SEMO BLACKS: ISOLATED, ALIENATED

Alienation. Isolation. That is how some black students describe life for them at Southeast Missouri State University.

A three-member delegation of black students told the Board of Regents Monday that the school lacks a support system for them.

But the students said Southeast's president, Dr. Dale Nitzschke, is addressing the issue.

Since becoming president in July, Nitzschke has met with black student leaders and set up a minority programs office. The school is preparing to hire a director for that program.

Nitzschke is forming a statewide commission of black leaders to advise him on minority issues.

He set up similar advisory groups when he was president of schools in New Hampshire and West Virginia.

He hopes to establish the commission of 15 to 25 black civic leaders within six weeks. The group would aid the university's effort to recruit more black students.

The president said the university needs to recruit not only more black students, but also other minority students such as Asians and Hispanics.

In addition, the university plans to put a greater emphasis on recruiting international students, he said.

Southeast also will work to hire more black faculty and staff, Nitzschke said.

In less than six years, Southeast has seen enrollment of black students drop from over 500 to less than 300.

Graduate student Tiffany Ford and undergraduate students Danielle Carter and Shawn Harris told the board that they and other black students don't feel welcome at Southeast.

Many black students fail or leave the university, said Ford. "Southeast has excellent educational opportunities, however, the campus climate is very unfriendly."

She said some black students have been so distraught that they have left school even when they have been within a few hours of graduating.

Ford said she often is the only black student in her college classes and the sole black on many campus committees.

Carter said the current campus climate has led to a decline in enrollment and morale of black students.

She said black students are distraught, alienated, unappreciated and angry.

Black students need a support system and role models, she said. "We need to be able to talk with others about what it is like to be the only black in class.

"We need more faculty/staff mentors and role models to help us survive in this system," Carter said.

Many black students earn their degrees without ever having a class with a black instructor.

"We are tired of having to explain, justify or defend the black race each time we go to class," she said.

Harris said he was angered by what he sees as insensitivity and a lack of minority representation in campus programs.

Even the school's traditions are insulting, he said.

The school's mascot is an Indian, yet the university has made no attempt to inform people about Indian culture, Harris said.

"Why would the school put the name of a sports team over the feelings and cultural integrity of an entire race of people?"

Harris said he felt he had made a mistake in choosing to come to Southeast. But instead of dropping out, he said he and others are seeking to make the campus a better place for minority students.