As a proud graduate of the University of Kansas, and a black woman, I have a great interest in KU having a diverse student body, faculty and staff. Because of this, I applaud the work KU is doing to create a climate that invites a diverse population, as seen by the enrollment growth in international, Asian and Hispanic students. The very presence of students who come from around the world to attend KU is a testament to the excellent academic experience KU offers and it greatly enriches the education experience for all.

But to consider some of these students minorities seems to stray from the traditional definition of minority students. And the absence of higher representation of groups traditionally considered minorities is concerning.

These enrollment increases are good news, and yet another sad report on blacks losing ground in higher education. But, as the new president of the KU Black Alumni Network (KUBAN), a designated affinity organization that works with the KU Alumni Association to engage alumni, I know declining enrollment and graduation rates among black students are an issue KU is working to reverse.

As the Journal-World story on KU’s fall enrollment (“KU enrollment up slightly, according to official fall count”) points out, there has been a decrease in the number of black students yet an increase in the enrollment of Asian and Hispanic students. Dismissing the increasing absence of black students as something that can be offset by filling in those slots with Asian and Hispanic students does a disservice to KU, the populations it serves and casual observers who may not understand the difference between having a diverse population and having healthy minority representation.

Broadly speaking, minorities traditionally were considered such due to race and socioeconomic factors, yet the newer definition appears to be anyone who isn’t white and/or from the United States, as indicated in this excerpt from the recent Journal-World editorial on the subject: “The number of foreign students in KU’s freshman class was more than double last year’s, contributing to the second-highest percentage (22.3 percent) of minority students on record. The number of black students in the freshman class declined, but that was offset by increases in Hispanic and Asian students.”

While, in terms of numbers, there may be few international students, the KUBAN believes it is not appropriate to refer to them as “minorities” in this discussion when that term historically referred to underrepresented domestic racial minorities.

There are many factors that keep college students of any race from being recruited by, attending and graduating from college. The KUBAN works to help combat these factors among black students. This is a short list of what the group has done in the past two years:

• Made a concerted effort to attend recruiting and alumni events across the country,

• Financially supported students attending Big 12 leadership conferences,

• Hosted pizza parties during finals week to support and encourage students,

• Presented graduation luncheons in the spring,

• Started a scholarship fund in November 2013 to raise $150,000 and celebrated reaching this goal in September 2015

• Designated a faculty/staff liaison to gain greater insight into the challenges blacks face on campus.

Additionally, the work of the KUBAN extends beyond working solely with black students. Early this fall, Luke Bobo, a 1982 engineering graduate and KUBAN member, was the keynote speaker for Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s Zeta Providence Leadership School at KU. Bobo, who is a black male, spoke to the predominantly white fraternity members about how diversity is the natural choice for humans over exclusion.

The goal of the KUBAN isn’t simply to have more black students at KU, but to have top, qualified black students recruited who go on to enjoy their time on The Hill and graduate. I fear that recruiting, retaining and matriculating well-qualified (traditional) minority students could be obscured if the definition continues to be expanded to include groups that are not underrepresented domestic racial minorities.

— Teresa L. Clark, the president of KUBAN, received a bachelor’s degree in political science from KU in 1995 and a master’s degree in journalism in 2008.