Retention of African Americans on campus is a burning issue for the black community, and a moral and financial one for predominantly white institutions of higher education. This book offers fresh insights and new strategies developed by fifteen scholars concerned by the new climate in which affirmative action is being challenged and eliminated.This is the first book devoted specifically to retention of African Americans in higher education, and is unique in addressing the distinct but inter-related concerns of all three affected constituencies: students, faculty and administrators. Each is considered in a separate section.The student section shifts attention from, to paraphrase McNairy, "fixing the student" to focussing on higher education's need to examine and, where appropriate, revise policies, curriculum, support services and campus climate. Responding to the new agenda shaped by the opponents of affirmative action, but rejecting the defensive "x percent solutions" espoused by its proponents, this book puts forward new solutions that will provoke debate. Section II begins with a survey of the literature on African American administrators, and presents a Delphi study of twelve administrators to provide an understanding of pathways and barriers to success. The contributors then consider the importance of developing community support and creating alliances, the role of mentoring, and the setting of clear expectations between the individual and the institution.Starting with the recognition that African Americans represent less than five percent of full-time faculty, the chapters in the final section examine the effects of the dismantling of affirmative action, the consequences of faculty salaries trailing more lucrative non-academic employment, the declining enrollment of students of color, the politics of promotion and tenure, and issues of identity and culture. The book concludes by stressing the roles that parents, faculty and administrators must play to empower African American students to take responsibility for their own academic performance.This is a compelling, controversial and constructive contribution to an issue of national importance.

While there is a wealth of scholarship on Africana Education, no single volume has examined the roles of such important topics as Black Male Identity, Hip Hop Culture, Adult Learners, Leadership at Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Critical Black Pedagogy, among others. This book critically examines African Americans in higher education, with an emphasis on the social and philosophical foundations of Africana culture. This is a critical interdisciplinary study, one which explores the collection, interpretation, and analysis of quantitative and qualitative data in the field of higher education. To date, there are not any single-authored or edited collections that attempt to research the logical and conceptual ideas of the disciplinary matrix of Africana social and philosophical foundations of African Americans in higher education. Therefore, this volume provides readers with a compilation of literary, historical, philosophical, and communicative essays that describe and evaluate the Black experience from an Afrocentric perspective for the first time. It is required reading in a wide range of African American Studies courses. Perfect for courses such as: African American Social and Philosophical Foundations | African American Studies | African Nationalist Thought | History of Black Education

African American males have the highest college attrition rates of all races and genders (Harper, 2006a). Federal reports indicate that 54.4%of White males finish their college degrees, compared with 33.1% of African American males (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). The 21.3 percentage point disparity leads many to believe that African American male students may need special attention in order to close the gap. Understanding how Black male graduates succeeded and avoided obstacles which could have potentially contributed to their attrition will help colleges take a proactive stance and implement strategies to support and safeguard other Black male students facing similar challenges (Warde, 2008). Toward this end, the focus of this study was to investigate the factors that contributed to the success of 15 African American men in obtaining baccalaureate degrees from one mid-sized, urban public university, the University of Louisville. Employing a qualitative research design framed by a phenomenological orientation, the researcher conducted semi-structured interviews with African American male alumni who graduated from the University of Louisville between 2007 and 2012. The data were analyzed using Morrissette's (1999) seven stage step-wise approach, which is specifically designed for studies with a phenomenological orientation. The results of the analyzed data revealed five factors as being significant contributors to participants' successful retention and completion of their baccalaureate degree: 1. having access to monetary resources to attend and persist in college; 2. having a mentor; 3. participating in recognized student organizations; 4.having family support; 5. taking one or more courses in Pan African Studies. Recommendations for institutions of higher education and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Improving college access and success among Black males has garnered tremendous attention. Many social scientists have noted that Black men account for only 4.3% of the total enrollment at 4-year postsecondary institutions in the United States, the same percentage now as in 1976. Furthermore, two thirds of Black men who start college never finish. The lack of progress among Black men in higher education has caused researchers, practitioners, and policymakers to become increasingly focused on ways to increase their access and success. Offering recommendations and strategies to help advance success among Black males, this monograph provides a comprehensive synthesis and analysis of factors that promote the access, retention, and persistence of Black men at diverse institutional types (e.g., historically Black colleges and universities, predominantly White institutions, and community colleges). It delineates institutional policies, programs, practices, and other factors that encourage the success of Black men in postsecondary education. This is the 3rd issue of the 40th volume of the Jossey-Bass series ASHE Higher Education Report. Each monograph is the definitive analysis of a tough higher education issue, based on thorough research of pertinent literature and institutional experiences. Topics are identified by a national survey. Noted practitioners and scholars are then commissioned to write the reports, with experts providing critical reviews of each manuscript before publication.

This collection focuses on problems in the recruitment, enrollment and retention of Black students in higher education in America.