College: An impossible dream for Black males?

Few mentors, rising costs just two reasons for this crisis

The news about Black men in higher education is all too familiar and it’s a sad litany. Just walk the campus of almost any college and you’ll notice a cluster of Black women eating lunch, engaged with instructors in their classrooms or huddled among the stacks in the library. What you won’t see are an equal number of Black males.

Statistics from a recent report, the National Black Male College Achievement Study, show that in 1976, Black males were less than 4 percent of all undergraduate students in the U.S. In 2012, that number is still the same. The report also indicates that among those Black males that do make it to college, the majority of them are less prepared than their peers for the rigors of advanced academic work. Their graduation rates, as one might expect, are the lowest of all major racial and ethnic groups in the country.

Even when one considers historically Black colleges and universities [HBCUs], Black male students are noticeably scarce. Based on the latest data from the U.S. Department of Education, the national college graduation rate for Black men is 33.1 percent compared with 44.8 percent for Black women. The total graduation rate is 57.3 percent. What’s more, Black men, while representing 7.9 percent of 18-to-24-year-olds in the U.S., only account for 2.8 percent of undergraduates at public universities. It is this “gap” that virtually guarantees that Black males will continue to have less earning power even as they confront an unemployment rate of 17.3 percent — nearly double the national rate of 9.5 percent.

But here in Florida, rather than continue to repeat the bad news, college presidents, deans and program directors say they are putting all of their energies into turning this crisis of national proportion around.

 

New B-CU president: “Lamenting is not the answer”

Since his arrival at Bethune-Cookman University in mid-May, Interim President Dr. Edison O. Jackson, 69, says he has worked to change the mindset and culture of his students. And while he admits there are differences between the tasks he once performed as president of Medgar Evers College – CUNY and his current position, what hasn’t changed is the precarious situation facing young, Black males.

“I remember looking out into a sea of students one day and realizing that there weren’t many Black males,” he said. “Like everyone else, I complained for awhile. Soon it occurred to me that I was the University’s president — surely I could do something about it. I created the first male initiative and we were able to increase both male enrollment and retention. We’ll be starting a similar program here at B-CU in the spring. Our public schools are failing out children. We need to create new recruitment and retention strategies and once students get here we must ensure that there are appropriate support structures including mentoring so that they have a sense of connection to the academic enterprise. It doesn’t do any good if you bring kids to college and then they become so disillusioned from their experiences that they are back on the streets less than a year later.”

Resurrecting a college of freshman program and hiring a seasoned dean to oversee it as well as re-instituting an honors college are just a few of the innovative things Jackson has brought to the University.

“On Wednesdays we now have dress up day so that we can change the culture and begin to model different forms of behavior,” he added. “Success should not be strange to our students. It’s all about raising the standards both in and out of the classroom, shifting the atmosphere and providing our students with new kinds of experiences. Like The Pointer Sisters said, ‘we’ve got a new attitude.’”

 

FMU’s president takes proactive approach

Dr. Henry Lewis, III, 62, has been the president of Florida Memorial University [FMU] for 18 months. He says something is happening in the secondary school system that is robbing Black males of their “aspiration and desire to negotiate an academic experience.”

“Our student enrollment this year is around 1,700 students — two-thirds of that population are female. [FMU’s ethnic numbers are: Black, 90 percent; Hispanic, 5 percent; white and/or international, 5 percent]. Graduation numbers pretty much mirror our enrollment percentages of male-to-female. Is there a crisis among Black males? Absolutely. The numbers bear that out unequivocally when you look at them nationwide. Women are trending to almost 70 percent whether it’s at HBCUs or majority colleges. Black males are severely underrepresented.”

Lewis sites several reasons that he says at least partially explain the current “crisis.”

“Too many Black males are finishing high school ill-prepared for college,” he said. “In Florida you can finish with a certificate of attendance rather than a high school diploma and far too many Black males are doing just that. Even if they attend college they have to be remediated before they are able to enroll in traditional college courses.”

Lewis has restructured the freshman year with a program called the Centers for Academic Support and Retention. Tutorial programs, academic advising, testing centers and computer labs are connected under one umbrella in order to ensure a “continuum of support for entering students.”

“Since we initiated the Centers our retention rate for Black males has gone up to 68 percent from the freshman to sophomore year [Females have a rate of almost 80 percent]. We have to encourage our Black males and help them understand that they have a responsibility both to their communities and to their families. The mindset we want to instill is one that says ‘I can succeed’ as opposed to one that hinges on ‘I don’t want to fail.’ The two are diametrically opposed philosophies.”

 

Black males need a personal touch

Kareem J. Coney, 38, is FMU’s director for their Black Male College Explorers program — an initiative that targets high school students from urban settings. Each summer students are placed in a residential setting that exposes them to the rigors of college including taking STEM courses and placing them with mentors.

