dr. Thomas LaVeiste, the man who was "instrumental in pulling the research together," according to Black Enterprise staff member Donna Dick.
In compiling the listing, the business-oriented Black Enterprise Magazine mailed 1,855 questionnaires to African-American professionals employed in higher education at 482 schools across the country.
"There's more than one person at Dartmouth who has received questionnaires," said LaVeiste, who said he was unable to locate the names of those individuals. "The question is whether or not those questionnaires were returned."
Among the criteria used to rate schools were questionnaire responses, the percentage of African-Americans in the student body and the graduation rate of black students.
Graduation rate -- the ratio of African-American students in the freshman class to African-American students of that class who graduated -- received the largest weight. "If you're graduating more students, your rating will go up," LaVeiste said.
"Some of the schools that are historically black have lower retention rates than Dartmouth," Dean of Upperclass Students Sylvia Langford said.
"I have very, very rarely had students come in who were African-American who have talked about transferring," Langford said. "There are a lot of black students with mixed experiences."
One of those students is Jennai Williams '03. "I have a lot of gratitude to Dartmouth -- I've really had an amazing experience here -- but I also have a lot of anger, a lot of resentment," she said.
As to what Dartmouth could do to improve its retention rate, "I think that's where the school needs to look inwardly," LaVeiste said.
"I've seen a lot of people get [Park]hursted over the years for academic reasons," Williams said. "Black students are asked to do all this extra programming ... they have to educate the campus, " she said. "When they flunk out, people say oh, black people aren't smart, they're only here for affirmative action."
"It's a cycle," Williams said. "I even think about my own GPA and think about how much energy I divert away from academics, but if you don't, you're self-segregating."
Williams is a founding member of the Diversity Peer Program, a Sexual Abuse Awareness Facillitator, an officer in Alpha Kappa Alpha sorority and is on the Committee for Institutional Diversity and Equity. " Dartmouth keeps you running, if you're black," she said.
Williams said she is "not surprised at all" by the rating. This is a trend, Williams said, because "despite all the strides that Dartmouth has made, and all the changes that have been made to make the school more friendly... [it] still has a nationwide perception of being unfriendly to blacks."
"It wouldn't be new of me to say ... that we are extremely conservative," Hemphill says of Dartmouth. "The area has that reputation known for not making people too welcome."
In spite of this conservative reputation, "within the last five years, we are moving in a more progressive direction," Hemphill said. "It seems like... the onset of the Student Life Intitiative and President Wright made diversity a priority."
"I feel that Dartmouth does as good a job of working with students of color as any other Ivy," Langford said.
As advisor to black students, Hemphill consults with individual students and organizes programming and student advocacy.
Hemphill works to "develop ongoing programs that address issues or needs in the community." Among these are Discussions for Sixcess, which connects students to Hemphill's office, Black Men at Dartmouth, a women's group called Essence and the Black Leadership Council.
Hemphill is also involved in Black History Month, and organized a calendar that was distributed to the entire student body. She is also addressing the "age old issue of black hair care" by trying to get someone in the area that can attend to the needs of both sexes.
The percentage of African-American students on campus has hovered around 5-6 percent from 1997 to 2001.
The applicant pool for the Class of 2007 had the highest percentage of minority applications in Dartmouth history, with African-American applications comprising 16 percent.
As to race relations, "honestly it's something that the white community has to deal with," Williams said. The white community must take a more proactive role in coming to terms with race issues and getting to know black students, Williams said. "Students of color are being forced to integrate, forced to create the diversity that is supposed to exist here on campus," Williams said. "The burden is being placed on the wrong people."
According to Williams, black students "aren't recognized until we have a diversity affairs program on campus ... The only time we see black students represented in [The Dartmouth] is under the rubric of diversity."
Black identity shouldn't be confined to diversity programs and Black History Month, Williams said. "I feel like this has to happen year round, because this issue exists year round."
When the newly accepted African-American students arrive on campus, they will find a variety of organizations in place to support them, which Hemphill feels is important for black students to feel comfortable in their new home.
As for black students with mixed experiences, "Maybe that's not a racial thing. Maybe all students are torn between loving Dartmouth and hating it," Williams said.
