Franklin is majoring in apparel merchandising with a minor in print journalism at Southern, where fall 2012 enrollment was almost two to one, with 4,207 women to 2,404 men. She says Ma son’s program “may be working.”
Franklin notes that the gender imbalance affects the social climate on college campuses. “The men can do whatever they want,” she says. “So, many women don’t date anybody on campus because you don’t know if he’s talking to Jill, Bill or Phil.”
Research supports her concern. A study of gender imbalance at HBCUs in the journal AIDS Care, in 2006, found that “primary consequences of this gender ratio imbalance were men having multiple female sexual partners during the same time period and women complying with men’s condom use preferences.” The study urged HIV preventive intervention programs at HBCUs to reduce women’s risk of infection.