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The Rice Thresher
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by Leslie Liu thresher editorial staff A foundation formed by Rice alumni and former assistant to the president Carl MacDowell is trying to encourage black and Hispanic students from Texas to come to Rice for college. Recruitment Into Collegiate Education Through Minority Scholarships is a not-for-profit organization trying to counteract the effects of the Hopwood decision. In the 1996 case Hopwood v. Texas, the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals deemed the use of affirmative action illegal in the admissions policies of the University of Texas Law School. Because of this decision, the Texas attorney general ordered public colleges in the state not to consider race in financial aid awards, admission decisions and other institutional policies. MacDowell said Rice receives more than $40 million annually from the federal government for research. "So the hook is, if you're going to take money with this hand, then you have to play the game with its rules," MacDowell said. According to figures provided by the Admission Office, the percentages of black and Hispanic students entering Rice in 1997 were lower than in previous years. "You see the highest percent [of minority students] in 1996," Dean for Undergraduate Enrollment Julie Browning said. "After that, we began using completely race-blind admissions. The percentage has been getting higher lately, though, as we are adjusting to the Hopwood decision." Andrea Ehlers (Will Rice '88) thought the Hopwood decision would hurt Rice because it banned the designation of certain financial aid scholarships specifically for minority students. "I could see the potential in providing scholarships to students who may eventually assume positions of leadership in business and government in Houston and in Texas based on attending Rice," Ehlers said. Hank Coleman (Wiess '66), a member of the RICE-TMS board of directors believes that universities are now competing with large financial aid packages for highly qualified minority students. "What has happened is, in the world of competing top-notch universities ... Rice's competitors are offering much greater unlimited financial support to those students who everyone is really working to attract," Coleman said. Ehlers recruited five other interested alumni to serve on the RICE-TMS board by visiting with groups such as the Association of Rice University Black Alumni and the Society of Latino Alumni. She serves as board chair. MacDowell retired from his longtime position at Rice last January and agreed to become the foundation's president in time for the board's first meeting in February. Ehlers said the foundation hopes to receive anywhere from 50 to 100 applications this year, and their goal is to have 10 freshmen here on the scholarship by fall 2001. The foundation, which raised over $350,000 in the past year, will award $10,000 to each student recipient over a period of four years. MacDowell said he hopes the program will be able to award 20 scholarships by 2002. "And because Rice's numbers are so small, 20 a year that might not have otherwise come to Rice can have a noticeable impact on the diversity of the community," he said. MacDowell said the program is limited to black and Hispanic students initially, but will add Native Americans after its first year. "The more you have an opportunity to, on a daily basis, interact with different cultural groups, the better you all will be served in your life," MacDowell said. "... Diversity in education has great value." Each scholarship recipient will be assigned to a faculty mentor. MacDowell said there are already mentors lined up for the first group of students. Associate History Professor Edward Cox, who is coordinating the faculty mentors, said the mentoring may involve having special programs and bringing in guest speakers for the group. "This is something which will be beyond the academic," he said. "Some of it will be enhancement and some will be essentially providing experiences which one normally wouldn't provide in the academic advising experience. It is conceivable that we can provide exposure to community peoples in a way the advising doesn't currently address." MacDowell said corporations in Houston are donating to RICE-TMS because they hope to keep talented students in Texas as future employees. "We're being outbid for their services by out-of-state schools, so they leave Texas to go to either coast, and they may or may not come back," Coleman said. "So Rice suffers, and, potentially, the [business] community suffers." He said the scholarship will hopefully stop the "mini-brain drain" plaguing Texas companies. MacDowell said the scholarships could be endowed within seven years if the foundation is successful at recruiting good scholars.
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