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  Do the white thing Black colleges try to promote diversity while maintaining character Before, what had been known as Fayetteville State Teachers College produced only educators. When McLeod graduated in 1964 with a degree in mathematics, Mary Pohlman also walked across the stage to get one of the school's first biology degrees. The first white student ever to attend the college, Pohlman went on to practice medicine and became one of the college's most successful graduates. Now, more than 1,000 students at what has become Fayetteville State University are white. At 27 percent, that by far is the most of any black school in the state, public or private. FSU is one of many public black schools caught in a dilemma: trying to promote diversity while retaining their historic character. Some black students and alumni see the whites as a threat to the school's livelihood and mission. But administrators and state officials see a natural progression toward integration, multiculturalism and diversity. ''When I was a student here, I never imagined that the school would look like this,'' said McLeod, now FSU's chancellor. ''You can have vision and you can plan, but you don't know what will eventually become of something.'' Diversity has become a major issue among the 16 public universities in North Carolina. The University of North Carolina general administration has ordered all five black schools in the system to recruit more whites, and all 10 white schools to seek more blacks. The 16th campus, UNC Pembroke (formerly Pembroke State University), is historically a Native American school. The order stems from a 1981 agreement between the UNC system and a federal District Court. The goal was 10.6 percent black enrollment at the white campuses and 15 percent white enrollment at nonwhite campuses -- while bolstering academic programs at the five historically black schools. Known as a consent decree, the agreement represented a compromise in a bitter legal battle between the UNC system and federal officials over how to desegregate what was described then as North Carolina's ''dual system'' of higher education. Now, the white schools have an average black enrollment of 9.4 percent. The average student body at the black schools is 16.5 percent white. Of more than 22,000 students enrolled in North Carolina's public black colleges, about 3,600 are white -- 16.3 percent. ''I feel strongly that the real world is like in this room,'' UNC system President C.D. Spangler Jr. said as he lunched in a UNC Chapel Hill dining hall filled with students of all races. ''This is the real world. Diversity is a part of everyday life. It is proper for us to have diversity and for students to experience what will be their way of life.''
At Fayetteville State, some black students have questioned the reasoning behind the growing number of white students. ''I don't feel uncomfortable as long as they don't change the name to UNC Fayetteville like they did Pembroke,'' said Akia Victor, a junior from Charlotte. ''When you change the name, you change the history.'' Pembroke State recently became UNC Pembroke in an effort to ally itself closer with the UNC system. ''I envisioned a black college as mostly black,'' said Kenneth Keels, a junior accounting major from Washington, D.C. ''There are more whites here than I thought it would be. I didn't see any whites during freshman orientation.'' The orientation is optional. But as diverse as FSU's student body is, whites are noticeably absent during the day. Most take night classes, essentially making FSU a historically black college by day and a mixed university by night. ''I have to go to Wal-Mart to see white people,'' said Kelvin Thompson, a sophomore from Charlotte. ''I never see them on campus.'' No ethnic strife Gary Harrison, a 23-year-old white senior transfer from a community college, said FSU is no different from any other college. ''They don't stress any ethnic background,'' Harrison said. ''I never felt discriminated against here. I get along with everybody real well.'' FSU's white students generally are older and attend night classes. Harrison said he and his girlfriend, also an FSU student, basically ''go to class and go home.'' Thompson, president pro-tem of the student senate, said FSU whites also are conspicuously absent from campus activities, including parties and homecoming. There are two whites in student government, he said, plus one in the band and one on the football team. Clifford Hartley is a white FSU student who retired from the Air Force in 1994, works full time and lives 30 minutes away in Dunn. ''I don't notice a lot of that after being in the military so long,'' Hartley said. ''The mix here has always been comfortable for me. I have never been made to feel uncomfortable. Diversity is good because exposure to both sides is important.'' Fayetteville is a military town, and many of the students are linked to the military -- an enlistee, or spouse or child of a soldier. The average age of an FSU undergraduate is over 25, and the school gets more than $500,000 annually in assistance for veterans. Since 1984, the percentage of whites at FSU has remained above 20 percent. Between 1991 and 1993, it hovered around 33 percent. ''It doesn't matter how many whites go here, as long as black students maintain the [student government] presidency, continue to be the valedictorian ... ,'' Thompson said. ''It doesn't matter how many others attend FSU, as long as we do what we need to do.'' Talented whites sought FSU is far from alone in how it deals with diversity. Public schools all over the nation are trying to attract talented white students. Between 1976 and 1994, total enrollment at historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) rose from 222,613 to 280,071 -- 26 percent. During the same period, white enrollment at black colleges grew from 21,040 to 35,963 -- 70 percent. The figures are from the National Center for Educational Statistics. ''There has to be more of that,'' said Henry Ponder, president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. ''But not only white students, but Hispanic, Native Americans and Asians as well. That's the diversity.'' During the same period, Hispanic enrollment at HBCUs went from 3,442 to 5,012 (45 percent); Asians from 649 to 2,429 (274 percent); and Native Americans from 230 to 551 (139 percent). ''It is not that big a thing to have blacks at white schools and whites at black schools,'' Ponder said. ''You ought to make sure that you recruit students from rural areas, urban areas, poor students, affluent students, males, females. When you put all of that together, it becomes good for all.'' But some believe black colleges, founded because blacks couldn't attend white schools, should retain a level of black enrollment. In West Virginia, black students at both of the state's public HBCUs are in the minority. Bluefield State is 92 percent white, and West Virginia State is 86 percent white. Lincoln University, founded in Missouri in 1866 to educate the 62nd and 65th U.S. Colored Infantry, is 70 percent white. Langston University in Oklahoma, originally the Colored Agricultural and Normal University, is about 40 percent white. Frank Matthews, publisher of Black Issues in Higher Education, said black schools are on thin ice when they tinker with their missions. HBCUs with high white enrollments basically have changed their identities and character, he said. ''I'm a black nationalist,'' Matthews said. ''I'd like to see more Spelmans and Morehouses. There have to be places you can be in a predominantly black environment. The best education is not necessarily an integrated one.'' Spelman and Morehouse, single-sex institutions in Atlanta, are among the top schools in the country with virtually all-black enrollments. In 1994, Spelman's student body was 97.5 percent black. Morehouse's was 99.3 percent. Both schools are private, and neither has made any grand overture to recruit whites. ''Any student that is qualified and wants to come can come,'' said Walter Massey, president of Morehouse. ''We are not trying to recruit a different kind of student.'' Officials at Spelman College also say they don't recruit whites. ''Our position is that we are open to anyone who wishes to apply,'' said Spelman Provost Glenda Price. ''We will admit you without regard to race, if you meet our admission requirements, but we are not actively recruiting white students.'' Some believe white students -- more so at public schools than private -- are attracted to black colleges' best programs because of the lower cost. ''Whites are only going to black schools to get premium degrees,'' Matthews said. ''They are pushing black kids out. Black colleges are bearing the brunt of desegregation.'' Harrison, the white FSU student, said cost -- not education -- was a main reason he chose FSU over nearby Campbell University, a private school. ''Compared to the community college, the education is lacking here. It was actually harder at the community college,'' said Harrison, who lives in Sanford. ''But they try to give you a quality education.'' Cliff Brown, a white N.C. Central University freshman from Rocky Mount, said he knew he would feel more comfortable there than at his other choices, which included East Carolina and Campbell. ''I had a lot of problems in Rocky Mount over some racial things,'' Brown said. ''I didn't want to go to a white school. Most of my friends in high school were black and I just had too many problems just trying to be myself.''
Brown said whites in Rocky Mount often ostracized him for associating with blacks. That would have continued, he said, at ECU or Campbell. One of his high school teachers, an NCCU graduate, convinced him to try NCCU. Now, he lives in Chidley Hall, the all-male dorm, and runs on the track team. ''I don't see a difference because this is a black school,'' Brown said. ''I get along with everyone really well.'' Natural, but deliberate FSU Chancellor McLeod said the integration has been natural, but deliberate, in North Carolina and the nation. ''It really wasn't until the white schools reached out and said, 'We welcome African-Americans and other minorities' [that the changes occurred],'' he said. But McLeod admits he is not an integrationist just for the sake of being one. White students on black campuses and black students on white campuses have to be more than numbers, he said. ''I don't think it's important if you don't recognize the value and work on the added value of diversity,'' McLeod said. ''Just having additional minorities on the campus to meet a mandate is of no educational value at all.'' Regardless of their color, many FSU students come from similar family and financial backgrounds. Eighty percent are first-generation college students; 75 percent get financial aid. ''When I examined the socioeconomic conditions of these students, most of them came from very poor families with single parents. Many are trying to support families themselves,'' McLeod said. So nothing except color really separates FSU's white students from its blacks, he said. ''When it is really working well, we look for ways to celebrate our diversity,'' McLeod said. ''Having a diverse atmosphere can enrich the quality of anything. Our gates are always open.''
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Tyler Brooks, a trumpet player at N.C. A&T, is the only white member of the hundred-plus marching band.
NCCU freshman Cliff Brown, a native of Rocky Mount, said that he picked NCCU over predominantly white schools because he felt more comfortable in a black environment.
