Retention programs seek empathy, education
Advocacy groups focus on retaining minority students
By Jennifer K. Morita
Daily Bruin Staff
When U.S. Supreme Court judges ruled in Brown vs. the Board of
Education that segregation in public schools went against the
Constitution, the landmark decision opened university doors for not
only African Americans, but all minority students. Since the 1954
case, affirmative action has been desegregating universities all
over the United States.
As increasing numbers of underepresented minority students enter
UCLA each year, both the administration and student groups have
taken a hard look at retaining these students by helping them
obtain their undergraduate degree.
"Retention is a political issue and we have to attack that way
aggressively," said MEChA Retention Coordinator Cynthia Duarte. "We
also feel it is a race issue. Just as I live my life every day as a
Chicana, write my papers as a Chicana, my academic issues need to
be addressed that way."
Duarte’s group is just one of several student advocacy groups on
campus that focus on retaining minority students at UCLA. Other
campus groups include the African Student Union, the Samahang
Pilipino group and the Asian Pacific Coalition.
But students aren’t the only ones concerned with retention.
UCLA’s Academic Advancement Program is an affirmative action
program run by the university.
Through tutoring, counseling and mentorship programs, AAP
targets a campus population, who AAP tutor Daniel Bernardi says,
"share a common history."
"Although there is a difference between the Latino, African
American and Native American cultures, they share something in
common," Bernardi said. "They share a history of discrimination and
exclusion."
At the heart of retention programs are the belief that students
who come from underrepresented or low-income backgrounds, have
specific need that other campus programs do not address.
"Our meetings are not just about writing papers and taking
exams," said AAP film tutor Lahn F. Kim. "Inevitably we end up
discussing … what it’s like to be a person of color on the UCLA
campus and how we navigate our education and our identity in a
predominantly white education system."
The difference between AAP and programs like the African Student
Union’s Academic Supports Program is that the student-run
organizations cater to specific groups.
"The programs (we offer) are specific to my needs as an African
American student," said ASU Education and Political Action Director
Jioni Palmer. "If a person doesn’t understand that there is a
different African American experience based on racism and based on
culture, you’ll never be able to see the need for these types of
programs."
For example, the way African Americans interact is a sample of
the cultural differences that make adjusting to UCLA more
difficult, Palmer said.
"We have a strong oral tradition," he said. "African culture you
rarely write things down, in fact they call writing things down
cheating."
Another issue all retention programs address is the perception
that minority students are at UCLA only because of affirmative
action policies.
"It’s a misinformed perception," said AAP Director Adolfo
Bermeo. "More than 99 percent of AAP students met all the A through
F requirements, met all the academic requirements to come into the
university and were in the top 12.5 percent of the graduating
seniors in California. They had to work hard the way everybody had
to work hard to come into a premiere research university."
Yet rumors persist about "easy"admission, and AAP sets up
programs that tell the students they have earned their right to be
at UCLA, Bermeo said.
"In other words," Bermeo added. "AAP starts from the position
of, ‘We believe in you,’ and we go from there."
Retention programs are starting to pay off. Ten years ago, only
a third of UCLA’s Chicano students were graduating and today their
graduation rate is up to 50 percent, Duarte said.
The main reason for a historically high dropout rate is that
UCLA is not set up to meet the needs of students of color, said ASU
Academic Supports Group Assistant Director Akilah Shakur.
"Because we’re in a society that is based on Western
civilization and run by white males, they set up institutions that
promote their own community," Shakur said. "In school, students of
color learn that culture and the curriculum is not set up to relate
to them."
Like AAP, Academic Support Program offers tutoring and
counseling for students. But the African Student Union’s program
also provides an African American Brothers and Sisters program that
matches incoming freshmen and transfer students with upperclassmen
who have similar majors and career interests.
"They are friends, rather than tutors, who offer advice and
provide guidance," Shakur said.
Another component of ASP is the outreach program which targets
students who have been dismissed or are on academic probation in
order to help student better succeed at UCLA.
"We deal with issues like self-esteem, finances and families,"
Shakur said. "Families are a big issue especially for those who are
the first-generation in their family to go to college. Their
parents didn’t go so they don’t understand the issues the student
is dealing with."
Retention programs all have the same goal  to see minority
students graduate from UCLA and go on to graduate schools in order
to apply their education to the community.
"People before us fought for us to get into the schools," Duarte
said. "We think it would be an insult if we don’t attempt to help
others in their struggle to graduate  so we’re attacking
aggressively."