Trends in Black Student Involvement
(In press-NASPA Journal Fall 2001)
E. Michael Sutton, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Higher Education
Room 309-G Edwin Duncan Hall
Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
(828)262-6064
[email protected]
Walter M. Kimbrough, Ph.D.
Vice-President for Student Affairs
J.C. Reese Student Union Building #205
Albany State University
Albany, Georgia 31705
(912)430-3011
[email protected]
Abstract
This study examines trends in Black student involvement within traditional campus organizations at predominantly white campuses. Studies of Black students studying on predominantly white campuses report that their marginal participation within traditional campus organizations is attributed to a campus climate described as cool or un-welcoming.
Since the comprehensive study Blacks in College (Fleming, 1984), very little
research has been conducted examining involvement trends of Black students in
traditional campus organizations. This article will address the current state
of the co-curricular experience for members of Black Greek-letter
organizations as well as Black non-Greeks at predominantly white institutions.
The results pose salient suggestions for practitioners to employ in order to
increase pluralism within traditional campus organizations.
Trends in Black College Student Involvement
Traditional campus organizations can be described as forums that promote friendship and camaraderie among students. According to Schuh and Laverty (1983), these organizations prepare students for the realities of civil, political, and social life upon graduation. Unfortunately, as many predominantly White campuses have become increasingly more ethnically diverse, minority student involvement within traditional campus organizations has remained marginal. Research conducted by Fleming (1984), Rooney (1985), Person and Christensen (1996) indicates that minority students perceive many traditional campus organizations as exclusive and insensitive to their social needs. These perceptions have influenced trends of participation among minority students. For example, Sergent and Sedlecek (1990) found that within volunteer campus organizations such as homecoming committees and student union programming boards, African American student membership comprised only 3% compared to 82% for their White counterparts. Despite these statistics, African American student involvement within most traditional campus organizations has increased since the early eighties (Desousa & King, 1992).
This article will review and examine current levels of African American student involvement within multi-cultural and traditional campus organizations at predominantly White campuses. Findings from a recent study of trends in African American involvement trends within campus organizations at both historically Black and predominantly White campuses will also be shared.
Multi-Cultural Organizations
The mission of multi-cultural organizations (student organizations that are not predominantly White) has and continues to influence involvement trends among African American students. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, membership within these organizations grew tremendously as a result of the national Civil Rights movement and African American students dissatisfaction with the lack of cultural curricula and activities at predominantly White institutions (Patterson & Davenport, 1978). However, as the goals of the Civil Rights movement were accomplished and as campus administrators began to address the social and academic concerns of minority students, membership within these organizations plateaued. Despite this leveling off of membership, African American students continued their involvement since the activities of these organizations affirmed their presence and fostered sentiments of mattering. According to Rosenburg and McCullough (1981) mattering is defined as a concept that implies that others depend upon us, are interested in us, are concerned with our fate, or experience us as an ego extension which exercises a powerful influence on our actions. The results of a study by Person and Christenson (1996) suggested that multi-cultural organizations promote mattering by offering support and confidence to persons who otherwise are made to feel alienated and desolate.
The commitment to serve disenfranchised members of the community is an additional reason African American students are actively involved with multi-cultural organizations. Although philanthropy is a primary tenet of most campus organizations, Ballenger and Sedlacek (1991) and Latting (1996) indicate that members of most traditional campus organizations do not directly help individuals who are less fortunate. Because African American students are constantly exposed to real and perceived injustice, they often perceive the actions of their White counterparts as perfunctory rather than as those demonstrating genuine commitment (McEwen, Roper, Bryant, & Langa, 1990). Based on this assumption, minority students perceive that membership within multi-cultural organizations provides them greater opportunities to share their skills and talents with the African American community. In a recent study on leadership opportunities among African American men, Sutton and Terrell (1997) found that many minority students prefer to exercise their leadership abilities within community organizations such as the Masonic Order, church tutorial programs, and the YMCA. Sentiments such as these are major factors that have and continue to influence trends in Black student involvement within multi-cultural organizations.
Black Student Leadership and Involvement
On the whole, the literature suggests that Black students seek active out of class learning experiences, and gain as much, if not more, than White students engaged in similar types of activities. Desousa and Kuh (1996) note that these out of class and peer interactions have a positive effect on Black student learning and personal development. It was noted, though, that participation in Black theme groups might have a different outcome.
Watson and Kuh (1996), through a study of Black students attending predominantly Black and predominantly White liberal arts institutions, assessed student involvement and educational gains. The authors found that Black students, regardless of institutional environment, spent more time than White students at predominantly White institutions utilizing campus facilities and participating in clubs and organizations. The rationale offered is that for White students, off-campus options are more readily available than for Black students.
One of the most important studies on Black student involvement is the research that was published by Fleming (1984). Fleming compared Black student involvement experiences by institutional type. One significant finding was that Black men on predominantly White campuses suffer developmentally, as compared to their peers at Black institutions who benefit from an environment that is more homogeneous. On the whole, Black institutions were found to promote student development, both intellectually and interpersonally.
While these studies provide comparisons based upon campus environment, there continues to be room for research that describes the types of activities or organizations in which Black students are involved. The data from this study provide a portrait of the organizational involvement trends of today's Black students.
Methods
The instrument for this study was comprised of the Student Involvement and Leadership Scale (Kimbrough, 1995) which measures student involvement in numerous types of organizations both on and off campus. The Likert type scale for the Student Involvement and Leadership Scale produced a reliability measurement of .77 (Kimbrough, 1995). The instrument also provided general demographic data on the population studied, including (a) gender, (b) academic classification, (c) age, and (d) grade point average.
