Torchbearer: Winter 1996

More Blacks Graduate

The percentage of UTK black students who graduate has risen from 33 percent to 48.7 percent since 1984.

"To put this number in perspective, UT Knoxville's graduation rate for black students is higher than the graduation rate for white students in any other state institution," President Joe Johnson told a meeting of the Tennessee Higher Education Commission's desegregation committee.

Of the nine Tennessee four-year undergraduate public universities, UT's three campuses were among the top five in number of black students who graduated in six years, Johnson said. UTK ranked first, the University of Memphis second, UT Martin third, East Tennessee State fourth, and UT Chattanooga fifth.

"The number of black students who receive degrees should be much more important...than the number who simply enroll as freshmen," Johnson said. "On this point, I am enormously proud of the progress we have made throughout the UT system."