Minority Enrollment Grows at WMU

Some interesting tidbits in a report on enrollment at WMU:

Western Michigan University sees new freshman enrollment climb 5.1 percent

Minority student enrollment also continues to grow, Dunn told the trustees. Minority student enrollment now stands at 19.5 percent of WMU's total student body, according to the fall count, compared with 11 percent in fall 2007. The total number of minority students has increased by nearly 2,000 over the past six years.

...

A 2 percent overall increase in minority student enrollment was led by a 5.7 percent increase in the number of Hispanic students and a 1.8 percent increase in the number of African-American students, WMU said.

Hmmm.  What happened around six years ago?  The Michigan Civil Rights Initiative (MCRI) was passed in 2006.  One of the criticisms of racial preferences is that they misdistribute college applicants, so minorities end up at schools that are too tough, and many fail.  Thus minority enrollment at top schools (UM and MSU) is down, but at second-tier schools like Western is up.