With the largest number of Latino students ever, the class of 2006 reflects Northwestern’s growing commitment to recruiting minority students.

The estimated 116 Latino freshmen top the previous high of 94 students in the 1998 incoming class, said Rebecca Dixon, NU’s associate provost for university enrollment. Last year’s total was 88.

“I attribute (the increase) to very good recruitment efforts this year,” Dixon said.

She said the Office of Undergraduate Admission gave prospective minority students more personalized attention this year, including phone calls from faculty, students and admission staff.

Undergraduate Admission has two recruiters, Elizabeth Enciso and Janet Olivo, specifically for Latino students, said Nancy Villalpando, a work-study student in the office.

Villalpando, a Communication junior, said minority recruitment has been growing in scope and impact. Recruiters visit high schools and college fairs in Chicago and throughout the nation to attract Latino applicants.

“In the past two years, it’s been growing and it’s been growing stronger,” she said.

Villalpando said all students can benefit from the increase in Latino students on campus.

“It adds a different perspective on life,” she said. “We (Latinos) come in not like the average students at this school.”

Dixon also said a higher percentage of African-American students who were accepted to NU decided to attend.

“We were pleased that so many accepted our offer because we compete with some very good schools,” she said. “The quality (of applicants) is the highest it’s ever been.”

This year’s freshman class includes 104 African-American students, up from 102 last year.

NU also saw an increase in the enrollment of international students this year, from 98 to 111, which surprised Dixon.

“We thought people would be scared to come to the United States after Sept. 11,” she said.

Although international students do not count toward minority student enrollment totals, they add to the diversity of culture on campus, she said.

In mid-August, 125 international students were set to come to NU. But family, immigration and money issues cut the number who arrived on campus for the start of classes, according to Dixon.

“It’s so much more of a commitment for them to come halfway around the world,” she said.

In addition, the total of freshmen identifying themselves as minorities is more than 32 percent of the class, a slight increase from last year.

Dixon cautioned against comparing the figures she had for the class of 2006 with figures on the admissions Web site for the class of 2005. She said the numbers on the Web site appeared to be inflated, perhaps because international students were included.

Lupita Temiquel, coordinator of Hispanic/Latino Student Services, said she was reluctant to credit the increase in Latino students to NU’s increased efforts to provide services to minority students.

“I think its just indicative of what’s happening in the entire U.S. population,” she said. She added that Latinos could represent the largest minority population in the United States by 2005.

Hispanic/Latino Student Services is in its fifth year at NU, and Temiquel was hired in August as the new director.

Temiquel said she felt her quick appointment to the post, vacated when Laura LaBauve-Maher accepted a position as associate dean at Harper College in Palatine, was a sign of its importance to the university.

Edith Rivera, president of Alianza, said the increase in Latino students only can enhance student life at NU.

“From what I’ve met of this year’s freshmen, they’re really going to add to our community,” said Rivera, a Communication junior.

But she said students outside the Latino community also must welcome the increasingly diverse freshmen on campus.

“I think it’s also up to all students – and not just minorities – to make new students feel welcome,” Rivera said.