Throughout her tenure, Cantor pressed to diversify not only notions of what constitutes scholarship, but also the ranks of students engaging in that scholarship. In striving to close what she has termed not an “achievement gap,” but an “opportunity gap,” she repeatedly has asserted that promoting access and opportunity for traditionally underrepresented groups meets an increasingly critical societal need and also deeply enhances the educational experience of all students, who benefit from a diversity of perspectives.
Institutional efforts to reach more diverse pools of students have paid off. A 10-year comparison of enrollment data shows that since 2004, the percentage of students of color rose from 18 percent to 30 percent and the percentage of students eligible for Pell Grants—a key indicator of socioeconomic need—climbed from 18 percent to 27 percent. Scholarship opportunities also have expanded, including the addition of a Haudenosaunee Promise scholarship for Native American students, and tuition for eligible Syracuse high school graduates through Say Yes and students from Atlanta, Miami, and Los Angeles through the Posse Foundation, a national nonprofit promoting college access for public high school students with high academic and leadership potential… Read the full story at SU Magazine.