As of 2014, the University of Connecticut’s Office of Institutional Research has shown a total of 10,378 full-time undergraduate male students. Of those 10,000 plus male undergrad students, only 453 are Black or African American — 772 are Hispanic/Latino.
Just let that sink in for a moment. Only 4.5% of UConn’s male undergraduate population is of Black or African American descent, and 7.4% is of Hispanic/Latino, which isn’t much better. What’s even worse? This has been the highest enrollment of the two races since 2010.
Over the past four years, UConn Black male enrollment has stayed consistently low in comparison to a majority of other races. Ifeanyi Ikwuanusi, a UConn black male undergraduate senior and pre-med student, says it’s the lack of opportunity black males undergo in this day and age.
“Pound for pound, white people will always be the predominantly successful majority in a higher educational level,” said Ikwuanusi. “Most black males are caught up in the wrong type of culture and either end up going to community college or in jail. It’s sad but it’s the truth.”
According to CBS News, Ikwuanusi’s theory holds weight to an extent. Asian-American males hold the first place spot, with 60% of them earning a bachelors, while 40% of white american males are in second, 23% for blacks and 15% for Hispanics/Latinos. An article in the Washington Post explains many black and hispanic males are lured into over-crowded open-access education and community colleges even if they performed admirably in high school.
There is a small silver lining among all these statistics, seeing that Hispanic/Latino male enrollment at UConn seems to be on the rise. Jon Concepcion, a UConn Puerto Rican undergraduate senior and pre-law student, says the rise in hispanic male enrollment could be attributed to the attention underprivileged Hispanic boys receive within the area. Concepcion volunteers in a community outreach program called Windham Heights, and its core goal is to help struggling children from low socioeconomic backgrounds to do better in school, a majority of them being Hispanic.
“Most of these kids live in the projects and have parents who can barely speak english,” said Concepcion. “The boys are the ones who need it the most. If we can just continue to guide them with their school work and show them what’s important, they can hopefully do well enough where they can go to college and help make a better life for their family down the road.”
Let’s hope the future continues to get a little brighter for these two groups. You can click here to see more information on UConn’s institutional research outside of this particular study.