A Record Number of Black Freshmen at the University of Kentucky

In most southern and border states, black students make up only a small fraction of the student body at the flagship universities compared to the percentage of blacks in the college age population in the state. But this is not the case in Kentucky.

This fall the University of Kentucky has its largest number of black freshmen in school history. There are 404 black freshmen on campus this fall, a 17 percent increase from a year ago. Blacks are 9.7 percent of the incoming class. Last year blacks were 8.4 percent of incoming freshmen. The figures are all the more remarkable considering African Americans make up about 8 percent of the state’s total college age population.

It should be noted that the university is not lowering academic standards in order to increase racial and ethnic diversity. This year the quality of incoming students, as measured by test scores and high school grade point averages, increased.

Overall there are 1,774 blacks on the University of Kentucky campus this fall, an increase of 9 percent from a year ago.