Organizers say that a month of events intended to highlight the issue of minority retention at colleges and universities has been a success.
Events during February, Black History Month, ranged from a lecture from the founder of the Black Panther Party to service-oriented outreach programs. But for each event, the underlying purpose was to educate the community about the retention rate for black students.
Event organizers say they are generally pleased with the turnout at events this month.
"We are trying to pull blacks and other races into the dialogue," said Valerie Allen, director of the African-American Resource Center. "We share each other's struggles and successes."
The retention rate measures the percentage of freshmen who go on to graduate from Penn. For black students, that number has sharply differed from white retention rates.
According to Penn's Office of Institutional Research and Analysis, from 2001 to 2004, 91 percent of students enrolled at Penn graduated within six years, while 83 percent of black students graduated over the same period.
Organizers of this year's Black History Month want to know why this is and how to fix it.
There are several reasons why the black retention rate isn't as high as the overall rate, said Robert Carter, associate director of the African American Resource Center.
He cited the "disconnectedness" and "alienation" black students feel in a predominantly white campus.
Black History Month events, organizers say, are designed specifically to combat those emotions.
Black students may find it difficult to get used to life on a largely white Ivy League campus, said Harold Haskins, director of Student Development Support in the Office of the Vice Provost for University Life.
"It is much more difficult for African-American students to become aware of the established culture because they simply aren't familiar with it," he said.
With social and cultural distinctions in mind, Allen said she shaped this year's events in order to highlight cultural self-awareness.
"Having these programs will enable people ... to connect and help them want to stay in school," she said. "There's a theme of connectedness that we want to convey to make students feel more attached to each other and to the school."
Some of these programs attracted high numbers of students. One example of this is "Bomba," an event held earlier this month that emphasized how African and Latin drumming is indicative of links between the two cultures.
Another discussion-based event looked at student perceptions of the Caribbean and African diaspora communities.
According to Haskins, the benefits of events like this are two-fold: They enhance a sense of connectedness among black students and prompt a natural inquisitiveness into other cultures.
"It is this confidence in heritage and culture that we are striving for," he said.
Mitigating the cultural aspects of integration lets organizers focus on other issues that affect black retention rate, like financial difficulties, he said.
