Approximately 200 prospective students attended Spring Fling over the weekend, marking unusually high attendance for the annual event initiated in the 1970s to attract African-American students to the University.
The weekend was designed to give the prospective students a first-hand experience of University life.
"The weekend helped give prospective students an idea of what our experience here as students is like," said third-year Engineering student Isaac Agbeshie-Noye, who serves on the Black Student Admissions Committee in the Office of Admissions. "It also helped to revitalize our feelings toward U.Va. as students."
The University reported 8.7 percent of the student body and 9.4 percent of current first-year students are African-American.
Spring Fling is offered through the Office of Admissions and occurred in tandem with the fourth weekend of Days on the Lawn. Various organizations including Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., the Organization of African Students, the Black Fraternal Council, the BSA and the University Programs Council hosted the activities.
Programs varied from tours to panel discussions with faculty and students to a Culturefest and performances.
The Spring Fling events, "paired up with Days on the Lawn is an effective way to expose people who don't necessarily know about student life here at U.Va. to it," Agbeshie-Noye said. "It's a chance to get the word out about what U.Va. is like and the opportunities students have to shape their own experiences."
Spring Fling attendees are more likely to matriculate at the University, Dean of Admissions John A. Blackburn said. "The lowest percentage of students who actually enroll after attending Spring Fling is 70 percent," Blackburn said. "Typically it is 80 percent or higher."
Blackburn said he is unsure whether the high rates are mainly attributable to the students' preexisting inclination toward attending the University, but said a survey of students who did and did not choose the University showed that for students who enrolled, Spring Fling was a very persuasive factor in their decision.
Phi Beta Sigma President Dimitri Hughes said Spring Fling could have been a little better. Hughes said there were not as many activities in which prospective students got to interact with each other and University students as would have been ideal, but it was still a positive experience for most prospective students.
Hughes said, however, the impression of the University that prospective students got during the weekend may not be "100 percent accurate."
"Students see a lot of the good stuff but you don't see the bad stuff, like a lot of the racial tension at U.Va.," he said.
Some credit Spring Fling with creating the misperception that African-American life at the University is more vibrant then it is in reality.
"They are speaking to the right people and it does serve its purpose," AKA Vice President Charisse Winston said. "The way it's structured is that they let people know what they are up against to when they come to U.Va."
Still, Winston said she feels there are fewer African-American students on Grounds than attendees might be led to believe.
Also, some critics argued that the University does not put the same amount of effort into minority student retention as recruitment.
"The black community puts forth the majority of the effort to get black students to come here," Hughes said. "The University needs to establish an environment that makes them want to stay here."
Still, Blackburn said he is confident Spring Fling is a valuable opportunity for African-American prospective students to see what kind of match the University might be for them.
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