Commission on the Status of Minorities
Meeting Minutes: November 19, 2013
Call to order
Arthur Garrison called to order the regular meeting of the 2013-14 Commission on the Status of
Minorities at 11:02 am on November 19, 2013 in the third floor Psychology conference room in Old
Main.
Attendance
The following persons were present:
James D. Jackson – African American Professional Organization
Jackie Fox – Office of Social Equity
Thomas Robinson – African American Professional Organization
Qin Geng-College of Business
Arthur Garrison – College of Liberal Arts and Sciences
Rhonda Branford – Division of Multicultural Services
Mary Ann O’Neil – College of Education
Kiara Richardson-President of BSU
Natalie Snow-Director of Institutional Research
The following persons were absent:
Ryan Wheeler – Black Student organization representative
Louis Rodriquez – Latino Caucus
Soo Goh- College of Visual & Performing Arts
Karen Deysher- Graduate Student Representative
Christopher Wentzel- Non-minority Student Government
Jose Molino-Latino Caucus
1. Approval of the Minutes
Motion called for the minutes to be accepted. The motion to accept was made by James Jackson and
seconded by Jackie Fox.
2. Approval of the Budget
The budget was presented by James Jackson. Current balance is $4368.50. The annual budget allotment
is $1500. The motion to accept was made by James Jackson and seconded by Qin Geng.
3. Old Business
Information regarding retention has been collected from two sources: Residence Life and through the
CSRDE Retention Survey. Natalie Snow discussed the findings from the retention report beginning with
what retention looks like across all levels. All 14 PASSHE institutions will be participating in surveys to
review the issue of retention. The students who are tracked through the survey are first year, full time
students. The fall 2011 cohort is the most recent to have data. Retention is calculated for those who
return the second year and are enrolled as of the 15th full day of class. There was discussion on the drop
from freshman to junior year for the Black students while the loss was not as significant for Hispanics.
Thomas Robinson will reach out to Kim Scranage, vice-president of enrollment, and invite her to
participate with this committee. A second survey given to students regarding why they leave was viewed
and discussed. Many of the students do not give a reason for leaving. KU’s numbers are equivalent to
national trends, however the committee is concerned with addressing the reasons and profiling
personalities of those who stay/leave as a means to promote retention. James Jackson inquired about a
survey regarding reasons for from the year 2010, where there was a significant drop in retention. This is
the year thee were significant cuts to multicultural funding and questioned a possible correlation.
Natalie Snow shared that KU has had a policy that students may persist with a GPA under 2.0 for 4
semesters before they are dismissed, however there are now new academic progress regulations
connected to financial aid and students will lose financial aid after the 2nd semester if they persist below
a 2.0. This is a Federal Policy and affects PELL grants. There is an academic jeopardy program and the
names of students put on warning are sent to the respective department Deans. There was also
discussion on the fact that students are informed by letter of their potential for losing financial aid due to
poor academic performance but they are not required to utilize academic assistance services on campus.
5. Additional meetings for the semester
The next meetings of the commission are scheduled for January 23, February 18th, March 18th, and April
15th, 2014, all at 11 am in the Psychology conference room.
Adjournment
(M. O’Neil needed to leave at 11:55-meeting still in session) meeting adjourned 11:58a.m.
Minutes submitted by: M. O’Neil and A. Garrison
Approved: