Last Updated: March 23, 1997
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Last year, the ASNE Minorities Committee decided to revisit a 1988 survey of college journalism programs to find out how they were recruiting and retaining minority students.
The result? More than a third of them reported that they are attracting more minorities now than in 1988.
Thirty-two journalism schools responded to our latest survey; diversifying their programs remains a priority. A recent Freedom Forum report noted that 17 percent of journalists just entering the business are ethnic minorities.
Among the journalism schools that experienced an increase in minority enrollment since 1988, there are several recruiting tools cited again and again: having someone in charge of minority recruitment; offering workshops and other opportunities to bringing minority high school students to campus. Some schools are experimenting with new technology, such as teleconferencing, to attract new students.
The following is a summary of initiatives journalism schools are employing to recruit and retain minority students. Newspaper editors may want to consider some of the ideas for their newsrooms and local youth journalism programs. For a full report on diversity initiatives in journalism schools, be sure to check out ASNE's Web site: http://www.asne.org/kiosk/diversity/jschools.htm.
Diverse faculty
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill says minority students are attracted by its multicultural faculty, which includes two African Americans, one Latina, one native of China and one native of India.
Brigham Young University's journalism faculty participates in an exchange program with Howard University. During the exchange, a Brigham Young professor spends two to four weeks at Howard, while two Howard professors visit Provo, Utah, to speak to classes and to sensitize students and faculty to diversity issues.
Journalism students are more diverse than their classroom teachers, according to a study by two Ohio State University journalism professors. While the teachers in front of the classroom are largely white and male, 26 percent of journalism students last year were ethnic minorities, the study found. Six of 10 were women.
On-campus experiences for high school students
The University of North Carolina has been involved in Project Uplift, a program that brings talented minority students to campus after their sophomore year in high school to talk about careers and college options.
Michigan State University participates in various programs that bring academically superior minority students to campus in the summer to work with faculty on specific research projects. The university's journalism school also works with the Michigan Interscholastic Press Association, which is housed in the school, to identify potential journalism students in high school.
Arizona State University sponsors two-week summer workshops for high school students-most of whom are minorities. Funding from the Arizona Republic/Phoenix Gazette has helped enroll 20 students each summer since the program was launched in 1988.
The University of Alabama has an annual, two-week summer workshop for minority students, funded partly by a grant from the New York Times.
Networking with minority organizations
Point Park College in Pittsburgh views the Pittsburgh Black Media Federation as a valuable ally. The federation sponsors an annual student workshop on campus that is staffed almost entirely by working black media professionals.
Teleconferencing
Southern Illinois University/ Carbondale produced an hourlong live teleconference
last year to recruit graduate students from six historically black universities:
Alcorn State; Howard; Jackson State; Morgan State; Shaw and Xavier. The University
of South Dakota also used teleconferencing to recruit Native American students
through a statewide, interactive session featuring Charles Kuralt and Allen H.
Neuharth. 
Research assistance was provided by Rhonda McKoy of the Los Angeles Times.
Denley is director of editorial hiring for the Los Angeles Times.
Clark is assistant executive editor of the Orlando (Fla.) Sentinel.
