A recent study conducted by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education showed that of the "public Ivies," the University has the highest graduation rate of black students at 86 percent.
The study, which compared the graduation rates and enrollment of black students at high-ranked public universities, also concluded that the University has one of the highest percentages of blacks in its student body at 8.5 percent. In terms of black students' enrollment, the University and the University of Florida, which also has a student body that is 8.5 percent black, are second only to the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, which has the highest percentage, where blacks comprise 11.1 percent of the student body.
According to African-American Affairs Dean M. Rick Turner, the success of African-American students at the University is because of a number of factors, only one of which is the competitive nature of admission.
"The primary reason is, first of all, we only accept good students," Turner said. "Students keep themselves comfortable, students keep students in school."
Turner also attributed the high graduation rate of black students at the University to the support offered through the Office of African-American Affairs.
"We support them at the Office through the peer advising program," Turner said. "Every black student is automatically given a big brother or big sister through the program."
Turner said he believes this program helps students become acclimated at the University.
"They know that a second- or third-year student who has excelled will take them by the hand and guide them."
According to Turner, this peer advising program is illustrative of the unmatched support the University provides for black students.
"No other institution offers the kind of support U.Va. offers," Turner said. "Our 86 percent goes further than the retention rates of Ivies. We shower lots of love and attention on them as soon as they come."
University President John T. Casteen, III also credited admissions and the community of support with the success of black students.
"On enrolling, they come into a culture where their success is treasured," Casteen said in an e-mail. "As individual students come to realize this, they thrive."
Dean of Admissions John Blackburn cited self-governance as an important factor in the high graduation rate of black students at the University.
"The factor often underplayed is self-governance," Blackburn said in an e-mail. "Since the early '80s, black students have been head of the Honor Committee or [Student Council presidents], and I think the black students see that they can have an impact on their lives here through student government."
The study published in the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education also pointed out that at three public universities, including the University, the graduation rate of black students was five percentage points below that of white students.
"It would be a major effort on the part of the University to close that gap," Turner said. "The only way that you can really make efforts is to look at it historically and make the amendments after that. Those who understand history understand that gap."
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