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The University of Louisville has been called many things – a “flagship school,” a “developing research institute” – but one facet seems to garner more attention than others.

Diversity.

“I’d say U of L is a lot like how Israel Zangwill described America: a melting pot of cultures and races,” said Amanda Chahalis, a freshmen anthropology major.

But what many students don’t think about are the numbers that make up that “diversity” term.

Blacks, for example, are no longer the largest minority in America. People with hispanic backgrounds have grown in recent years, taking the title of minority leader.

“I don’t feel really feel like I’m the majority; most times I actually think I’m one of only a few [Hispanics] even at U of L,” says Juan Martinez, a junior biology major.

Martinez, in fact, is only one of roughly 250 self-identified Hispanic non-white undergraduate students at the University of Louisville, at least according to 2005 records complied by the University of Louisville Institutional Research Center. Further records of 2005 graduate enrollment show just more than 60 Hispanic non-white students enrolled in the university.

In comparison to Hispanic enrollment at U of L, African-American numbers are almost eight times that of Hispanics. The IRC reported in 2005 almost 10,000 self-identified African-American undergraduate students. There were 406 African-Americans in graduate school but none in post-doctoral programs.

“People tend to look at changes as epidemics. They see a slight difference, like a few more Hispanic students, and they assume there’s a sudden mass upward trend,” Martinez said.

Additional data from the IRC shows there were about 250 Hispanic students enrolled at the university in 2000. Numbers were up in 2005, at almost 340, but the rise was less than a one-percent increase.

Black student enrollment also increased by less than 1 percent, but by a larger number; from 2294 in 2000 to 2496 in 2005.

But according to recent Census Bureau statistics, the trend at U of L is rather different from that which has been observed across the U.S. as a whole. In fact, Hispanics born as American citizens accounted for more than a third of the population increase in 2005.

The overall U.S. population totaled 296.4 million in 2005; 33 percent of that number, or 98 million, were minorities. Hispanics remained the largest minority group at 42.7 million. They were the fastest growing group from 2004 to 2005, with a 3.3 percent increase. Blacks represented the second largest minority group, with 39.7 million people and a 1.3 percent increase from 2004 to 2005.

Figures released by the Census Bureau in 2006 show the U.S. population grew by 2.8 million between July 1, 2004, and July 1, 2005. Hispanics accounted for 1.3 million of that increase, with 800,000 attributable to natural causes – births minus deaths – rather than immigration.

Along with the high birth rate among Hispanics, the Population Resource Center estimates the average Hispanic woman will have three children in her lifetime; the same figure is only 1.8 for non-Hispanic whites, which means Hispanics are projected to make up an increasing share of the citizenry as the years go on.

PRC is a non-profit demographic analysis group based in Washington, D.C.

Census statistics also show 45 percent of children under age five belong to a racial or ethnic minority in some way. About a third of Hispanics were younger than 18, compared with a fourth of the population in general, the bureau reported.

The median age for Hispanics, the point at which half are older and half are younger, was 27.2 years in 2005. It was 30 years for blacks and 40.3 years for white non-Hispanics.

So what does all this mean? According to experts’ analyses, that is still somewhat unclear. Many foresee increasing Hispanic economic and political clout, potentially at blacks’ expense. Some, though, see little prospect of a Hispanic national monolith, noting that the label groups together people of widely differing and sometimes rivaling cultures, national origins and races.

Others note the effects are already begin to show themselves: Hispanic voters are a growing factor in state and national elections, often serving as swing voting blocs. Presidential candidates attempt sound bites in Spanish, and more Hispanic candidates vie for – and win – elected offices.

Moreover, the national numbers obscure a different picture at the state, regional and local levels, where one minority group often enjoys a clear numerical, and often political, edge.

In the South, for instance, the black population (with the exception of Florida’s) is still much larger than the Hispanic population; and in the Northeast and Midwest, the racial portrait remains very much a white-black proposition.

Although it is statistically evident that Hispanics are on the rise across America, the national trend hasn’t swept through U of L yet.

“I think we (Hispanics) will make a big difference at the university in the future,” Martinez said. “For now, we’re blending in as much as possible.”