Thanks, Jack

I had a phone conversation with a fellow Wesleyan alum a couple of weeks back and we were reminiscing about the impact Wesleyan had on our lives. He said, "You know, I don't think I'd ever even met a black person before I arrived at Wesleyan." The same was true for me. Like my friend, I'd grown up in what was then an all-white town (Allentown, Pennsylvania), and gone to an all-white public high school.

Wesleyan was an eye-opener. There were 39 African American students in our freshman class -- almost 11 % of the total -- and there was plenty of culture shock on both sides of the racial divide. Inner-city blacks felt socially uncomfortable with suburban whites and the privileged kids from elite prep schools. And we whites were, frankly, clueless. I'd like to be able to report that we all learned to live happily together during our four years at Wesleyan, but there was a lot of history to overcome. There was progress, but no Kumbaya. Still, I think the broadening of social perspective that the Wesleyan experience provided was as educational for me as any course I took there.

Under the leadership of a visionary Admissions Director, John C. Hoy, class of '55, Wesleyan was a pioneer in the new admissions practice that came to be called affirmative action. Before college, Jack Hoy attended an integrated high school in New York City and played on the school's football team. And from that experience, he developed a passionate commitment to equal opportunity, and a deep appreciation of racial diversity.

In 1964, the year Hoy took over as Dean of Admissions, there were only two black students enrolled at the University. He had his admissions staff scour America's top inner-city high schools for bright, ambitious African American students, and 14 were recruited for the next year's class. By the fall of 1966, there were 33 new black freshmen on Foss Hill.

In recent decades, most of the discussion of affirmative action has focused on the benefits minority students receive by having an opportunity to attend high-quality colleges and universities (see Obama, Barack, US President). But I think there's been an equal or greater benefit for students from the majority culture.

My older daughter is now a junior at a liberal arts college in Pennsylvania, and she and her fellow classmates -- black and white -- seem entirely comfortable in an integrated America. That's real progress, and many people deserve credit. But on this Martin Luther King holiday, I'll tip my cap to Jack Hoy.