Tulane will welcome Satyajit Dattagupta as the new vice president of enrollment management effective June 15. Dattagupta, who currently holds the same title at Washington College in Maryland, brings with him a surge of excitement and a promising future for the Tulane student body. We commend the university for making this hire, in the interest of consistently bettering the students coming into Tulane.

Dattagupta’s accomplishments in diversifying and broadening the scope of student enrollment at Washington are highly impressive; last year, of 407 incoming freshmen, 136 were Presidential Fellows and almost 100 were students of color. Additionally, 60 percent of first-year students who enrolled were from out-of-state and the average GPA increased to 3.7.

The Tulane student body has been increasingly vocal about recruiting more diverse freshman classes. In November, the Tulane Black Student Union released a petition urging Tulane to implement a variety of changes that would better represent and support students of color on campus. One of the specific requests was that admissions seek to enroll and recruit more students of color. The petition goes on to suggest a number of ways that Tulane admissions could better recruit a more representative student body.

Dattagupta is coming at a very pertinent time for Tulane and is going to be a great addition to the administrative staff of our university. Though Tulane has been making incredible strides in the world of academia (including our increased ranking to number 41 in the 2016 U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges) we should always be looking for ways to branch out and grow academically. Based on Dattagupta’s previous successes, we feel confident that he is going to help Tulane bring in some of the most impressive and diverse classes yet and we look forward to welcoming him to campus.