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For the past decade, the Admission office has been working diligently to diversify our undergraduate student population. They have been extremely successful by increasing the number of students of color in our freshman class from 25% in 2009 to 45.6% in 2020.

Fall 2020 marked the most diverse freshman class in our history. These results didn’t just happen. It has been a dedicated admission staff who have worked tirelessly developing relationships to achieve these results. The University is proud of the entire admission staff and what they have been able to accomplish to date.

How is Loyola supporting students of color, particularly Black students?

At Loyola, we continue to pursue meaningful steps to ensure we are living up to our own Diversity, Equity and Inclusion expectations and Jesuit values.

For example, we have already:

  • Established a Black Student Success Taskforce to implement solutions like an Office of Black Student Success by early spring semester 2021;
  • Expanded mental health resources for all students, faculty and staff; and
  • Begun the search for a new Associate Director of Multicultural Admission to ensure we continue that important work, which helped us welcome our most diverse Freshman class in University history this year;
  • Enhanced mandatory training for first-year students which includes Diversity, Equity and Inclusion training; and
  • Advancing the establishment of our new Institute for Racial Justice for Fall semester 2021.
  • Completed anti-racism training for the entire Undergraduate Admission Office;

Additionally, in the coming months, the University will aim to take the following steps:

  • Increase recruitment efforts focused on students coming from Chicago Public Schools; and
  • Require faculty and staff, including managers, to participate in developmental training that is mission-based with an eye to racial justice and reconciliation, and such training is an ongoing expectation for professional development;
  • Establish Community Standards for University faculty and staff that clearly set the expectations of every member of the Loyola community with a measurement of our progress toward these standards and clear modes of accountability for those who violate them;
  • Introduce mandatory anti-discrimination training for all university faculty and staff who are involved in the recruitment and hiring process;
  • Add new courses to our robust cultural competency training repertoire available to staff and faculty year-round;
  • Improve the diversity of employment candidate pools through formal partnerships with specialized recruiting organizations; and
  • Expand mentoring programs for diverse faculty through the Center for Faculty Excellence.

For more information on how we are working to make Loyola a more diverse, equitable and inclusive environment for all students, faculty and staff, please visit the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion and Anti-Racism Initiative websites.