Although there are many committees on campus, a new group, the Diverse Association of Faculty and Staff, has just received final approval from Nicholls President Stephen Hulbert. The group’s purpose is to help with retention of students from freshman to sophomore years, with an emphasis on black student and faculty.
Interim Dean of Student Life Cleveland Hill said Judy Daniels, former dean of Student Life, first came up with the idea of this group and that before leaving campus she shared her ideas with him.
Hill said Daniels believed many things on campus needed to be addressed because the retention rate of freshman students, especially black male students, has been dropping dramatically.
Eugene Dial, vice president of student affairs and enrollment services, said, “This program is not unique to Nicholls; however, each committee like this one goes under a different name. This new sub-group will benefit the entire university, like the saying goes ‘success breeds success.'”
“Many people do not believe we need to work on retaining freshman students and young faculty and staff; however, we are losing too many of them each year,” Hill said. “When ideas about the group began floating around, the committee was meant to be for black faculty and staff only.”
Hill said the committee decided to change its name from The Association of African American Faculty and Staff to Diverse Association of Faculty and Staff, in order to accommodate more members.
Still, the committee said it wants the goals to remain the same. Besides increasing the retention of students, the group said it would like to try enhancing the work and school environment and increase graduation rates for minority students. It will also recognize faculty and students and recruit minority faculty and students.
According the Office of Admissions, black student admissions have seen improvement over the last three years.
In fall 2001, 320 black students registered; however, 142 of those students registered in fall 2002. Three years later in fall 2005, 269 black students registered, and 168 of those students returned for fall.
Those statistics show retention is improving, but the number of students registering has dropped. Even though these numbers are an improvement, Hill said he believes a change needs to be made and the new committee needs to work on these issues.
