Colleges Focus on Blacks
Press-Enterprise 12/26/06
Cal State San Bernardino students and campus officials earlier this year launched a chapter of the Student African American Brotherhood, a national organization that promotes mentoring for black male students. The goal is to encourage students to mentor each other by meeting in regular study sessions and calling each other for support.
Black students are among the least represented on college campuses nationwide. Students consistently complain of a sense of isolation, a lack of support and few black faculty to serve as role models.A national study of public colleges and universities by The Education Trust, a nonprofit group, found an average gap of more than 10 percentage points between the graduation rates of white and black students.
Though black women are making gains nationwide in enrollment and graduation rates in higher education, black males continue to lag.
The Student Equity Plan at RCC targets black students because they consistently score the lowest on each of five measures including course completion and degree and certificate completion, said Debbie DiThomas, RCC's associate vice chancellor of student services and operations.
"Part of the reason they don't succeed is they don't feel engaged," DiThomas said. "They don't feel welcome."
This marks the first time that RCC created a program specifically geared toward the retention of black students, DiThomas said.
RCC has programs that include mentoring, writing and academic and career counseling largely geared for Latino students at each campus, she said.
DiThomas said there are inequities in the system that must be corrected.
"We have to level the playing field for everybody," she said.
Cal State San Bernardino officials have expressed concern about the retention and graduation rates of black students, particularly black males.
About 41.5 percent of all entering freshmen in 1998 at Cal State San Bernardino graduated within six years, compared with 26.9 percent of the black students in that group, according to systemwide statistics.
Being black on campus
A lack of connection to the campus is among the chief reasons that students falter academically and ultimately drop out, said John Futch, the recently retired director of cultural and community development at Cal State San Bernardino. Futch also helped launch the university's Student African American Brotherhood.
"My concern is once they get in, where's the support?" Futch said.
Kijana Cash, 30, said he considered leaving not long after enrolling in 2004 at Cal State San Bernardino, where blacks make up about 11.3 percent of students. Cash said he struggled academically at first and his grade-point average fell to a 1.8.
"It was a culture shock," Cash said. "I felt abandoned. I didn't know anybody. It was like, 'Who do I talk to? Who do I turn to if I need help?' "
His situation became more challenging when he became the full-time caretaker of his 4-year-old daughter, Kaetee, earlier this year.
"I'm basically out here by myself -- just me and my daughter," Cash said.
Cash said that becoming a founding member of the Student African American Brotherhood on campus helped give him more support. Members study together and call each other for encouragement. He said he now has a 3.5 grade-point average. His classmates in the brotherhood also help with babysitting.
"It doesn't feel like I'm alone anymore," Cash said. "We have a common goal to not let each other fail. We see so much potential in each other."
Kyle Gordon, 22, said that he was a good student and senior class president at Ramona High School in Riverside.But, Gordon also struggled when he got to Cal State San Bernardino.
"All I would do was go to class, sleep, get something to eat," Gordon said. "I didn't think Cal State was the college experience I fantasized about. I went home every weekend."
He also noticed that other black male students on campus didn't connect with each other.
"We don't even acknowledge each other. We walk with our heads down," Gordon said. "We don't even speak."
Gordon is now president of the Student African American Brotherhood. He credits the group with helping him to develop better study habits. He said his grades are slowly getting better after he was placed on academic probation.
Dora Aikens, 30, said the Student Equity program at RCC also helps her feel connected. Aikens said the program has been invaluable as she juggles work and raising two sons. She said she gets information about financial aid and seeks the academic counseling whenever she needs it.
"When things get difficult ... they let us know that we're not alone," Aikens said. "It helps to talk with students and professors. It helps motivate you."
Achievement Gaps
Some education experts blame the black achievement gap on racism.
Walter Hawkins, director of research and policy analysis at Cal State San Bernardino, said, "We haven't treated blacks fairly. We've given black males even more of a stigma and handicap over time."
Hawkins, also a board member for the Rialto Unified School District, said that adults need to be more responsive to students' needs in the classroom, especially in elementary school.
He said he was concerned about the low number of black students graduating from San Bernardino County public schools who have completed the required courses to be eligible for admission to California State University and the University of California.
Among the class of 2005, only 19.8 percent of black graduates had passed the required courses. The percentage for Hispanics was lower at 18.3 percent. But, it was 26.8 percent for whites and 43.6 percent for Asians.
In Riverside County, 29.4 percent of blacks had completed the courses compared to 25.6 percent Hispanic, 42.7 percent white and 59.5 percent Asian.
At Cal State San Bernardino, the gender gap in the completion rates of black students also has officials concerned. Of the 249 black students who received bachelor's degrees from the San Bernardino campus in 2005, 175, or about 70 percent, were awarded to female students and 74, or about 30 percent went to male students, according to the California Postsecondary Education Commission.
The gap exists across all ethnic groups at Cal State San Bernardino and mirrors a trend at other Inland campuses as well as nationwide.
Gail Thompson, an associate professor of education at Claremont Graduate University and a Rialto resident, has written several books about the black experience in school. She said that research shows that black males tend to be viewed in a negative light from a young age.
"I've had black males tell me that teachers assumed they were gang members because they wore hip-hop clothing. Sometimes teachers are treating black males differently without realizing it," Thompson said.
"If we want to see more African American males at Cal State San Bernardino, Riverside Community College, UC Riverside, any university, then the preparation has to be at the elementary school level, where teachers are more trained to be more sensitive to their needs. Their needs are truly unique," Thompson said.
Futch, the former Cal State San Bernardino official, said that ultimately students are responsible for choosing their own path.
"They can make the decisions. Yes. Is it really, really hard?
Yes."