By Lauren Ferrer and Jenny Jacoby
Holding open the door on scholarship weekend in Spring 2024, alumnus Derryl Barnes kept looking over his shoulder wondering if more students were coming. Among the sea of new premier scholarship recipients invited to meet their peers, Barnes saw almost no students that looked like him.
Something was off.
At Horizons, a pre-orientation program known to bring together multicultural students, Student Government Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Council Chair Alexis Owens was confused after meeting just one Black student.
Then came a wave of half-filled organization meetings.
The first general body meeting for United Black Students, the first formally recognized Black student organization at the University of Miami, had only three first-year students in attendance. Historically, there have been lines out the door.
The shockingly low presence of first-year Black students confirmed student leaders’ concerns – Black enrollment was down.
In a statement to The Hurricane on Sept. 16, the data released by the University of Miami revealed that Black enrollment had been nearly cut in half, making up only 5% of the Class of 2028.
Students and administrators attribute this drop mostly to the U.S. Supreme Court decision that ruled 6-3 against the use of race in college admissions, finding that it violated the Equal Protection Clause of the Constitution and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 on June 29, 2023.
The class of 2028 is the first group experiencing the consequences of the post-affirmative action admissions process, and across the country universities have reported a decrease in select race groups, predominantly those identifying as Black.
“Within the multicultural identity, sure, it’s more diverse, but with that diversity came a decline in the Black student representation,” Owens said.
This is a cause of concern for student leaders across campus who spend hours planning events and leading organizations to guarantee spaces on campus for Black students.
“That’s a whole class of students that don’t have as much community within themselves that can go on after I graduate,” Owens said. “Who’s carrying our legacy?”
The student leader’s concern
At UM, Black students fought for a voice on campus. The University did not desegregate until 1961, when the Board Of Trustees voted to “admit qualified students without regard to race or color.” Six years later, UBS was founded.
In 1968, UBS students staged a sit-in in then-University President Henry King Stanford’s office demanding an increase in Black enrollment, faculty and minority scholarships. Their work continued for decades, despite frequently facing arrest or disciplinary action from the school.
For over 60 years Black students have worked to solidify their presence as advocates for belonging and cultivated spaces for students to connect with their culture and learn about others. From Black pre-health organizations to Black Creatives Collective, their large community has allowed for widespread impact.
In 2022, four Black students competed in the Homecoming pageant and won, representing their organizations and cultures on the Royalty Court. Before this year, the past three Student Government presidents – Landon Coles, Jamie Williams and Niles Niseem – were Black.
“Those are influential people. Pillars on the campus who wouldn’t have been there,” Barnes said
The Gravity Magazine and UMTV’s The Culture were started by Black students to provide opportunities for other Black students to showcase their experiences, talent and creativity.
Annual events like Taste of Africa and the Hairology hair show regularly gather crowds of over 300 students.
“I owe it to places like UBS, the Caribbean Students Association, Planet Kreyol, African Student Union, just providing a space where people of color can come together and not only be educated on cultures that are not their own, but also to have community with other other people of different backgrounds, even though we’re different from each other.” UBS President Zuri Greenlee said.
According to these student leaders, this is what the University of Miami stands to lose if Black enrollment rates continue to fall.
“I definitely am concerned,” Greenlee said. “Just in terms of SAFAC, they go based off of your members. As the seniors graduate, and people leave, we’re going to start not having as much funding.”
Since the start of the semester the DEI Council has heard concerns from students who are in classes finding that they are the only Black student in the room. Student leaders have also expressed concern over low turnout at events, programs and outreach efforts that have had no problem succeeding in the past.
“You feel underrepresented, or you don’t feel heard, or you don’t feel as valued in certain spaces, because then you feel like maybe I don’t deserve to be in that space,” Owens said. “That is another hindrance of just being proud of getting into this school, getting this education, being in this environment. It can be hard, because then you’re like, do I really belong here?”
Specific representation matters
As a whole, the University’s diversity numbers remained about the same at 44%, with Hispanic students increasing as much as Black students decreased in the Class of 2028. Barnes explained that despite the diversity numbers looking good on paper, it is important for students of color to see others that look like them.
“Say UM is the number one football team in the nation, they’re going to turn that camera, point it in the stands and every single person in those stands is either white or white-passing Hispanic. It’s just going to give a certain illusion, right?” Barnes said.
Seeing Black students succeeding across campus was one of the main factors that led Barnes to choose UM over other universities. In high school, Barnes was often the only Black student in his Advanced Placement and honors classes. UM offered him a new opportunity to immerse himself in a Black community that had his same ambitions and commitment to academic achievement.
“Right off the bat it [UM] already felt more like home than the other schools that I was going to,” he said.
Where does UM go from here?
Understanding that these effects are largely outside the University’s control, Black student leaders are simply asking to be included in the conversation.
“What is the plan to make sure that we’re admitting black students in the school, because at the end of the day, our organizations cannot continue without those black students,” Greenlee said.
“Having that dialogue between us will go a long way to see even what we can do on our end to prevent this from happening in the future.”