The students will be selected this winter from the Boston area and then undergo a 32-week training program before enrolling at Hamilton in the fall of 2001.
"The Posse Foundation identifies, recruits and selects student leaders from public high schools to form multicultural teams called 'Posses,' which are then placed at top colleges nationwide," according to Deborah Bial, executive director of the New York-based organization.
The program works, according to Bial, because the students form a support group for each other and "act as agents for social change" by promoting dialogue throughout campus. Students are selected based on their leadership ability, social status among peers, demonstrated ambition, ability to work with people of different backgrounds, and desire to succeed.
"Hamilton's participation in this program will benefit the entire college community," said President Eugene M. Tobin. "We are deeply committed to increasing diversity on our campus because of the richness of perspective that different people bring to an educational community."
Hamilton Dean of Admission and Financial Aid Richard M. Fuller said the Class of 2004 is the most diverse in the college's history, with multicultural and international students comprising 19 percent of its members. The college also is committed to economic diversity, Fuller said, as evidenced by the fact that Hamilton supports more than half of all students with need-based financial aid.
"We strive to make the Hamilton student body representative of the world in which our students will return to live and work," Fuller said.
Past experience strongly suggests the Posse program will be successful at Hamilton. Tobin said Hamilton was one of more than two dozen elite U.S. colleges and universities that participated in a landmark study by former Ivy League presidents Derek Bok of Harvard and William Bowen of Princeton that concluded African-American graduates of America's elite colleges are "the backbone of the emergent black middle class."
On measures such as graduation rate, postgraduate study and civic involvement Bok and Bowen found that African-American graduates of these colleges excelled. In fact, Tobin said, Hamilton ranks fourth nationally according to one survey, in its graduation rate for black students.
"Our experience suggests that the results reported for African-Americans in the Bok-Bowen study would be similar for other multicultural groups," said Tobin.
"For both pedagogical and public policy reasons, Hamilton must be representative of the world our students will enter after graduation," said Tobin. "The great mix of talents, colors, skills, experiences and interests — when joined together — is what makes a Hamilton education relevant and desirable. A liberal education that excludes certain viewpoints and perspectives is inconsistent with the world in which that education will be practiced," he said.
"A Posse is a simple concept that works for both students and college campuses, a concept rooted in the belief that a small, diverse group of talented students, a Posse, carefully selected and trained, can serve as a catalyst for increased individual and community development," according to Bial.
In addition to Hamilton, Posse program partners currently include Brandeis, Denison, DePauw and Vanderbilt universities and Bowdoin, Bryn Mawr, Dickinson, Middlebury and Wheaton colleges. Since its founding in 1989, over $17 million in college merit scholarships have been awarded to 234 Posse students. The program boasts a 93 percent graduation rate.
Hamilton will pay a fee to support the program and provide tuition for the 10 students in the posse.
Contacts: Richard M. Fuller, Hamilton Admission, 315-859-4421 Mike Debraggio, Hamilton PR, 315-859-4654 Debbie Bial, Posse Foundation, 212-571-2087
