Shunverie BarrientezAssistant Director of Diversity Recruitment
Southern Methodist University- Dedman Law School, TX
#nacacGWI @NACACedu
Dr. Beverly Woodson DayInterim AVP of Strategic Enrollment and Director of Admissions
The University of Texas At San Antonio, TX
#BlackStudentAdmissionsMatters
#BlackStudentAdmissionsMatters:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yrg7vV4a5o
#nacacGWI @NACACedu
#BlackStudentAdmissionsMatters: Increasing the Outreach and
Educational Opportunities of Students of Color During the Recruitment and
Admissions Process
#nacacGWI @NACACedu
Shunverie Barrientez• 11 years of Experience in Higher
Education
• First Generation Student
• Student Success and Diversity Consultant
• MS- College Student Administration
Presenters… MatterDr. Beverly Woodson Day• 25 years of Experience in Higher Education
• First Generation Student
• Published Author
• PhD - Adult, Professional, Community Education
• Courageous
• No bashing
• Judgment free zone
• Enlightenment & illumination
• Please respect others
• Disclaimers: Statements or topics are not necessarily the beliefs of The University of Texas at San Antonio or Southern Methodist University.
Rules of Engagement
• Create Framework
– Historical Context
• Strategies
– 5 A’s
• Open Dialogue
Awaken & Create social justice advocates & allies
Presentation Objectives
• Diversity: Range of difference/ variety• Identity: the fact of being who or what • Oppression: prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or control• Inclusion: the action/ state of including or of being included
within a group• Racism: discrimination
– Institutional: societal patterns with negative oppressive impact based on race
– Structural: system of hierarchy and inequity, primarily characterized by white supremacy
• Privilege: special right, advantage, or immunity granted or available only to a particular person or group of people.
• Social justice: justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society.
Working Framework
A Closer Look… at the Lingering Effects
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/08/24/us/affirmative-action.html
Education Barriers
• Inequalities – Educational– Financial
• Challenged with adjustment difficulties not experienced by their white counterparts (Gardner, Barrett, & Pearson, 2014).
• Lack of social support and discomfort with the social climate• Feel the need to navigate back and forth between the dominant
culture and their own culture on a daily basis• Often feel they do not receive the same educational or
institutional support – disconnected• Consistently enduring micro-aggressions and negative
stereotypes often create negative effects on Blacks in general and black students specifically
Education Barriers
• Inequalities
– Location
• Environmental
– Expectations
• Attend high schools in urban settings and have to overcome the challenges that confront them in urban communities (Noguera, 2008)
• Overcome challenges include lowered teacher expectations
• Failure of school personnel to understand the culturally based behaviors
• Struggle to become socially integrated with feelings of being academically under-prepared and financially overburdened
• Lack of diversity of faculty, staff, and administration
• Lack of engagement
• Lack of awareness
• Lack of advocates/allies
• Lack of programming
• Lack of institutional support
• Lack of inclusiveness in the learning environment
0bstacles in Higher Education
• Prediction of success and persistence
• Guidelines that characterize students
• Policies & Procedures
• The System overall
• Labels
Systematic Obstaclesin Higher Education
• Prediction of success and persistence
• Guidelines that characterize students
• Labels
• The System overall
About one-quarter of all Black freshmen enroll at selective institutions that tend to have more resources and good completion rates, but two-
fifths of their White peers enroll at these institutions. On the other hand, nearly 1 in 5 Black freshmen enroll at institutions that aren’t
selective, have fewer resources, and poor completion rates. Only 1 in 10 White freshmen attend these types of institutions.
~The Education Trust, Identifying Top- and Bottom-Performing Institutions (2017)
5 A’s to Improvement
Awareness
Acknowledgement
AdvocacyApplication
Assessment
S. Barrientez 2018
5 “A’s” to Improvement: • Awareness
– Institutional Commitment
• Culturally sensitive
• Institutional planning
• Long term investment
– Community
– Dedicated Resources
• Cultural Events
• Funding
5 “A’s” to Improvement: • Acknowledgement
– Executive or Upper Level Administrative Commitment
• Accountability
• Strategic Plan
– Dedicated Resources
• Appropriate/Dedicated Staff
Institutional leaders at selective colleges and universities must enhance their outreach and
recruitment efforts to ensure more Black students have opportunities to attend these
institutions. ~The Education Trust, Identifying Top-and Bottom-Performing
Institutions (2017)
#nacacGWI @NACACedu
5 “A’s” to Improvement: • Advocacy
– Faculty &/or College Commitment
• Accessibility
• Visibility
• Engagement
5 “A’s” to Improvement: • Application
– Department/Staff Commitment
• Targeted Support
• Intentional Programming
5 “A’s” to Improvement: • Application
– Department/Staff Commitment
• Targeted Support
• Intentional Programming
– Collaboration
– Community
5 “A’s” to Improvement: • Assessment
– Students Survey
– Check the Data
– Adopt appropriate strategies
– Inform
➢Always look for ways to improve
Strategies & Best Practices ✓ Minority Student Symposium
✓ Minority Student Recruiter
✓ Mandatory Diversity Training
✓ Minority Mentor Programs
✓ 1st Generation Programs
✓ Early Outreach Programs
✓ Pipeline Programs
✓ Summer Bridge/Transition Programs
✓ Partnership with HBCU’s and HSI’s
✓ Partnership with Targeted ISD’s and Community Colleges
✓ Comprehensive Academic, Career, Advising, and Support Services
Strategies & Best Practices ✓ Call and Send Personalized Mailings to Prospective Minority Students
✓ Minority Community Representatives
✓ Marketing Plans Focused on Minority Student Recruitment
✓ Weekend Campus Visits
✓ Adopt-A-School Programs
✓ Diversity Resources Website
✓ High School Ambassador Program
✓ Parent Resources Workshops- Financial Aid, Admissions, College Readiness, and Test Prep
✓ Fee Waivers
✓ Committee Review Process
✓ Standardized Test???
