Celebrating 40 Years of Diversity Efforts at Pitt

Forty years ago, in 1969, members of the Black Action Society occupied the computer center at the University of Pittsburgh. The protesters called on the university to recruit more black faculty and African-American students.

Last month the African American Alumni Council held a celebration on campus to commemorate the anniversary and the progress that has been made since that time. Today the student body at the University of Pittsburgh is 8 percent black and there are more than 13,000 African-American alumni of the university.

As part of the celebration, the black alumni association launched a $3 million fundraising campaign to raise money for three scholarship programs for black students.

Copyright © 2009. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.