Solutions in Plain Sight: Black Culture Centers on College Campuses Across the Country

Written by Serie McDougal 

One of the unsung solutions in Black higher education is the role that Black Culture Centers (BCC) play in the college experiences of Black students.  This is especially true for Black students on campuses, where they are underrepresented and/or in the numerical minority. On these campuses Black students face marginalization, social, isolation, underrepresentation in curriculum, and lack of cultural understanding.  This can result in diminished sense of school-pride and spirit, and sense of belongingness. According to Patton (2006) Black students explain that they are sometimes stereotyped and treated in one of four ways: “as the spokesperson for all black people; as the academically underprepared beneficiary of affirmative action; as the angry, defensive minority; or as the invisible student” (p.2).   In one of the few studies on the impact of Black Culture Centers, Patton (2006) interviewed students who participated in BCCs.  She explains how BCCs benefit students in many ways, including increased opportunities for involvement and preparation for student leadership, a richer understanding of their community, enhanced development of their black identity, increased pride in their shared history, and an enrichment of strategies for thriving in college.

INVOLVEMENT
Students reported that the Black culture center’s activities and workshops taught them leadership and organization skills.  They also provided them opportunities for leadership, and served as a pathway to membership in campus wide organizations. 

COMMUNITY
Students reported that the Black culture center provided them with culture specific services that were geared toward their needs and interests and styles.  The center provided them with an opportunity to form social relationships with other students and faculty and staff.  They felt that faculty and staff at the centers were like mother and father figures and their peers, like family members. 

HISTORICAL PRIDE AND IDENTITY 
Students reported that the Black culture center provided them a place to learn about their culture and identity.  They believed that the BCC was a place they could learn about and discuss Black issues and current ideas. 

SELF-PRESERVATION AND MATTERING 
Students felt that the BCC was a place they could go and feel a sense of comfort and relief.  For them, they could speak freely and not feel treated as strange at the Black culture center compared to the larger campus. 
Black Culture Centers are able to accomplish these outcomes through a range of services, including:

Pre College Programs

• Campus visits for middle and high school student/ tours; Mentoring middle and high school students; Middle and high school recruitment visits; Inviting middle and high school students to attend and participate in cultural, motivational and education activities; Middle school, on-campus performances

Resource/Opportunity Awareness

• Orientations for 1st year students (college readiness skills); Welcome weeks (awareness of campus resources-scholarships and financial aid, services, and opportunities for membership in campus organizations)

Cultural Enrichment/Celebration

• Student dance, drama, and musical performances; Kwanzaa celebrations and teach-ins; Black history month; Black family day-typically including cultural performances; Martin Luther King Day celebrations; Gospel Choir; Cultural Film series; Dance organizations; Open Mic Nights; Juneteenth Celebrations; Pageants

Relationship and Network Building

• Leadership training; Peer mentoring; Social Retreats to learn leadership and team building; Educational (historical/cultural) road trips; Formally established faculty/staff mentors of students

Skill Building

• Leadership training workshops; Writing skills; Research training; Tutoring; Science, technology, engineering, and math initiatives

Career/Graduate School Preparation

• Foster awareness of employment opportunities; Graduate school application assistance; Grad school fellowship and scholarship referral

Intellectual and Academic Recognition and Stimulation

• Study tables; Black historical site trips out of state (i.e. to civil rights museums and monuments); Academic excellence awards handed out at events; Scholarships offered for service and achievement; Computer lab space; Discussion groups on topics relevant to Black people; Guest lecturers on relevant topics; Conference sponsorship and attendance / some hosted conferences

Culminating Experiences

• Black graduation ceremony; Black family dinners

 
OPPOSITION AND MISCONCEPTIONS ABOUT BCCs
Many BCCs face misconceptions.  The more prominent of them are that they foster separatism, are only for Black students, and that they are only social (Patton, 2006).  However, these misconceptions are based on a lack of understanding of BCCs.  BCCs allow students to engage their institutions in ways that they are comfortable with, without having to check their cultures at the door.  BCCs are for all students on campus who are interested in learning about Black cultures and themselves in relation to Black cultures.  Lastly, as illustrated above BCCs offer a great deal of services beyond social ones, including skill building, academic services, and career/graduate school preparation.  BCCs also face funding cuts and attempts to convert into multicultural centers.  These options are based on under-valuing the role that ethnic specific centers play and lack of investment in what it takes to achieve educational equity.

