The small population of black men on many college campuses, including Penn State, is due to several factors -- including the lack of support from many universities and society in general.

Lawrence Young, director of the Paul Robeson Cultural Center, believes that the lack of support from people in society and within the school system begins early in a black man's life.

"If you follow people like Jawanza Kunjufu, who wrote Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys, you will see there are a number of things that happen to black boys when they are in grade school," Young said.

Black boys receive more disciplinary reports in high school than any other race, he added.

"Their exuberance and spirit is tempted to be broken down, and it is not seen as a natural phenomenon. It is seen as a disciplinary problem," Young said.

Economics is another factor that keeps many black men from higher education.

"We have a systematic depression in the economy against the black man. Right now everyone is talking about the recession," Young said. "Over the last 12 years, the black community has been in the depression."

Unemployment for black people is consistently more than 10 percent, and 25 percent of black teen-agers cannot find jobs, he added.

"In most cases, (that) forces them to get into the underground economy, in which they would most likely be incarcerated," Young said. "If anyone looked in our jails, he or she would see the population of the black males who should be in college."

"A lot of them feel they can't afford college so they turn to selling (drugs)," said Aduanne Carter (sophomore-computer science).

Gene Spells (sophomore-theatre) agreed.

"I think a lot has to do with the drug problem in the inner cities," he said. "It's a resource a lot of black men turn to. They'd rather have that fast money than turn to college."

There are 60 percent more black women than black men entering college, said James Stewart, University vice provost for underrepresented groups, adding that female college students have a higher retention rate, but that Penn State is not the only university with such statistics.

"If you were to look at other college campuses you would see the same statistics that there are more women than men. Black men are not in the pipeline to get higher education," Stewart said. "If you go to a private school it will be worse."

Some experts said university requirements contribute to limited representation of black men on campus.

"Two critical areas are the admissions process and financial aid," said Anthony Johnson, western Pennsylvania development director of the United Negro College Fund. "Many schools have strong admissions requirements that make it difficult for many inner-city high school youths to make a transition from secondary education to post-secondary."

But "that argument says people cannot come in a school because admissions is hard," Young said. "It states that we are not smart enough. Admissions is based on test scores, rank in class and high school classwork."

Johnson said that 86 percent of African-American students today believe that a college education is critical to their futures and that if not for the possibility of acquiring a large debt burden, many universities would see more black people attending their schools.

"Primarily when you couple those two areas together --admissions and financial aid --they are the reasons why more don't go or won't go," Johnson said. "Then you have to deal with the (Scholastic Aptitude Test) and the (American College Testing test) which I believe is used to the disadvantage of African-American students."

"It's not that blacks don't have the capability -- many don't have the opportunity," Young said. "The higher your social economic status, the higher your score. One of the things that play an important role in the SATs is a family's income."

Young added that he does not believe God gave an inordinate number of smarts to white people and not to black people.

"It's the methods we use to measure intelligence that (are) messed up. I could make up my own questions for a test that white people would not have a chance of passing, but it would be a measurement of intelligence, just like the SAT," Young said.

Young also said he does not think Penn State's location has anything to do with the black male population.

"Most historically black colleges are remote and rural," Young said. "The location is not the difficulty -- it's what's being offered."

Some black men have chosen other options instead of college training, including business schools and the military.

Deon DeShields, a private first-class in the United States Army, said it is the individual's responsibility to pursue a college education if he or she desires to attend a university.

"At the age of 18 a person should be responsible for their own future to include higher education," DeShields said. "One should pursue all avenues for finding money for college -- for example, work, scholarships, grants, financial aid and service-related educational benefits."

He added that the reasons that led him to enter the Army and why others should keep the military as an option are that it provides an opportunity for independence, personal development, worldly knowledge through experience and maturity and the opportunity to pursue higher education.

Although there may be other options available to black students, Johnson said black students must have the desire if they want to go to college.

"That desire must come from within, because not everyone is cut out for college," Johnson said.

Early intervention is the only way to focus black people toward college and instill that desire, he added.

"This society has built greater inequalities for African Americans," Young said. "And most white people don't want to believe it. They believe everyone has an equal opportunity. I think that the most that we can do is recognize the theory of the situation. People with no education will be people with no hope in life at all."