President of Kentucky State University Plans to Establish a Boarding School for Black Male Teenagers

JBHE research has shown a wide and growing gap between black men and black women in college degree attainment. Black men are less likely than black women to enroll in college and less likely than black women to graduate should they enroll.

At Kentucky State University, the historically black educational institution in Frankfort, women make up 58 percent of the total enrollments. While still a large majority of the student body, this is a significantly lower percentage of women than at many other black colleges.

But Kentucky State president Mary Evans Sias wants to further reduce the gender gap. She has proposed that the university establish a boarding school for black male teenagers on the Kentucky State campus. The high school students would live in a section of a college dormitory but have separate classes, faculty, and administrators. President Sias believes that such a school would funnel many of its graduates to Kentucky State. She envisions 30 to 50 black male students at the school beginning in the fall of 2010.

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