Retention and CHSA: like PB&J

Create Your Own
Students and staff livin' it up at the Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs Center

For every 100 Chicanos that enter kindergarten, only six will wind up with bachelor's degrees, according to Sean Arce, director of TUSD's Raza Studies.

That represents a national college graduation rate of about 55 percent for Hispanic students. A dismal statistic - and one the University of Arizona Hispanic Alumni are blowing out of the water. For every 100 students that go through the UAHA retention program, about 90 will receive a bachelor's degree, said UAHA President Humberto Stevens.

But, the retention program could suffer next semester if the plan to separate it from Chicano/Hispano Student Affairs goes through. With the state facing what can safely be called a budget crisis, the Legislature is calling on all Arizona universities to slash their own budgets - with the UA's share totaling more than $100 million. And while that massive figure is somewhat new, the UA has been struggling to cope with its upcoming poverty for months. The 'transformation plan' was launched last semester as a way to get all departments and colleges thinking of innovative ways to cut jobs, programs, entire departments - and ultimately costs.

The Multicultural Affairs and Student Success department couldn't escape transforming - which means potentially big changes for the Chicano/Hispano, African American, Asian Pacific American and Native American Student Affairs centers.

As it stands, the committee charged with deciding the future of the UA's various student affairs centers is operating separately from the one charged with the future of UA retention programs. That could spell trouble for Hispanic retention students, since the program is practically inseparable from the CHSA center. CHSA staff teach the class all incoming freshmen are required to take, and the center's events are designed to make students feel connected - to the university and each to other.

A retention program operating separately from the cultural center is worrisome, said Patsy Klein, who instructs senior retention students during monthly UAHA meetings. She attened a Focus Group Jan. 28 - one of several put on by the cultural center transformation committee - where students were asked to voice their concerns and suggestions about the potential combination of all centers. Listen to what she had to say: