August 30, 2011--Now For Some Good News

Yesterday was check-in day at NYU's dorms. When we went out for coffee, dozens of SUVs from all over the Northeast were pulling up at the Brittany dorm on 10th Street to unload boxes and boxes of electronic gear and duffle bags full of big-city clothes. You could feel the excitement and tension.

For some it would be the bittersweet first time a child was going off to college; for others, there was happiness in knowing the long summer of doing very little was ending (jobs were almost nonexistent) and things would return to their empty-nest routines. For the students, they clearly couldn't wait to reconnect with friends and roommates and regain their independence.

Each year at this time, by walking around, we do a little unofficial and decidedly unscientific demographic surveying of who is enrolling.

Over time it is remarkable how Asian the NYU student body has become. A decade ago perhaps 10 percent were Asian; by now it looks as if at least a quarter are. The city's, NYU's, the country's population continues to churn as newer ethnic groups seeking to move into and up in our still very open society. As many here say, "Aren't we fortunate to have wave after wave of new Americans claiming their piece of the action and making their contributions to the betterment of us all."

And then of course, we hear other voices. Angrier one. Those who claim it is past due for us to limit immigration, close our borders, and round up and deport everyone who has been here illegally. This is all very complicated. We have heard these nativist cries before (loudest as now when times are hard), and there are no easy or entirely just solutions; but we eventually calm down and move on, absorbing those who struggle to do well here and over time manage to do so.

We need the energy, the drive and ambition, the creativity that are mainly to be found within these aspiring communities. NYU and New York City--all of America--are fortunate that some of the world's best people still want to come here. They continue to see America as the best place to be free while most of us welcome those who arrive motivated to work hard, especially so that their children have a good chance to succeed.

So I was further heartened to read in the New York Times the latest data about the dramatic increase in the number of Hispanics enrolling in college. (Article linked below.)

The Pew Hispanic Center reported that between 2009 and 2010 enrollments among Hispanics 18 to 24 rose by an astonishing 24 percent.

Part of this is the result of the growth in the population of Latinos, but only a small part. The number of young Hispanics during the same period rose by 7 percent, so the 24 percent gain is noteworthy, particularly because the percentage of Hispanics attending college has lagged significantly behind other groups.

Their enrollment is still lagging. But the gap is narrowing. Thirty-eight percent of college-age blacks attend college, 43 percent of whites, and 62 percent of Asians (our sidewalk data gathering again), while only 32 percent of Hispanics were enrolled as of 2010. So Hispanics (and African Americans) continue to be underrepresented. But Latinos at least are beginning to make the same kind of progress we have seen among other ethnic groups.

Rather than burying news of the report, as the Times did, at the bottom of an inner page, it would have been better to feature it on the front page. We need to get this kind of news into wider circulation as one way to dampen the still-uninformed xenophobia that infects too many Americans. It is time we begin again to acknowledge our immigrant heritage and become more welcoming of others. They want to be here and we need them. We also need to continue to do better for those whose dreams for their children are still far from being realized.