By Brian Jordan

Colleges across the country, including Northeastern, have worked to increase diversity on campus in recent years, but a recent national study indicates the trend could reverse.

According to the Minorities in Higher Education 23rd Status Report released Oct. 9 and conducted by the American Council on Education (ACE), the current generation of minorities are less likely to have college degrees than their parents.

Hispanic between the ages of 25 and 29 are two percent less likely to have a college degree than Hispanic between the ages of 30 and 44. Native Americans are three percent less likely, and African Americans’ progress has not progressed.

“[The study] says younger Latino and younger American Indians were not succeeding at the same level or better than their predecessors,” said Donnie Perkins, dean and director of the Office of Affirmative Action and Diversity. “That doesn’t necessarily mean that there’s less opportunities.”

Though the national rate of minorities graduating from college has fallen, the raw number of minority students attending college has skyrocketed from 3.4 million to 5 million students between 1995 and 2005, according to the report. The majority of what the study identifies as Caucasians did not improve at this rate.

According to the registrar’s office, 78 percent of Northeastern students identify themselves as white, 7 percent identify themselves as black, 8.8 percent identify themselves as Asian and 5.9 percent as Hispanic.

Perkins said regardless of the study, Northeastern has a commitment to not only promote equality, but understanding amongst the students.

“The university is [not only] working towards increasing the representations [of diversity], but also our experiences with diversity,” Perkins said. “It’s larger than just about race and ethnicity. It’s the way that we interact with each other.”

Windsor Lien, a sophomore political science major who identified himself as half Chinese, said racial diversity is overrated.

“People are people,” he said. “Race matters, but it’s less a factor than your economic status.”

However, some in the Northeastern community said the study indicates a growing trend that current generations do not value education the same way their parents did.

“Education is not as highly regarded at a community level as it was 30 to 40 years ago,” said Richard O’Bryant, director of the John D. O’Bryant African American institute. “I think we’re living in a different age.”

Education is no longer looked at as a path to success, or a way of getting out of poverty for people in minority communities, O’Bryant said.

Others said the study did not match their experiences

“A lot more Latino parents are educated about the importance of going to the university, getting your degrees and increasing your chances of getting a good paying position,” said Rebecca Veira, assistant director of the Latino/a Cultural Center. “I’m not sure I believe it,” she said.

One explanation that would skew the study’s results is the so-called “Tiger Woods Syndrome,” O’Bryant said. As American society becomes more multicultural, racial identity dissolves, and “people are just not identifying themselves the way they used to,” he said.

The ACE study included a category for mixed race, according to a press release.

O’Bryant said there needs to be a change in policy to help low-income communities with public education, regardless of ethnicity.

“The belief is everybody has a right to an education