Virginia tech struggles with racial diversity

In common with most universities in the South, state schools in Virginia were strictly segregated well into the post-World War II period. It was not until 1953 that the first black student was admitted to Virginia Tech, a large state-operated school of more than 21,000 students. Today some 47 years later blacks are 4 percent of the student body, about half the rate that prevails at the University of Virginia.