Not so easy admissions-edited

Not So Easy Admission

Fifty years ago, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter-Gault struggled to be admitted to the University of Georgia.

Now, the Offices of Admissions and Institutional Diversity are working harder than ever, as stated in their mission statement, to “develop new initiatives to support diversity and equity.”

Descatur Potier, Associate Director of Admissions, said the admissions process in 1961 was very simple and not as rigorous as now. Students simply had to submit an application to the registrar’s office and it would get processed.

“Georgia was that school that if you wanted to get a good quality public education you just have to have a high school diploma and apply and go for it,” Potier said.

But that wasn’t the case for Holmes and Hunter-Gault.

“Some people say [Holmes and Hunter] chose UGA,” Potier said. “But maybe it was that UGA chose them, because really UGA was the school that offered that opportunity for them and they wanted to go after it.”

The university offered a strong science and journalism program because of the state funds they received, which appealed to Holmes and Hunter.

They both considered going to schools in Atlanta but those schools did not have the reputable programs and facilities that UGA did.

''I remember he told me that at Georgia he had his own pig to dissect. At Morehouse, everybody had to share a pig,'' Hamilton’s mother, Isabella Holmes said in an interview for The Athens Banner-Herald in January 2001.

When they first tried to register, both were denied. They had the grades and were at the top of their class, but were still rejected.

The university used every trick it could think of to keep them from integrating. It said there was not enough housing or space in the classes or that it was afraid for their safety.

Holmes and Hunter fought back with a legal team including Atlanta civil rights attorney Donald Hollowell, Constance Baker-Motley of the NAACP Legal Defense, Horace Ward and Vernon Jordan.

Finally, on January 9, 1961, Holmes and Hunter were allowed onto campus.

However, they were soon dismissed to keep them safe from their classmates’ reactions.

“The white faculty members risked their reputations and their safety on campus and came to their defense and said it was wrong that they were dismissed,” Potier said. “They wanted to support these students because they believed this was unjust.”

Holmes and Hunter played their part in the movement by setting a legacy for future generations.

Today, the university is continuously finding ways to recruit minorities and help diversify the campus even further.

The university is involved in “basic college fairs, student visits, bringing students on campus to beginning the process of developing great partnerships with middle schools all through out the state, to doing innovative programs to try and lure students to come on campus and doing outreach programs at high schools in the metro Atlanta area and south Georgia and middle Georgia, to getting grants that will provide scholarships to students as well and help us in our recruitment efforts,” Potier said.

There are mentoring programs; scholarship funds, spend-the-night camps and special visitation days to showcase minority activities on campus said Cassidy Robinson, a senior at the university and former employee of the Office of Institutional Diversity.

For example, Georgia Daze is an event for already accepted high school seniors to come visit campus. It is planned for weekends when the minority organizations – such as traditional black fraternities, the Black Student Union and the African Student Union - are having their different events.

“It’s a way to show that there are minorities on campus and try to change the image of the UGA,” Robinson said. “The university, I know, has become more diverse over the past few years so maybe something’s working.”

The university has developed partnerships with the KIPP schools, which are schools that were created by Teach For America alumni and started in Houston, then expanded to all major metropolitan cities.

As stated in their mission statement, “KIPP is a national network of free, open-enrollment, college-preparatory public schools dedicated to preparing students in underserved communities for success in college and in life.”

“The KIPP schools are designed to primarily work with first generation, low income, pretty much 95 percent African American students,” Potier said. “Their schools tend to send students out of high propensity to post-secondary institutions.”

The atmosphere of the university’s campus is still a culture shock to students like Robinson but the numbers are increasing and the officials in charge hope they will continue to grow.

“There is always room for improvement. We want this university to reflect the state which has a large African American population, and there’s a burgeoning Hispanic population,” Potier said. “And I feel like we are doing the best we can as an office to do multi-pronged approaches to recruiting the best and the brightest in the state.”