(NAME-MCE) Courses About and for Black Men

[Anselmo Villanueva]

For a better format and related stories, surf to:

http://insidehighered.com/news/2007/04/17/blackmale

Anselmo
-------------

April 17, 2007

Courses About and for Black Men

In every sector of higher education, the gender gap among black
students is causing worries. With 60 percent female enrollment common,
and higher figures on many campuses, educators worry about how they
can recruit and retain black males.

A growing number of community colleges are going beyond recruitment
and retention programs to creating formal classes for and about black
men and the issues they face. "We started to look at the question of
who is not at the table," said Jennifer Wimbish, president of Cedar
Valley College, at a discussion of these programs Monday in Tampa, at
the annual meeting of the American Association of Community Colleges.

Cedar Valley is part of the Dallas Community College District, and
57.8 percent of the college's students are black. More than 61 percent
of black students (and other students) are women at the college.
Wimbish said that her research found that among Latino students, who
make up only 12 percent of the population, male students were
graduating at much higher levels than black males.

"Any way you look at it, this was a black male issue," Wimbish said.

For the past few semesters, Cedar Valley has created a special section
of a human development course, and it focuses on black male issues.
Officially, the class is open to all, and one semester a woman
enrolled, but students are told of the emphasis on black men at the
beginning, and those who aren't black men have with that one exception
enrolled in other sections.

Joel Riley, who developed and leads the course, said that the topics
include academics, social dynamics, psychology and values. He leads
discussions with students, linked to readings, about how various
factors in their lives may encourage or discourage their academic and
personal success. The male students tend to ask "why there isn't eye
candy" at the first session, Riley said, but come to appreciate the
opportunity to focus on their issues.

Riley does not hesitate to offer guidance that's not just academic. In
discussing rites of passage, he said he tells students that fathering
a child out of wedlock and doing time in jail "are not acceptable
rites of passage," although he also talks about their impact knowing
that some of his students have in fact experienced those rites of
passage.

In addition to reading and writing assignments, students must select a
"personal growth project" in which they identify an area on which they
will work and report over the semester.

A group of black community college presidents met Monday in Tampa to
consider how to get such programs more support and how to focus more
attention on what community colleges can do to help black males.

Wayne Community College, in North Carolina, has created the Minority
Male Mentoring Group, which mixes both classroom and out-of-classroom
experiences. To be selected, students must have multiple "high risk"
factors, such as low placement test scores, economic hardship, a
history of substance abuse or legal problems.

But Ray Burrell, division head for business and computer technologies
at the college, stressed that other criteria make sure that the help
goes to students willing to make a real commitment. They must be
enrolled full time, pledge to attend various programs, and agree to
mentor another student and participate in community service once they
proceed with the program.

"We want students who will be on a timeline to earn a degree," Burrell said.

The students participate in a series of seminars and workshops, travel
to local colleges and other educational sites, and are assigned
mentors — both from the faculty and the local area. As at Cedar
Valley, there is an emphasis both on academic skills and social skills
that will set someone on a path to career success. On part of the
program at Wayne is "dress up Friday," where the students wear suits
and ties.

In only a few years, the college has seen some dramatic improvements
in retention from one semester to the next, with some cohorts of the
black men in the program achieving 100 percent return rates (compared
to rates of between 40 and 70 percent for semester-to-semester
retention of black men not in the program). The program has seen
graduates obtain jobs and transfer to four-year colleges, and those in
the program are meeting their community service obligations.

But the effort is small, with only 25 participants last year.

A similar program at North Carolina's Johnston Community College is
also seeing good results. Of the 15 students currently in the program,
all are participating regularly, holding down part-time jobs and
achieving acceptable grade-point averages. Donald Reichard, president
of the college, said events include study strategies, memory
enhancement skills, personal finance — along with small group meetings
with educators from colleges throughout the state.

Burrell said it's important to recognize that even if programs like
this succeed, the issues involving black men are not going to be fixed
in any speedy way. "This isn't going to happen next year or in the
next 10 years, but we can start," he said.

— Scott Jaschik