Students crowded the campus ofSouthern University this week announcing the arrival of the fall 2004 semester.
On average, Southern usuallyenrolls about 9,000 students each fall.
According to Norman St. Amant,the Vice Chancellor of Enrollment, enrollment has increased this semester.
“As of date, we currently haveabout 8,200 students enrolled, and that is big since the official registrationperiod is not over,” St. Amant said.
“We expect those numbers toincrease by the end of registration giving Southern one of the largest fallenrollment in a while.”
The Office of Enrollment workedhard to attract students from various states with different campus recruitmentevents.
“This year students were veryconfident in choosing Southern, and that is representative by the amount ofstudents that are here this semester,” St. Amant said.
Many students decided to attendSouthern because, it is a tradition in their families.
“I chose to attend Southernbecause people in my family and in my town went there, and HBCUs have awonderful reputation,” said Rokeisha Cole, a freshman majoring in biology fromEunice.
During the spring, Southerngained media attention with BET’s “College Hill.” The broadcast of the StateFarm Bayou Classic football game on NBC also gained attention for theuniversity.
“Seeing SU on television reallyinfluenced me and a lot of my friends to come to school here,” said TiffanieBlack, a freshman majoring in nursing from New Orleans.
“It made us feel important tobelong to such a popular and well-known university,” Black said.
Despite all of the positiveattention, Southern received negative attention last spring with the discoveryof the grade changing scandal.
Many believed this would detourstudents from enrolling.
“The grade changing incident madeour school look bad, like everyone here was buying grades and not earningthem,” said Laci Taylor, a junior from Lafayette, majoring in elementaryeducation.
With the placement of a newinterim registrar and the help of auditors, the university solved the problem.
“The grade scandal did not play arole in my choosing Southern,” said Andrea Horn, a freshman from Kansas City,majoring in social work.
“Southern is a school with a greatreputation, and I wanted to experience that.”