Veritas, Vol. 24, No. 01, September 1983

              For the Faculty, Staff and Friends of the University of Miami
Focus
IM faculty assist in
By Susan G. Lichtman
Through the past spring and summer, several UM professors participated in the development of the Metro-Miami Action Plan (MMAP), a creation of Metro Mayor Steve Clark, Greater Miami United, Metro-Dade Government, Dade School Board officials and four local colleges and universities. Its purpose was to study the problems of Dade County’s black population in four areas: housing, education, economic development, and the criminal justice system.
Many studies have been done through the years on the problems of Dade County’s black population.
Critics argue that although they have discussed problems faced by the black community, they haven’t affected changes.
None has ever attempted to solve these problems through the combined efforts of so many sectors in the community Not until now.
“This was a unique process,” said UM history professor Whittington Johnson, a member of the MMAP criminal justice committee. “It was a novel approach to the problem; we had a partnership between the universities, the community and the government.” According to Johnson, this time the university involvement lent a certain amount of authenticity and scholarship to the problem-solving effort.
Assisted by UM President Edward T. Foote II and Philip H. Mann, director of community services, who were part of both the Steering and Planning Committees for the MMAP, four university-led committees were set up in April to study each of the identified problem areas, hold public hearings and recommend solutions. The University of Miami led the criminal justice committee; Florida International University, the economic development committee; Florida Memorial College, the housing committee; and Miami-Dade Community College led the committee on job-training and education. Committee-appointed educators shared payment of $70,500 for their services, which was provided by the Metro Commission.
Each university team, charged with defining the issues and proposing actions for improv ing the lot of Dade’s black community had 90 days to complete this process.
The UM team, which led the criminal justice committee, consisted of three appointed professors: Marzell Smith as group facilitator; Whittington Johnson as writer/editor; and Geoff Alpert as researcher.
“The issues were generated from and validated by the community,” said Alpert. Through a series of countywide public hearings led by the UM group and attended by representatives from the universities, the black community. the State Attorney’s office, the Miami Police Department, private industry and the Miami-Dade Chamber of Commerce, to name a few, specific issues were identified. The following are just a sampling:
•	Proper selection and training procedures for police officers who will be sensitive to the black communities need to be developed and implemented.
•	The use of deadly force by police officers must be limited.
•	Blacks are under-represented in the juror pool, and throughout the criminal justice system, particularly in supervisory positions.
•	Black-on-black homicide rates, which have increased in the last several decades, are today the leading cause of death among young black men.
From their research, 157 recommendations for community action were published in a 270-page document, entitled Metro-Miami Action Plan: Community's Commitment to Itself. The report, which was coordinated and edited by Mann assisted by Rosemarie McClung, served as the basis for discussion at a conference which took place on July 29 and 30 at the James L. Knight International Conference Center. “It was a difficult task to coordinate the four areas of activity so that a consistent procedure for developing the document could be accomplished,” said Mann. The conference was attended by more than 800 individuals from throughout the community.
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Beautification is only an extra dividend in the restoration of the exterior of the library. What was probably the only turquoise library in the world is no more, and neither are the puddles that used to form in the stacks after a heavy rain. The new coating on the building will solve the old problems of peeling, falling tiles and leaks.
Mentor program may reduce attrition
By Victoria Stuart
They stand shoulder to shoulder with the likes of Virgil, Plato and Henry Higgins.
Their students may not — yet — be as famous as Dante, Alexander the Great or Eliza Dolittle, but they are trying.
Last year, 60 professors from the College of Arts and Sciences volunteered to become personal mentors to new students participating in the Freshman Mentor Advising Program.
The faculty are assigned to no more than 20 students each, helping them adjust to university life; a problem that has resulted in an attrition rate of 30 percent among returning freshmen at UM.
“The idea of calling the program ‘mentor’ advising was to help faculty develop a personal relationship with the student, more than just picking out classes,” said Maureen Short, director of academic advising for the College of Arts and Sciences.
Faculty mentors received tips on counseling recently from Maureen Short, director of academic advising for the College of Arts and Sciences.
“This program has achieved measurable success in assisting freshmen students to make a smooth transition from the general background of high school studies to a declared university major with appropriate career goals,” said James Ash, Jr., associate provost for undergraduate studies.
Of the 116 participants in the program last year, the mid-year attrition rate was 6.8 percent, compared with a rate of 19.5 percent among freshmen receiving traditional advising one year earlier. Of the 75 undeclared freshmen who did not participate in the faculty mentor program last year, the attrition rate was 173 percent after one semester.
“The degree of attrition is serious, and we’re trying to get a handle on it,” said Arthur Brown, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. “Advising, next to instruction, is the most important thing to the student. If we can convince them that there are people here who care, who realty want to help them, then we’ll have a better retention rate.”
UM statistics show that more than 20 percent of all entering freshmen each year are classified “undeclared,” and nearly 70 percent of all college students will change their major at least twice during the course of their college career.
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