Ferris Homepage Nineteen years at Ferris, and Raymond Gant is smiling. The director of Minority Student Affairs for Ferris State University sits, hands folded behind his head, legs outstretched, in a softly lit office on the second floor of the Rankin Center and smiles because today he can talk about progress. In the early 1980s, we probably had 500-600 minority students total on campus. So minority students made up 4 to 6 percent of enrollment. Now, minorities make up roughly 13 to 14 percent.
International students add about another percent and half to that.
Minority enrollment surged as the University focused its efforts, and in recent years, enrollment at the University has stabilized with help from growing minority numbers. The director of Minority Student Affairs since the department's inception, he first arrived at Ferris in 1981, a wide-eyed freshman from Kalamazoo. Following his graduation, Gant's attention quickly turned to the need for an office to address the special concerns of minority students. In the '80s, minority students were not really involved in the organizations of influence on campus. Gratifying Results As a result, Ferris saw a rise in co-ed fraternities and black fraternities and sororities, as well as the birth of the Hispanic Student Organization.