For fall 2014, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville’s student diversity numbers are the highest in the institution’s history.
This year, 27 percent of all enrolled students at SIUE identified themselves as coming from groups traditionally underrepresented in U.S. higher education. This is the highest percentage of minority students on record dating back to at least 1990.
The current SIUE student body consists of more African American students than ever before. In 2014, 1,869 African American students are enrolled at SIUE, which accounts for 13.4 percent of the student body. This is the highest percentage of African American SIUE student enrollment since 1992, when 14.2 percent or 1,642 of all enrolled students where African American.
“Recently, more than ever before, I look around campus and see all of these students from other cultures spending time with one another,” said Dr. Venessa Brown, assistant provost in the Office of Institutional Diversity and Inclusion. “It is my belief that SIUE has a real opportunity to serve as a model and a leader for societal diversity in the St. Louis metropolitan region, and these statistics prove that our institution is taking steps in the right direction.”
Diversity at SIUE has been growing over the last several years. Since fall 2010 African American enrollment has grown 28 percent or 281 students. The Latino population has grown 19 percent to 499 students or approximately 3.6 percent of the entire student population.
To add to the growingly diverse SIUE student body, enrollment of international students has surpassed 400 students for the first time since 2004. There are 420 students on campus from various international countries, which accounts for three percent of current SIUE students. International enrollment grew 27 percent over fall 2013.