MSU officials have succeeded in increasing the minority student population, with 20 percent of this year’s freshman class projected to be minority students.

But retention of minority students is still sluggish, threatening to undermine the work recruiters do to bring black, Chicano and Latino, Asian and Pacific Islanders, Native American and other minority students to campus. A diverse student body brings a positive energy to our community.

Many minority students may be leaving MSU because they lack adequate mentoring programs. Some may need extra financial support, while others may need help achieving their academic goals.

There are many resources at MSU to help minority students with these issues - such as the MAGIC, Maximizing Academic Growth in College, and SUPER, Summer University Program Excellence Required, programs - but more must be done to guide students into these programs.

Minority enrollment is estimated at about 16 percent of the student population this year, up to 7,110 students from 6,771 a year ago.

Those are positive numbers. But we can do better. MSU must do more to help these students be successful.

Diversity is an essential part of college life. To be successful after college, students have to learn about different people and their cultures. It’s simply a necessity in a society with a growing minority population.

Our university has succeeded in attracting more minority students than ever before. Now, we must rise to a new challenge and help more minority students graduate than ever.

The more minority students we have at MSU, the more our campus culture will flourish.