In a study released by Education Trust, an educational advocacy organization, last week, Penn State University received a failing grade on low-income and minority accessibility. Penn State was judged in three categories -- minority access, low income access and minority success and received a passing grade, a "C", in only minority success.

While this report is disappointing, the low numbers in this report are not surprising, in light of new minority enrollment statistics released two weeks ago, which show black student enrollment at 5.4 percent, Asian/Pacific Islanders at 4.6 percent and Hispanics at 2.9 percent.

However, it is important to note that the Education Trust report calculated minority access by comparing the minority composition of the statewide high school graduating class in spring 2004 and the number of minorities who enrolled at Penn State as freshmen in fall 2004.

The effect of calculating minority access thusly is that it discounts the universities of Pittsburgh and Temple as well as the state system of higher education colleges and universities such as the Indiana University of Pennsylvania and Slippery Rock.

It would be unfair to compare Penn State, without including Pittsburgh and Temple, which are located in more diverse parts of Pennsylvania. By omitting these universities, the report is somewhat less accurate in its overall scope of determining minority access at the university or college level.

It is important to recognize that only about 12.9 percent of Penn State students are minorities, while the state of Pennsylvania is about 86.2 percent white, according to the 2004 census data. The major gap in minority enrollment for Penn State is black students, which comprised 10.5 percent of Pennsylvania's population but only 5.4 percent of the student body.

Ultimately it is this disparity which is the most troubling for minority enrollment at Penn State, which must be addressed.

However, in the past year 834 additional minority students were admitted to Penn State which shows that progress is being made.

Significantly, this trend of increasing minority enrollment has been ongoing for the past decade.

To fail Penn State in minority accessibility is harsh because of the manner in which the Education Trust report was formulated and in light of increasing minority enrollment at Penn State.