“Young boys need a personal touch — someone that is genuinely interested in them and their future,” Coney said. “Pre-college programs like ours help boys enter college better prepared. Many walk in feeling like everyone is their adversary and they lack an understanding of the structures they face. Even more, they don’t have a grasp of the steps needed to succeed.

Dr. Edward G. Tolliver, director of the Black Male College Explorers Program at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University [FAMU] cites additional obstacles that Black males routinely face.

“Black males are most likely to be labeled discipline problems, and because their SAT scores average 104 points lower, they are less likely to be enrolled in advanced level or gifted classes,” he said. “Too often a college education is not the outcome for them. Instead they end up incarcerated, perpetrators or victims of violence or institutionalized for drug addiction or mental illnesses. Florida ranks second in the nation when it comes to Black male high school dropouts. And Black teachers are also noticeably absent from Florida K-12th grade classrooms. Our program’s goal, with sites at FAMU, B-CU, Edward Waters College and FMU, were created to reverse the current trends and provide prevention and intervention programs that focus on Black male youth.”

Society may be out to get us but we don’t have to give them ammunition,” Coney added. “We need to help our youth, especially our boys, become ‘thirsty’ for knowledge even if it’s challenging and uncomfortable.”

 

FMU’s president takes proactive approach

Dr. Henry Lewis, III, 62, has been the president of Florida Memorial University [FMU] for 18 months. He says the secondary school system that is robbing Black males of their “aspiration and desire to negotiate an academic experience.”

“Our student enrollment this year is around 1,700 students — two-thirds of that population are female. [FMU’s ethnic numbers are: Black, 90 percent; Hispanic, 5 percent; white and/or international, 5 percent]. Graduation numbers pretty much mirror our enrollment percentages of male-to-female. Is there a crisis among Black males? Absolutely. The numbers bear that out unequivocally when you look at them nationwide. Women are trending to almost 70 percent whether it’s at HBCUs or majority colleges. Black males are severely underrepresented.”

Lewis sites several reasons that he says at least partially explain the current “crisis.”

“Too many Black males are finishing high school ill-prepared for college,” he said. “In Florida you can finish with a certificate of attendance rather than a high school diploma and far too many Black males are doing just that. Even if they attend college they have to be remediated before they are able to enroll in traditional college courses.”

Lewis has restructured the freshman year with a program called the Centers for Academic Support and Retention that offers a “continuum of support for entering students.”

“The mindset we want to instill is one that says ‘I can succeed’ as opposed to one that hinges on ‘I don’t want to fail,’” he said.

 

Black males need a personal touch

Kareem J. Coney, 38, is FMU’s director for their Black Male College Explorers [BMCE] program — an initiative that targets high school students from urban settings. Each summer students are placed in a residential setting that exposes them to the rigors of college including taking STEM courses and placing them with mentors.

“Young boys need a personal touch — someone that is genuinely interested in them and their future,” Coney said. “Pre-college programs like ours help boys enter college better prepared. Many walk in feeling like everyone is their adversary and they lack an understanding of the structures they face. Even more, they don’t have a grasp of the steps needed to succeed.

Dr. Edward G. Tolliver, director of the BMCE program at FAMU, cites additional obstacles that Black males routinely face.

“Black males are most likely to be labeled discipline problems, and because their SAT scores average 104 points lower, they are less likely to be enrolled in advanced level or gifted classes,” he said. “Too often a college education is not the outcome for them. Instead they end up incarcerated, perpetrators or victims of violence or institutionalized for drug addiction or mental illnesses. Florida ranks second in the nation when it comes to Black male high school dropouts. And Black teachers are noticeably absent from Florida K-12th grade classrooms.

“Society may be out to get us but we don’t have to give them ammunition,” Coney added. “We need to help our youth, especially our boys, become ‘thirsty’ for knowledge even if it’s challenging and uncomfortable.”

 

Univ. of Miami tries fresh approach

Robert Moore, 68, is the director of the Office of Academic Enhancement at the University of Miami and has been at the college for 38 years.

“When I look at our numbers in elementary and secondary schools, I see a lack of mentoring — a lack of encouragement of our kids to pursue academic careers,” he said. “I see a disproportionate number of Black males being referred to and represented in special education. And there are too few Black

male teachers to provide needed role models to children at young ages. Black faculty and administrators are in short supply even here at the University of Miami. But we meet regularly and are committed to identifying initiatives that will benefit all of our students.”

Moore says that UM’s new vice provost for academic affairs and diversity, Dr. Brian Blake, 40, has the abilities to lead recruitment and retention efforts that will help Black students, especially males, succeed at the University.

“Many Black students and other minorities are first-generation college,” Blake said. “They don’t have that deep knowledge — they can’t call on parents who have already traveled the same road. Our task is to provide resources that make up for their lack of knowledge and experience.”

By D. Kevin McNeir
kmcneir@miamitimesonline.com