The University of Wisconsin-Madison released a report from an ad hoc study group on the Black experience Thursday which found stagnation in enrollment of Black students and hiring of Black faculty, lack of funding for Black academic programs and Black student retention issues.
Following the release of a video in which a UW-Madison student used racial slurs, students organized large-scale protests calling for evaluating the effectiveness of university diversion, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, increased funding for minority student organizations and the creation of programming for first-year students that covers racial bias. Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin then commissioned the study to address issues that Black students, faculty and alumni face at UW-Madison.
“The success of Black students, faculty, and staff is integral to UW–Madison being a truly inclusive university environment. Anything less is an existential threat to the UW–Madison mission,” the report read.
The 46-page report outlines historical and current data on Black student enrollment and staff, the history of DEI plans at UW-Madison and provides recommendations for the university to better the Black experience, including the creation of a Black Student Advisory Committee.
The report also recommended creating metric-based goals to address consistently low Black student enrollment and encouraged partnership between UW-Madison and Wisconsin school districts with a higher proportion of Black students. Currently, 3.4% of UW-Madison students are Black, and Black community presence has been “consistently around 3%,” according to the report.
“Progress in enhancing Black representation and experience at the university has remained insufficient,” the report said.
UW-Madison Professor Angela Byars-Winston and Rev. Dr. Alex Gee, co-chaired the committee.
“The recommended strategies in this report are aimed at fostering a university culture where Black individuals do not just survive but thrive,” the co-chairs said in a letter at the beginning of the report.
The 15-person committee included two students: Kaleb Autman, the operations director for the Black Power Coalition, the group that organized the 2023 spring protests, and Amaya Boman, Associated Students of Madison Grant Allocation Committee chair. Other members of the committee included university staff, faculty and alumni.
While the report recommends many different ways to change and increase enrollment and retention of Black Students, it also notes “it is unacceptable to bring more Black people into a toxic environment and focus on creating more tools to adapt to the toxicity but ignore the metaphorical environmental campus clean-up so desperately needed.”
One of the recommendations the report advocates for is the formation of both a Black Faculty/Staff Council and a black student council. Both groups would hear concerns from Black students, faculty and staff, and leadership would meet with Mnookin twice a year. The report recommends that Mnookin elevate the concerns from these groups to the appropriate university department.
The report also recommended the creation of a Black student recruitment team that would work in tandem with a Black student retention team and increased funding for the recruitment of talented Black students using merit-based scholarships.
The remaining recommendations focused on alumni engagement, Black student recruitment and the African American Studies Department.
The report recommends that the UW Foundation create positions dedicated to mentor matching and coordinating between Black UW-Madison alumni and current Black students in career mentorship, advocates for the hiring of multiple staff members dedicated to coordination between Black Alumni and the university, and positions to increase financial support from Black Alumni.
African American Studies Department Chair Christy Clark-Pujara recommended there be increased support, financially and intentionally, for the African American Studies Department, including more funding to allow for more full-time staff members for the department, which currently only has three staff members.
Clark-Pujara also wrote of the need for more endowed faculty, Black faculty hires and increased community support.
Mnookin has tasked Vice Chancellor for Inclusive Excellence LaVar Charleston with reviewing and implementing the report's recommendations, according to a press release from UW-Madison.
Gabriella Hartlaub is the former arts editor for The Daily Cardinal. She has also written state politics and campus news. She currently is a summer reporting intern with Raleigh News and Observer. Follow her on Twitter at @gabihartlaub.
