The University of Colorado’s search for students of color is getting creative.
CU president Hank Brown has visited black and Latino churches. He has minority community leaders writing letters to high school students.
And this week, he sent an e-mail, featuring a video file, to 500 prospective students who could improve CU’s diversity statistics.
The video clip, featuring football coach Dan Hawkins shouting, “Go Buffs!,” invites the students and their families to Saturday’s game against Kansas State, plus a pregame, nonalcoholic tailgate party.
About 120 students already have accepted the invitation.
CU also is gathering more than 160 people at Montbello High School in Denver, then providing transportation to the game.
The students are minorities who have applied for admission next fall or are on the university’s mailing list, admissions director Kevin MacLennan said.
MacLennan, who came up with the concept for the e-mail invite, thought it was a more effective approach than making phone calls. About 80 percent of students nationally are doing their college search online, he said.
CU recruiters have been targeting minority students for years through mailings and an annual “diversity sampler” day for minority and first-generation college students. But the president’s dedication to the issue has added a new spark, MacLennan said.
“It’s really opened the door to do many more things,” he said.
Daniel Caballero, a 17-year-old Latino student at Skyline High School in Longmont, is bringing his father, brother and some friends to the game.
“It helps a prospective student to see that the university actually cares about them,” said Caballero, who hopes to study mechanical engineering.
Minority students in Boulder said that they appreciate Brown’s efforts but that it’s only a start.
“Any step is necessary in regard to helping the climate on our campus,” said Adrian Green, a member of the Black Student Alliance. “There is a really bad stigma that is placed on the CU campus, and it’s drawing African-American students away.”
Boulder is the least diverse of CU’s three campuses at 1.5 percent African-American and 6 percent Latino.
CU-Denver is 4 percent African-American and 10 percent Latino, and the Colorado Springs campus is 3.8 percent African-American and 8.9 percent Latino.
Brown said university leaders were cheered by a boost in the number of freshmen of color at CU this fall. Minorities now make up 15 percent of undergraduate students on the Boulder campus.
“But we need to do better than that,” he said.
Staff writer Jennifer Brown can be reached at 303-954-1593 or jenbrown@denverpost.com.
