In 2002, 112 black Kentucky residents began college at Western.

By 2008, 39 had graduated, Provost Barbara Burch said.

The six-year graduation rate contributed to Western failing to achieve two of Kentucky’s equal opportunity goals this year, she said.

“It’s a cause for concern,” Burch said.

Last year, Western was the only school in the state to meet all eight of the objectives, she said.

The Council on Postsecondary Education assesses each state school’s ability to achieve the objectives of the 1997-2002 Kentucky Plan for Equal Opportunities every year, according to a report on Western’s progress on the objectives.

The objectives concern the enrollment, retention and graduation rates of black, Kentucky-resident students and the employment of black faculty and staff, said Richard Miller, associate vice president of academic affairs.

“There’s an expectation that we would have continued to meet all eight,” he said.

But Western failed to reach the plan’s goals for the retention of black first-year Kentucky residents and the six-year graduation rate for degree-seeking black students from Kentucky, according to the report.

The CPE’s method of calculating retention and graduation rates may help explain Western’s inability to achieve these goals, Miller said.

The CPE counts every student who leaves Western for any reason in its total of non-retained and non-graduating students, he said.

Some of the non-graduating students in the 2002 cohort may have transferred to an institute CPE doesn’t track or left school because of family emergencies, Miller said.

Burch said officials have been reviewing data, including student profiles, to determine why Western failed in these areas, but haven’t come to a conclusion about the cause.

Western can offer to aid struggling students, but students have to accept, Burch said. This leaves officials unsure if the cause of objective results is the university or the students.

Western has several programs to help students academically, including the Step Up program, which is exclusively for black students, said Ellen Bonaguro, director of the Academic Advising and Retention Center.

Program leaders invite all black students who qualify for the program because of low grade point averages to join, she said.

Step Up students attend mandatory study halls, seek tutors and meet with peer advisors, Bonaguro said.

Last semester, 173 students were eligible for the program, but only 83 participated, she said. Fifty-two percent of the students improved their GPAs to at least a 2.0.

Bonaguro said AARC can only help the students who want to be helped.

“Once they get into those programs they have to stay in and finish it,” she said.