<p>I’m on a tear today. I’m up in arms. Leading the Revolt! – and I feel totally powerless.</p>
<p>Just received a forwarded email from my D. Her school, Brandeis, has decided that MLK Scholars on campus lack a sense of “community.” To this end, they’ve brainstormed the brilliant idea of making community mandatory. MLK Scholars, new and existing, must attend two (BOTH), daylong, mandatory “retreats” – or lose their scholarships. We still have her original scholarship letter. It clearly says (and I paraphrase) “be a good citizen” and “get good grades.” D had a stellar 1st year academically @ Brandeis & logged countless hours of communty service (okay. true. they didn’t DEFINE “good citizen” but . . .).</p>
<p>While I’m all for giving minority students on campus an opportunity to bond IF THEY WISH – the breathtaking paternalism of having the university force association down the kids’ throats leaves me (almost) <em>grin</em> speechless. D feels stigmatized, degraded, and shackled at being treated differently from other academic merit scholarships on campus who are not forced to become part of a “community” in order to continue receiving their funds.</p>
<p>I’m all for singing for my supper – but changing the tune mid-song feels like a con. Whazzup w/THAT?!</p>
<p>I think Providence has something similar, I remember my son’s friend saying they want a lot of participation during the year, unlike other scholarships.
I would feel funny about it too…was it a large scholarship?</p>
<p>“Just received a forwarded email from my D. Her school, Brandeis, has decided that MLK Scholars on campus lack a sense of “community.” To this end, they’ve brainstormed the brilliant idea of making community mandatory. MLK Scholars, new and existing, must attend two (BOTH), daylong, mandatory “retreats” – or lose their scholarships. We still have her original scholarship letter. It clearly says (and I paraphrase) “be a good citizen” and “get good grades.” D had a stellar 1st year academically @ Brandeis & logged countless hours of communty service (okay. true. they didn’t DEFINE “good citizen” but . . .).”</p>
<p>I don’t see the problem of having the retreats. Maybe what they want is for the MLK scholars to know each other well enough to be able to collaborate on projects for the campus, thus being able to have a bigger impact on the campus than the scholars would have if they did things completely independent of each other.</p>
<p>Deb, Brandeis’ MLK Scholarship is a 4yr free ride based on leadership & academic merit. It appears (at least based on the info on Brandeis’ scholarship page) to be the largest scholarship offered by the school. Other merit scholarships provide free tuition, but not room & board – so yes, they ARE shelling out the big $$.</p>
<p>Northstarmom, without question, recent MLK Scholars have been resistant to attempts to organize them, so I can understand the school’s interest in growing its talent. HOWEVER, my beef is based in contract. They can certainly make mandatory meetings a requirement of FUTURE award recipients, but to unilaterally impose additional requirements on existing scholars who chose Brandeis based on the terms different from those demanded now, seems a breach of agreement.</p>
<p>I think the resistance to organize has multiple factors:
Some MLK Scholars came from environments where they assimilated so well that they are more comfortable with the Brandeis population at large, than in the concentrated minority MLK Scholar group.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Some MLK Scholars may feel that Brandeis’ majority population may view the award as a “handout” given to a less qualified student population – so they would prefer not to advertise themselves as recipients of the award, and therefore somehow second class.</p></li>
<li><p>Still others may be loner geniuses who prefer not to socialize with ANY particular “community.”</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Whatever the reasons that the school has struggled to get the kids out to MLK meetings, it’s not clear why it’s such a big deal – or if it even IS a big deal. </p>
<p>For example, if the REAL reason “community” is being forcefed to this group is because some recipients are struggling academically and could use the mentorship of more successful students – the school should be honest about its motives instead of euphemizing “some” scholars want a sense of community, so now ALL scholars will lose their cash if they don’t buy in.</p>
<p>For example, if the REAL reason “community” is being forcefed to this group is because some recipients are struggling academically and could use the mentorship of more successful students – the school should be honest about its motives instead of euphemizing “some” scholars want a sense of community, so now ALL scholars will lose their cash if they don’t…</p>
<p>I agree
D’s school had peer mentors, of which she took part both as a mentee and a mentor.
It was for low-income- minority &/or first gen students.
If MLK scholars need more support= I would bet that there are other students who also need support but would not be identified if restricted to MLK scholars.
I also think it is stinky to change the requirements after the scholarship was accepted.</p>
<p>Honestly, if all they are requiring in 2 daylong retreats, then that is a very small committment for a full ride scholarship. I know of a school that the scholars travel together for a projects and they also have formed an alumni network for the scholars.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, as in life, when something is free, the rules do change because they can.
