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Tennessee State Students Knock Ads Geared to Whites

By Kamaria Mack
Black College Wire

An advertising campaign to attract more "minority" and nontraditional students does not accurately reflect Tennessee State University�s racial demographics, according to some students at the university.

Credit: The Meter Nashville firm produced three commercials for Tennessee State.

Tennessee State hired McNeely Pigott & Fox Public Relations, LLC of Nashville under the Geier consent decree requiring desegregation of Tennessee's public universities. The decree stipulates that the university attract more white and older students.

�The main argument is that TSU wants equal representation of the student body, staff and administration in terms of ethnicity and race,� said Tor Anjanaku, a junior from Knoxville, Tenn., majoring in Africana studies. �The representation is not equal because no blacks are speaking, therefore it does not represent TSU demographics.�

Tennessee State has 277 nontraditional students who are not black and who are under 21, and 4,855 who are not black and over that age.

The firm produced three different 30-second commercials that were to air from Nov. 1 to Nov. 24. They featured three different students, "minority" and nontraditional, speaking positively about the university.

�Prospective students who know very little about TSU will experience a rude awakening if they choose to attend,� said Amber Sims, a senior from Jackson, Tenn., majoring in speech communication and theater. �The ads should feature classes that better represent the true racial background."

The students were solicited through focus groups conducted by the public relations firm, which sought an understanding of how the university was perceived.

�We have been told under court order to attract nontraditional students,� said Mike Pigott of McNeely Pigott & Fox. �The purpose was to convey that TSU is a viable option" (for white and older students).

The project cost $650,000.

�I believe that the mission was carried out, but without the consideration of the current events here at Tennessee State University,� said Lela Carbin, a senior from Huntsville, Ala., majoring in speech communications.

Ray Richardson, the plaintiff-intervenor for the Geier settlement, said members of the public relations firm are friends of the university, not enemies.

�We hope to increase our enrollment and we want to raise the quality of our enrollment,� Richardson said.

Initially, the decree mandated that Tennessee State become 50 percent black and 50 percent white; later, that was changed to 90 percent black and 10 percent white. Currently, the university has no quota for "minority" or nontraditional students, but must increase the enrollment of those students.

�As a nontraditional student, I think that the commercials are very effective,� said Sarah Bogan, a speech communications and theater major from Nashville. �Yes, I understand the opportunity here at TSU, but I don�t think that others are aware."

Kamaria Mack is a student at Tennessee State University who is news editor of The Meter. She can be reached at [email protected].

Posted Nov. 29, 2004