THE FUTURE OF BCCs
 According to Cooper (2014) BCCs are intent on becoming more academic in focus (2014), engaging in academic services, relationships with academic programs, housing libraries, and computer labs.  The National Association for Black Culture Centers is also implementing an accreditation process for effectiveness in Black Culture Centers (see Appendix A) to aid in the process.  According to Cooper (2014) “Yale's center is working with the archivist of the campus library to preserve artifacts, pictures and memorabilia, and provide electronic access to those materials” (p.7).  Some BCCs are becoming involved in tracking and monitoring recruitment and retention rates and experiences at their institutions (Walker, 2007).  There is also a recent push to collect hard data on the impact of their centers on students, given the general lack of data.  

WORKS CITED
Cooper, K. J. (2014). Black culture centers are embracing multiculturalism and intellectual  conversation. Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, 31(15), 6-9.
 
Patton, L. D. (2006). Black culture centers: Still central to student learning. About Campus, 11(2),  2-8.
 
Walker, M. A. (2007). The evolution of Black culture centers. Diverse: Issues in Higher Education,  23(24), 16-17.


APPENDIX  A: Criteria for Center Accreditation 
I. Institutional Commitment and Responsibilities
A. There should be a direct reporting connection of Center to chief academic or student activities administrator.
B. Center should be integral part of institution’s educational and environmental culture.

1. Institutionalization of college/university support to Center.
2. Long-term prioritization of college/university support to Center.
3. Centrality of Center to institution’s environmental culture.

C. Center should be an integral part of institution’s support services (retention).

1. Institution’s insistence that all support services be responsible for ongoing communication with Center.
2. Center’s authority to serve as liaison to all support services and to bring its perspectives to those services.

D. Center should demonstrate clear commitment to liaisons with larger community.

1. Center’s receiving adequate resources to develop/maintain viable ties to larger community.
2. Institution’s in-kind support of Center’s initiatives to develop/maintain viable ties to larger community.

E. Center should demonstrate clear commitment to enabling vital ties with institution’s academic programs.

1. Institution’s insistence that all academic departments and programs develop and sustain clear working relationships with the Center.
2. Center’s authority to develop and maintain outreach efforts with all academic departments and programs, and to bring its perspectives to such efforts.

II. Center’s Conditions of Eligibility
 
A. Center must be institutional member of ABCC.
 
B. Center must successfully complete Preliminary Information Form, self-study and peer review processes.
 
    Completion of Preliminary Information form and acceptance by the Council.
    Completion of self-study process and acceptance by the Council.
    Successful peer-review process of the Council’s visiting team.
 
C. Center must meet minimal standards outlined in the ABCC handbook, including III and IV of this Accreditation Outline.
 
III. Initial Membership
A. Center must be institutional member of ABCC.
B. Center must successfully complete the ABCC accreditation process.
C. Center has probationary membership of one year.
D. Center’s institution must demonstrate ability to meet guidelines of institutional commitment and responsibilities.
E. Center must demonstrate evidence of meeting conditions of eligibility.
 
IV. Center’s Missions and Purpose
A. Center should demonstrate clear evidence of meeting the following related missions identified in the ABCC Constitution:

1. Reclamation of the ethnic culture(s)
2. Critique of the ethnic culture(s)
3. Promulgation of the ethnic culture(s)

B. Center should demonstrate clear evidence of connecting with its institution’s academic and environmental diversity purposes:

1. Center as part of the institution’s curricular initiatives toward diversity.
2. Center as part of the institution’s initiatives in developing/maintaining the institution’s overall environment of diversity, including co-curricular initiatives and ongoing education of the entire college/university and larger community regarding an authentic pluralistic environment.

V. Center’s Effectiveness
A. Center must demonstrate effectiveness in the following areas:

1. Administrative staff and support services
2. Educational programs and support services
3. Overall student services
4. Overall community involvement

B. Center must demonstrate effectiveness in programmatic activities and resources.

1. Clear relationship between Center’s activities and students’ documented interests.
2. Coordination of Center’s publicity efforts with other components of institution and the community.
3. Clear relationship between Center’s activities and larger community’s documented interests.
4. Clear relationship between Center’s activities and goals of Black and Ethnic Studies departments and programs.
5. Adequate, discrete space for programmatic activities and to house resources.
6. Adequate budget to sponsor and co-sponsor programmatic activities and to develop/maintain viable levels of print, electronic, and other resources.

VI. Staff Qualifications and Performance
A. Qualifications of Director(s) and other professional staff, must be met.

1. Director(s) steeped in the histories and cultures of the primary clients served.
2. Other professional staff having appropriate educational background and experience related to job expectations.

B. Evaluation of staff performance must be done.

1. Ongoing external review by the Center Board or Advisory Council.
2. Ongoing internal review by appropriate staff members.