Photograph by Soham Parikh/The Guardian.
A former Black Men on the Move initiative to retain underrepresented minority student enrollment at Wright State University is now overseen by representatives from Student Government Association.
“Retain the Nine” was originally intended to retain the roughly nine percent of black students enrolled at Wright State. It has since evolved to retain all underrepresented minority enrollment on campus.
A Student Government Association task force was created for Retain the Nine, which will be chaired by Student Body Vice President Adrian Williams and co-chaired by Student Body Chief Policy Officer Kevin Jones.
In the last five years, underrepresented minority enrollment has been about 19 percent lower than that of previous years, according to Williams.
“We determined there were four reasons that students don’t come back to Wright State… it is either cultural, personal, financial or academic,” Williams said. “The goal of this task force is to… address each of those [reasons] in a unique way.”
The initiative was originally under the advising of Chief Diversity Officer Matt Boaz, who recently left Wright State. Now, the initiative is being transferred to University Provost Susan Edwards.
Michelle Dixon, enrollment services advisor for Raider Connect, is working with Williams and Jones on implementing summer workshops and seminars for minorities, according to Williams.
Williams said that the initiative aims to provide cultural competency training for professors and student leaders.
“Part of this is also empowering professors to recognize students who are struggling and give them that internal meter to know how to reach out,” Williams said.
Williams said that it is imperative to provide a sense of community for all students.
“Mentorship ties in really well with that. Students who are successful taking students under their wing,” Williams said.
Williams said he does not see an end in sight for Retain the Nine until all underrepresented minority students are retained. “Until it’s a hundred percent, I don’t think we should ever stop,” Williams said.
