Admissions Clarifies Policies

To the Editor:

In the April 6, 2001 Oberlin Review, two members of La Alianza Latina raised concerns about Oberlin’s commitment to the recruitment and enrollment of Latino students. As members of the admissions staff, we welcome discussions of our ongoing efforts to diversify the campus. We further invite La Alianza members to work with us to bring more Latino students to Oberlin. For starters it might be useful for La Alianza Latina members to meet with admissions staff, as happened late last week, to learn just how vigorous are our efforts to recruit Latinos to Oberlin.
While we respect the passion behind La Alianza’s concerns, we must address inaccurate information. Over the last several years, the admissions office has intensified recruitment efforts in regions of the U.S. holding the largest concentrations of Latino students. As a result, Oberlin now has a stronger presence in the Pacific Northwest, Southwest, West, Gulf Coast and Metro New York areas, just to name a few examples. Each year we explore new areas, such as Fresno, Sacramento, Austin and Jacksonville in search of greater diversity. The results have been positive. Applications from Latinos are up considerably this year. 
Latino admissions counselors are few and far between at colleges outside of California, Florida, New York and Texas. Alumni are always a good source for new admissions staff; yet despite vigorous attempts at recruitment, Oberlin’s Latino alumni have not applied for admissions positions here. Few non-alumni Latinos have applied for admissions positions. Nor do we get much response from current Latino students when we hire admissions interns. This year a Latina senior is serving as an intern. But for next year’s intern appointments, we’ve had no Latino applicants. The tour guide and dorm host situations are similarly bleak. Even so, the admissions office continues to work toward increasing the Latino presence among staff. When future admissions counselor openings occur, hiring a Latino will be a priority.
As for recruitment in Latin America and South America, Harry Dawe, Oberlin’s coordinator of international admissions, will undertake efforts to integrate those regions into our international recruitment initiatives. Past attempts to open up Latin and South America have not been cost effective. Finally, while the enrollment of Latin or South American students adds to Oberlin’s diversity, it does not increase the percentage of Latino students reported in official College statistics. Oberlin, like its peer institutions, only counts U.S. Latinos when tallying student of color statistics. Latin and South Americans are counted as international students.
Need-aware policies undertaken by Oberlin in the early ’90s are not an impediment to Latino enrollment here. Need sensitivity has been rarely invoked directly in admissions decisions at Oberlin. When it has, students of color have been, and will continue to be, excluded. So effectively, Oberlin follows a need-blind admissions policy with students of color. Before enacting a need-aware admissions policy, Oberlin financial aid packages frequently contained a 10 percent gap between the award and need. The College was need-blind in admissions but not able to meet the full need of its admitted students. There was much evidence that our aid packages were substandard in comparison to competitors. Now that Oberlin has need-aware admissions but meets 100 percent need for all admitted students, we hear anecdotally that our aid packages are equal to or better than need-blind competitors such as Wesleyan and need-aware peers such as Brown and Carleton.
A basic start to admissions and La Alianza partnering to achieve shared goals would be for more Latino students at Oberlin to serve as tour guides, admissions hosts and senior interns. The best way to attract Latino prospective students to Oberlin is to pair them with current Oberlin students who share their heritage. Being positive without being a Pollyanna can help as well. While “Oberlin perfectionism” often manifests itself in a self-critical community, focused on achieving utopia, the outside world usually interprets our self-critical penchant as disenchantment. Constant focus on negatives drives prospective students to colleges and universities better at self-promotion, regardless of whether they are better places for Latinos.
Admissions and La Alianza want the same things: greater diversity among the Oberlin student body. In fact, for the past two years, the admissions office has set a goal of 25 percent students of color in the freshman class. We can’t get there without your help.

–Paul Marthers 
OC ’82
Director of Admissions

On behalf of the office of Admissions