By the time she opened a letter from President Ruth Simmons at the beginning of her senior year of high school, Taylor Bright '15 already knew Brown was her top choice. But reading the letter — one of 11,000 sent that year to a pool of prospective minority applicants — reassured her of her decision.
"It made me more comfortable," Bright said. "Just the fact that she reached out. I felt more secure going to a school knowing that minorities are appreciated."
Though Simmons told The Herald last month she does not see herself as a "role model" to minority or female students, some wonder if her presidency has had a positive effect on minority applications to the college.
Simmons began sending letters to minority students after enrollment figures for black students fell in 2009, said Dean of Admission James Miller '73. Though the University was accepting more black students, matriculation numbers were stagnant — only 6.7 percent of admitted students for the class of 2012 and 6.3 percent of admitted students for the class of 2013 were black.
Simmons' effort is part of a University-wide outreach to prospective minority applicants in response to disappointing yields. But the University continues to compete against aggressive financial aid packages from rival schools.
Qualified minority and low-income students "know they're a commodity" and apply to and gain admission to many top-tier schools, Michele Hernandez, a college consultant and author of three books on preparing for college admissions, told The Herald last year. Students from less affluent backgrounds find many of Brown's peer institutions more attractive, she said.
Applications to the University from black students more than doubled under Simmons, from 978 in 2000 to 2,478 in 2010, while total applications have increased by 84 percent, from 16,801 in 2000 to 30,946 in 2010.
While she was applying to colleges, Bright — who, like Simmons, is a black female — was on the receiving end of a push from the Admission Office to increase minority applications to Brown. As part of the campaign, Simmons communicated with 11,000 prospective applicants through direct mail, discussing the application process and describing the daily life of minority students at Brown.
Though she knew who Simmons was at that time, Bright said Simmons' race or gender did not impact her decision to apply. "It's not the fact that she's black and a woman," Bright said. "It just inspired me to see someone like President Ruth, who is so determined and successful in her life and career."
As a minority recruitment intern, Corbyn Nchako '14 works with the Admission Office to communicate with prospective applicants and persuade them to apply. Minority applicants are generally impressed by Simmons, he said, which has helped encourage prospective students to apply.
"Ruth was chosen to be the president of Brown University because people were convinced that she had the necessary leadership skills, personality, drive, intelligence and passion to effectively lead this institution," Nchako said. "These are the same reasons why minority students are drawn to Brown — because the University sees them as having the necessary attributes to effectively add and contribute to the Brown community."
"President Simmons is both iconic and inspirational to our applicants in general, but in particular for minority students," Miller said.
Though Nchako and Bright agreed that Simmons serves as a role model to minority applicants, they both felt it is her attempt to shape Brown into a more welcoming community that makes her a valuable a president.
"As long as Brown reaches out and shows the minority opportunities that exist," minority students will be attracted to Brown, Bright said.
Simmons' letter demonstrated to Bright that Brown appreciated who she really is, she said. After she read the letter, Bright sat down to write the president a response.
"I wrote back to her saying that it was really thoughtful to send a letter like that to me," she said. "No other school did that."
