Members of the Asian Student Union are working with the Office of Admissions to increase Asian and Asian-American student enrollment through an annual phone-a-thon and possibly through the creation of a new formal admissions committee for students of Asian heritage.
While the ASU has held an annual student-run phone-a-thon for the past few years, the organization hopes to expand involvement in the Office of Admissions by creating a formal admissions committee, ASU Director of Networking Ray Caro said.
The admissions committee for students of Asian heritage most likely will be structured after the committees already in place for black and Latino student recruitment. Members of these student-run committees visit high schools, write letters, call prospective students, host prospective students while they are visiting the University and organize events for prospective minority students.
Asian and Asian-American applications for University admission dropped by 6 percent this year, with 104 fewer Asian and Asian-American students applying for admission.
Overall, the University saw a 16-percent drop in admissions applicants. Currently, Asian-American students comprise 9.85 percent of the student body.
The exact nature of future Office of Admissions involvement still is in the planning stages, Dean of Admissions John A. Blackburn said.
Valerie Gregory, assistant dean of admissions and coordinator of minority recruitment, is working with ASU to augment the Office of Admissions involvement.
Gregory said she intends to work with ASU members to organize a student group to help Asian-American students learn about the University and encourage them to accept the offer of admission.
Asst. Dean of Admissions Laurie M. Koehler also will be involved in efforts to increase recruitment of Asian students.
The Office of Admissions "recognized the need for contact between current and prospective students even before we knew of the drop in applicants," Koehler said.
While the Office of Admissions provides ASU members with a list of names of prospective students of Asian heritage, the students make all the calls during phone-a-thons, Koehler added.
This year's phone-a-thon was held every Wednesday night at Miller Hall during March and the beginning of April.
This is the first year the admissions office has footed the bill for calls to Asian-American students, Koehler said.
The phone-a-thon is an annual event and was not an attempt to bolster Asian enrollment in the face of the decrease in applicants, ASU President Stephanie Hsu said.
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