The Michigan Daily- Thursday, November 14,1991 - Page 7
Committee created to study recruitment,
retention of minority students on campus
by Marcus Olender
Now that the University has re-
turned to the overall minority re-
cruitment levels of 1975, adminis-
trators are focusing on retaining the
students.
Provost and Vice President for
Academic Affairs Gilbert Whitaker
has created a new committee to re-
view University recruitment and re-
tention of minority students. He
will deliver his charge to this com-
mittee tomorrow.
The nine-person committee con-
-sists of three students, three faculty
members and three University ad-
ministrators.
Harold Johnson, dean of the
School of Social Work, was ap-
pointed chair of the panel, named the
Committee to Review University
,,.Programs in Minority Affairs and
"Services.
"We will take a look at both the
existing services for minority stu-
"dents and the need for services," he
said.
The committee will investigate
cif the University is sufficiently
meeting the need for minority ser-
vices, and will find more effective
ways to fulfil these needs.
The committee has not yet con-
vened, but Johnson described how
they hoped to attain their goal.
"We are going to collect infor-
mation on how services are struc-
tured. We will look at descriptive
materials and interview key per-
sons," he said.
Many offices have been created,
centrally and in units, to help mi-
nority students succeed at the Uni-
versity. All these offices are under
the jurisdiction of the Office of
Academic Affairs.
Johnson stressed that the com-
mittee would not just focus on
these, but all the minority services
that University schools and col-
leges offer.
Johnson said he didn't know if
budget constraints had affected
these programs.
"Nothing is independent of bud-
get interest in this era of scarce re-
sources, but that's not why we're
doing this," he said.
He stressed that the committee
is not interested in finding out how
to cut down on administrative costs.
"We are looking at the status of
programs and how to improve
them," Johnson said. He added that
if the committee happens to reduce
costs along the way, that would be
an added benefit.
Whitaker said he selected stu-
dents from a list provided by Mi-
nority Student Services. He said he
was trying for an equal ethnic repre-
sentation of all committee
members.
Julie Bloch, a junior in the
School of Education, said she
thought she might have been chosen
for the committee because she
served as president of the Native
American Student Association. Be-
cause the committee has not yet met,
she said she is unsure what it will
try to accomplish.
John Matlock, director of Mi-
nority Affairs, is conducting an in-
dependent study of first-year stu-
dents who did not return to the
University.
"The committee should look at
what goes on in academic and non-
academic services," he said.
Matlock gave the example of
those in the Black Greek Associa-
tion who have no fraternity or
sorority houses in which to hold
their activities. They depend heavily
on the Union as a meeting place.
Their numbers have grown from
several hundred to more than 600,
which the Union cannot accommo-
date at one time.
Matlock wants a focus on what
happens to minority students from
the moment they come to the Uni-
versity to the moment they leave.
He is against what he calls "the
numbers game."
To study retention itself, he said,
is not enough, because people of
color who stay might not graduate,
and could just be "floating around."
AP PHOTO
Doing fine
Two-month-old Sarah Kelton appears after her heart transplant.
SO YOU'RE GOOD IN MATH
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