Strategies & Best Practices • Recruitment activities that go beyond the traditional college fairs and
high school visits.
– Community centers
– Churches
– Current minority students and alumni
• Engage the parents and other family members rather than focusing exclusively on the prospective student.
• Personalized or targeted marketing
• Summer bridge programs to help students make the transition from high school to college.
– STEM
– Engineering
– Computer Science
• Affirmative Action/ Race Conscious Admissions
Instead of “winks, nods, and disguises,” Ginsburg has called for race-conscious policy to offset the still-enduring effects of slavery and the subsequent unconstitutional exploitation of its descendants under Jim Crow. “Only an ostrich could regard the supposedly neutral alternatives as race unconscious,” Ginsburg has said, and only a contorted legal mind “could conclude that an admissions plan designed to produce racial diversity is not race conscious.” Sotomayor recently added (mocking Roberts’s aphorism) that “the way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to speak openly and candidly on the subject of race, and to apply the Constitution with eyes open to the unfortunate effects of centuries of racial discrimination.”
Valerie Strauss- Washington Post
References & Additional Readings• American Counseling Association. (2014). 2014 ACA code of ethics. Alexandria, VA: American Counseling Association. Retrieved from
https://www.counseling.org/ resources/aca-code-of-ethics.pdf • American Psychological Association. (2012). Ethnic and racial disparities in education: Psychology’s contributions to understanding and
reducing disparities. Retrieved from https://www.apa.org/ed/resources/racial-disparities.pdf • America: being the latest, and most accurate description of the new world;
(https://archive.org/stream/americabeinglate00mont#page/n19/mode/2up)• Anderson, Sargent, & Scott. (1994). Black Labor, White Wealth: The search for power and economic justice. New York, NY, PowerNomics Corp
of America.• Arroyo, C. G., & Zigler, E. (1995). Racial identity, academic achievement, and the psychological well–being of economically disadvantaged
adolescents. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69, 903–914.• Baylor, E. (2016). Closed doors: Black and Latino students are excluded from top public universities. Retrieved from Center For American
ProgressWeb site: https://www.americanprogress.org/issues/education/ reports/2016/10/13/145098/closed-doors-black-and-latino-students-are-excluded-from-top-public-universities/
• Cress-Welsing, F. (1991). The Isis Papers. Chicago, IL: Third World Press. • Degruy, j. post traumatic slave syndrome; http://joydegruy.com/resources-2/post-traumatic-slave-syndrome/• Gardner, L. J., Barrett, T. G., & Pearson, L. C. (2014). African American administrators at PWIs: Enablers of and barriers to career success.
Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, 7, 235–251. http://dx.doi.org.ezproxy.shsu.edu/10.1037/a0038317 http://www.cssia.org/pdf/20000253-ASummaryofBestPracticesforRecruitmentandRetentionofStudentsofColor.pdf
• Institutional Racism in Higher Education. (2004). Book by Law, Ian; Phillips, Deborah; and Turney, Laura (Eds.) Review by Chrissy L. Davis. Great Britain: Trentham Books Limited. Distributed by Stylus Publishing, 180 pp. ISBN # 1 85856 313 5.
• https://1k9gl1yevnfp2lpq1dhrqe17-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/A-Look-at-Black-Student-Success.pdf• https://www.counseling.org/docs/default-source/vistas/article_64ce5528f16116603abcacff0000bee5e7.pdf?sfvrsn=5043482c_6• https://edtrust.org/resource/blackstudentsuccess/• http://www.nacada.ksu.edu/Resources/Journal/Current-Past-Book-Reviews/articleType/ArticleView/articleId/914/Institutional-Racism-in-
Higher-Education.aspx#sthash.Uthtn8Mp.dpuf• https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/08/02/actually-we-still-need-affirmative-action-for-african-americans-in-
college-admissions-heres-why/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.451f1ef0d452• Kunjufu, K. (1984). Developing Positive Self-Images & Discipline in Black Children. Chicago, IL. African-American Images.• Kunjufu, K. (1991). Black Economics: Solutions for economic and community empowerment. Chicago, IL. African-American Images.• Kunjufu, K. (1995). Countering the Conspiracy to Destroy Black Boys: Volumes 1-4. Chicago, IL. African-American Images.• Slavery did not die honestly (http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/10/slavery-did-not-die-honestly/411487/)• The journal of blacks in higher education (http://www.jbhe.com/)
Questions/ Open Dialogue
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Open Discussion & Questions
Thank YouContact us at:
Beverly Woodson Day
Shunverie Barrientez
#nacacGWI @NACACedu