I’m not saying I agree with it, but that is the way it seems to roll.
D is in a program at her school for minorities, and there is no scholarship involved and sometimes she feels stigmatized, have to go to mandatory workshops, etc. But the advantage is there for other things that otherwise wouldn’t be available to her.
I totally get what you are saying.</p>
<p>Thnx 4 the comments all. Milk&sugar – my immediate reaction on reading the email was yours – “2 retreats? That’s not so bad!” It wasn’t until I’d thought about it a moment or two that I realized that the issue wasn’t really that limited.</p>
<p>Last year, the group implemented “mandatory” group meetings and community service events. The “mandatory”, however, didn’t have teeth – as there was no explicit threat of losing the scholarship money. My daughter willingly compled with these “mandatory” activities, but found that they often conflicted with prior obligations she had on campus (debate tournaments, executive board meetings, etc). A couple of times, they weren’t scheduled until after she’d already purchased a (non-refundable) ticket home for that weekend. </p>
<p>As there was no penalty for missing the meetings at that time, neither she nor I was unduly upset at the new requirements. THIS year, however, the danger is obvious. It’s the classic slippery slope. How many more “requirements” will a school aching for lost $$ in the Madoff scandal impose on these fringe “scholars”? Wouldn’t it be convenient if several students lost their scholarships due to these new non-academic demands? While creating their forced “community” of terrified scholars, the university could thin their ranks – leading to a bit of financial breathing room. I think, more than anything, what would set our minds at ease is an understanding of the real motivation behind the constant changes – and some reassurance of where the limits are. Sometimes a “free ride” isn’t quite so free.</p>
<p>I totally agree. The “minority” thing always have a million strings attached. I personally resent some of it.
On a more pleasant note if it makes one feel better, I believe the presidential scholars have to do similar stuff.</p>
<p>Glad this thread is revived. I think the same people chanting the south will rise again are the same people who “want their country back.”</p>
<p>On a happier note–Merry Christmas and the Happiest of New Years to all of my CC friends. Send updates on your kids (I am guessing most of us now have college students!)</p>
<p>My son is so happy at Franklin & Marshall. He is asleep now on the sofa–so good to have him home.</p>
<p>Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!</p>
<p>Younger S, 21, is home from Rollins College after spending 10 days abroad on a for-credit trip connected with a course. Many of you have heard the saga of his severe high school senioritis that led to his taking a gap year after almost not graduating from high school. I am happy to say that the maturity he gained from that gap year continues to benefit him, and he has had wonderful grades in college. His lowest grade this semester was one B+, and he has attained those grades while working 10 hours a week and being very active in ECs. </p>
<p>Older S, 25 – whom many of you know flunked out of college and then was estranged from us for a couple of years while he lived a heavy partying life – has continued to reconnect with our family while supporting himself and flourishing in an office job a couple of thousand miles away from we live. He has a girlfriend, the first time he has ever shared such info with us. He even e-mailed us her picture.</p>
<p>And my favorite pet rabbit is sitting calmly near me while I type this.</p>
<p>I know at Emory there aren’t very many black students (weird for me, I went to a school around half and half white/black). </p>
<p>However there isn’t much self-segregating outside of the black students. A lot of the black students tend to stick together, but that is probably just noticeable more to me because there aren’t many black students there. </p>
<p>However, kids of all races are welcome to hang out together, and I think Emory may be one of the few schools in the nation that doesn’t really separate that much. Probably because there is some extreme diversity at Emory, which is pretty fun to see. </p>
<p>I’m a white kid from Louisiana. The kids on my side of the hall range from Indian to black to white from Germany to Jewish White from Israel to half-Asian/half-White (a few of them), to Hispanic of all types…really cool to see.</p>
<p>D1 is now a junior!! She too is ostensibly doing what she needs to do (ie: on track to graduate next year), but still seems more a teen than a young adult, and woefully unprepared for “the real world.”</p>
<p>I am sharing this because I found my own cluelessness amusing. Please don’t take offense!</p>
<p>When I read the title of this thread, I couldn’t figure out what it was about. What are middle class black posters and why is there a revival? My son has a Che poster up in his dorm room - Che wasn’t black, I know, but maybe there’s a revival of interest among my son’s generation for revolutionaries of the 1960s? Maybe Malcolm X?</p>
<p>Then I opened the thread and figured out the noun “poster” in this context meant someone who writes on CC threads. D-uh. As Emily Littella used to say, “never mind.”</p>
Milk&sugar – my immediate reaction on reading the email was yours – “2 retreats? That’s not so bad!” It wasn’t until I’d thought about it a moment or two that I realized that the issue wasn’t really that limited.</p>