The data were drawn from a study of Black student involvement and leadership development, with an emphasis on Greek membership. Participants were recruited from members of a national student affairs professional association who agreed to assist with the completion of the study. Most of these persons served in the areas of Student Activities and Greek life. The facilitators were provided 100 surveys each to be distributed to 50 Black students who are members of Greek letter organizations and 50 to Black students who are non-Greek. The facilitators were instructed to collect and return the completed instruments within two weeks. Follow-up calls and letters were made to those who had not returned the instruments in an effort to yield a greater return.
A total of 989 instruments were actually distributed to Black students at both historically Black and traditionally White institutions in seven southern states. Participation was restricted to students of at least sophomore standing to ensure an opportunity for students to have established a pattern of involvement. A total of 405 students completed and returned instruments, for a 41% return rate. Of those returned, 96% were usable.
Results
The vast majority of Black students in this study (n=334, 85%) perceived themselves as leaders although the number of those actually holding a formal position or office was considerably less (n=190, 49.5%). Table 1 describes the type of campus organizations in which Black students are involved. Seventeen percent (n=66) were active in student government and as orientation leaders or ambassadors. Eleven percent (n=43) of the sample were involved as resident advisors while 10% (n=39) participated in residence hall government organizations.
These results further indicate that minority student organizations remain the primary venue for involvement among Black students although the participation of minority students within traditional campus organizations has increased at predominantly White campuses. For example, 79 % of the Black students (n=115) surveyed who attended predominantly White institutions were members of the Black Student Alliance or campus NAACP. The results also indicated that Black students at predominantly White institutions who are Greek maintained a higher grade point average than non Greek (x= 3.03, x= 2.86). It should be noted, females comprised the majority of students participating in this study (n= 114, 62.3%).
The students showed varying outlets for involvement based on institutional type. Students attending predominantly White institutions were more involved in Black student groups to a significant degree, x2(1, N=178)=22.66,p<.01. The students attending predominantly Black institutions were more likely, to a significant degree, to be involved in student government, x2(1, N=178)=16.65, p<.01, and as orientation leaders or ambassadors, x2(1, N=178)=10.80, p<.01.
The
students attending historically Black institutions were more involved in
academic clubs and honor societies, as well as residence hall government.
Their peers at predominantly White institutions were more involved as Resident
Assistants. However, there were no statistically significant differences in
the levels of involvement for these areas.
Conclusions
While previous studies by Rooney(1985) and Wright (1985) indicate marginal Black student participation in traditional campus organizations, the findings from this study indicate that this trend has reversed in the geographic area represented by this sample. Despite incidents of racial and cultural insensitivity at many predominantly White institutions, Black students are surviving socially and are involved within multi-cultural and traditional campus organizations.
It is interesting that Black students in this study perceived themselves as leaders regardless of whether they held an elected position within a campus organization or not. This does not imply that Black students do not value or aspire to exercise their leadership skills as elected officers but rather that leadership is demonstrated by providing service to others than through holding office. This perception coincides with the findings of McKenzie (1990) who states that Black students prefer to exhibit leadership skills through service activities within the local community rather than through elected positions. Consequently, if traditional campus organizations are to become more ethnically diverse, advisors and members of these organizations should become sensitive to leadership styles within ethnic minority cultures. Moreover, campus leadership training programs that incorporate alternative styles of leadership not only raise the consciousness of the majority community but may increase opportunities for African American students to assume leadership positions throughout the entire campus.
The extent of Black student involvement within traditional campus organizations such as student government also continues to improve. Contrary to Lavant and Terrellt's (1994) findings, African American students may perceive now that their involvement is critical to their collegiate experience. These results tend to validate this point in that many Black students are active within their respective residence hall government associations. Perhaps Blacks students are attracted to these organizations because the types of activities associated with them create camaraderie among peers missing in campus wide leadership organizations. Black students may also perceive that professional residence life staff and orientation directors view ethnic diversity as a priority. Such a commitment continues to influence the number of Black students who are involved as resident assistants or orientation leaders.
While involvement trends have improved in traditional campus organizations, it is not surprising that minority student organizations remain the primary venue for Black students at predominantly White campuses. The unique mission and commitment to enhance the academic and social environment for Black students remains a pivotal reason why these students remain involved within these organizations.
Implications
Black student involvement trends within traditional campus organizations have dramatically changed within the last thirty years. While student affairs practitioners are to be commended for their efforts to increase Black student involvement, the results of this study suggest several implications for practitioners.
Continued efforts must be made to increase Black student participation within organizations that develop and influence institutional policy such as student government. Given that many minority students do not perceive the goals of student government as relevant to their collegiate experience(Willie & McCord, 1972 and Lavant & Terrell,1994), advisors should attempt to recruit Black students to chair or serve on committees that are of interest to them. Through genuine outreach efforts, Black students who become involved may become empowered to effect change within the system rather than from the outside.
Second, the efforts student affairs staffs have made to ensure racial parity in the selection of paraprofessional staff must continue. Although Black students remain under-represented within traditional campus organizations, these data suggest their extra-curricular involvement as resident assistants and orientation leaders at predominantly White campuses is increasing.
Last,
while multi-cultural organizations serve as a major co-curricular experience
for the majority of Black students at predominantly White campuses, they also
must serve as valuable conduits for minority students'
future involvement within traditional campus organizations. Advisors to these
organizations must exercise great caution in order to ensure that social
activities and programs do not overshadow the opportunities to learn and
develop salient leadership skills that have major implications for students'
professional success after graduation. Consequently, it is imperative that Black students not perceive these organizations
exclusively as social entities but rather see them as quintessential elements
that promote learning and development. By doing so, student affairs
professionals ensure that students who participate in campus organizations
benefit socially and intellectually regardless of ethnicity.
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