Kelly in Kansas

The Chronicle: 1/28/2005: A New Route to Racial Diversity:

"He describes the overall strategy that he devised as 'an hourglass approach.' At the top half of the admissions process, recruitment, he devoted an additional $3-million toward new outreach efforts intended to convince minority students that Texas A&M was right for them. At the bottom part, financial aid, he committed $8.3-million toward new scholarships heavily geared toward minority students, and took pains to make sure that those students would get a larger share of the $329-million in financial aid and loans that the university already offered. He also established a 25-member team of representatives from programs and departments throughout the university and instructed it to meet weekly to carry out his diversity plans.

Mr. Gates has made a point of personally visiting several urban high schools around the state. He says that his presence 'clearly elicits more participation by school officials and others' in Texas A&M's outreach efforts, and conveys the high priority that the university is placing on diversity, creating a more receptive environment for its recruiters."

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Interesting article in the Chronicle (subscription required) about increasing minority enrollments at Texas A&M without utilizing race-based admissions.