Milwaukee SDS unveils new campaign to increase Black enrollment on campus
Milwaukee, WI – On April 11, organizers with the UW-Milwaukee chapter of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) took to Spaights Plaza in the middle of campus to announce a new campaign focused on addressing the shockingly low percentage of Black students on campus, increasing Black representation in student resources like mental health services, and the graduation rate of existing Black students.
“UWM claims to be a campus that supports and values diversity, equity and inclusion, but only 6% of UWM students are Black, even though Black people make up 38% of Milwaukee residents,” said Trenton Houck, outreach chair of UWM SDS. “Black students are also clearly not supported adequately at UWM, as the Black graduation rate is currently an abysmal 28%.”
Houck continued: “We demand that the university provide more financial aid opportunities, such as scholarships and retention grants, available to Black students, so they are able to both enroll in school and stay in school while being financially stable. The Black Student Cultural Center is also severely underfunded, with there only being four full-time staff people. Mental health services at UWM are extremely underfunded as well, and reports show that there is only one Black counselor on campus. We demand that more staff for the BSCC are hired as well as more Black mental health professionals. And last but not least, we demand that UWM directly recruits students from Milwaukee Public Schools, as those schools most properly represent the demographics of our city.”
“Ensuring that Black people have access to education is integral in fighting against racism and oppression,” said Houck.
The kickoff ended with a call to join SDS to win these demands and several chants of “Education for all!” The campaign to increase Black enrollment at UWM will begin in earnest in the fall of 2023.