Looking Back

H. Jesse Arnelle entered the University as one of about 12,000 undergraduate students in 1951. He was one of the very few black students on campus.

In 1959, he became one of the first black students to graduate from the Dickinson School of Law, which is now The Dickinson School of Law of The Pennsylvania State University.

In his time as an undergraduate student, Arnelle, who worked with many facets of the University as Undergraduate Student Government president and football and basketball player, said he does not recall many minorities or women on the faculty or in administrative positions.

- H. Jesse Arnelle, former president of the University Board of Trustees

Today, about one-third of the administrators are women, while the numbers for minorities are increasing, according to the University Office of Affirmative Action.

Changes in the demographic makeup of the University on any level is a slow process because both internal and external factors must change.

Women and minorities must pursue the education and positions that qualify them for the positions -- a change University President Graham Spanier said is happening.

"More women and minorities have moved into positions that qualify them for these positions," he said.

Changes within the University structure also help encourage recruitment of minority students, faculty and administrators. Increased financial aid, active recruitment and increased tolerance are some of the changes the University must make to increase diversity, Arnelle said.

"Once you get people to commit to this, you have to get things in order to make them happen. . . . Then people have to make a decision," he said. "As the message goes out to the community and the region, then you begin to see the majority of the change."

In her 15 years at the University, Carol Herrmann, senior vice president for administration, has already seen many changes.

"When I started, there was not one woman dean," she said of a University that now has at least seven female deans.

Herrmann said she saw movements among minorities in her tenure at the University.

In 1988, 88 students stormed the Telecommunications Building to protest problems with minority recruitment and retention and other related problems. One results of this protest was the creation of the Office of Educational Equity and the position of the vice provost for educational equity.

James Stewart was the first person to hold that position and will relinquish it at the end of the Spring Semester when he returns to the classroom.

Changes first began to occur for minorities in the 1960s and '70s, particularly for African Americans.

"The first push that came out of the civil rights movements was for African Americans," Stewart said.

The movement has been somewhat slower for other minorities such as Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans because of a hesitance to pursue administrative positions, Stewart said.

However, among the faculty, other minority groups are better represented, according to the Office of Affirmative Action.