Category Archives: Advocacy

Access, Advocacy, NACAC National Conference, NACAC News

#NACAC20: Current Crises Demand New Mindset for Colleges

The work of colleges and universities has never been more urgent, education leader Michael Sorrell told attendees Thursday at the 2020 NACAC Virtual Conference.

In these unprecedented times, higher education institutions have a duty to both students and democratic society, said Sorrell, president of Paul Quinn College (TX). History will judge the ways in which US colleges respond to the coronavirus pandemic, the country’s continued shameful treatment of Black people, and the actions of the current presidential administration, Sorrell said at the conference’s closing session.

He urged attendees to look at what their institution could do differently in this time crisis, which has hit minorities particularly hard.

“I am an advocate of higher education, but I’m also critical of it,” said Sorrell. “I don’t think we’ve done enough, and I don’t think we are who we need to be. If we are honest, we produced the people who produced this moment. We need to fix it.”

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Advocacy, NACAC National Conference, NACAC News, Uncategorized

#NACAC20: Advocacy in the COVID-19 Era

Want to make life better for students (and your institution) amid the pandemic?

Speakers featured during a panel discussion on politics, government, and higher education at this week’s 2020 NACAC Virtual Conference offered two suggestions.

  1. Pick up the phone.
  2. Vote.

“These are very tough times we are living in,” Paul Mounds, chief of staff for the governor of Connecticut, told attendees. “…This is not the time to be shy about your financial situation. This is not the time to be shy about the situations facing your students…Government needs to hear directly from you.”

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Access, Advocacy, NACAC National Conference

#NACAC20: Ibram X. Kendi Urges Examination of Admission Policies and Practices

Funding formulas, testing policies, and recruitment and retention strategies are just some of the areas that must be addressed by schools, colleges, and communities seeking equity and access for all students, celebrated antiracist scholar Ibram X. Kendi told attendees Tuesday at the 2020 NACAC Virtual Conference.

Racism is embedded throughout American society, he said. Dismantling such systemic injustice will require persistent self-awareness, constant self-criticism, and regular self-examination.

“You can’t declare one day: I am antiracist,” said Kendi, bestselling author of How to be an Antiracist and other books examining race in America. “But you can say, I’m striving to be. You can say, I’m going to go on that journey.”

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Access, Advocacy, NACAC National Conference, NACAC News, Uncategorized

#NACAC20: A Students-First Approach to Higher Ed

If US higher education is to survive, it must refocus its efforts and prioritize students, NACAC CEO Angel B. Pérez said Tuesday in remarks at the 2020 NACAC Virtual Conference.

Like many sectors of the US economy, the admission profession has felt the effects of the coronavirus crisis on its institutional budgets, Pérez noted. But those concerns are secondary when compared to the larger crisis looming for higher ed, he said.

“While we all understandably worry about our schools and our institutions, we have to remember that without students, nothing else in the educational endeavor matters,” Pérez said in his first keynote address as the association’s chief executive officer. “…As we move away from enforcing a code of ethics, NACAC will act publicly and with determination when policy or practice threatens to cause harm to or perpetuate inequities among students.”

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Access, Advocacy, NACAC News

#NACACchat: Transitioning to College with a Disability

How can college admission professionals help students who have a disability transition to college? How can students advocate for themselves to access the resources they need?

View a transcript of our most recent #NACACchat. Special guests included Jill Corbin, director of college and transition counseling at Denver Academy and NACAC Learning Differences Special Interest Group leader; Annie Tulkin, founder and director of Accessible College, where she provides college transition support for students with physical disabilities and health conditions nationally; and Elizabeth C. Hamblet, college learning disabilities specialist at LDadvisory, which provides advice on college topics for students with learning disabilities or ADHD.

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Access, Advocacy, NACAC News

#NACACchat: Join Tomorrow’s Twitter Discussion

How can college admission professionals help students who have a disability transition to college? How can students advocate for themselves to access the resources they need?

Join NACAC’s Learning Differences Special Interest Group for a #NACACchat Twitter discussion on best practices for helping students transition to college with a disability, including how COVID-19 can impact this process.

The chat will take place Wednesday, Sept. 2 at 1 p.m. ET and will be led by @NACAC and members of the Learning Differences SIG. Continue reading #NACACchat: Join Tomorrow’s Twitter Discussion →

Access, Advocacy, College Admission, Legislation

Working to Reign in Unscrupulous Colleges

NACAC members work every day to help students find colleges and universities that will be a good academic and financial fit. Unfortunately, some colleges take advantage of students, particularly students who are low-income, minority, first-generation, military, or veterans, among others from underserved and underrepresented groups.

To support these students, NACAC has developed a student protection agenda, which is meant to hold colleges accountable for predatory recruitment tactics and poor academic programs. These institutions heavily recruit students and charge exorbitant prices, often with students dropping out before obtaining a degree. In many cases, the student would have been better off not enrolling at all.

Recently, NACAC and several other education-related organizations sent a memo to Congress about the risks to students in post-COVID higher education. Many colleges aren’t even open yet, but there has been an increase in predatory recruitment among these colleges. We anticipate these tactics to get more egregious as students reimagine their academic futures and seek options that will allow them to safely pursue their degrees. We urged Congress to include student protection provisions outlined in the memo.

Our organizations also joined together to place an advertisement on thehill.com, a widely read political website, highlighting the memo and our call to action.  The ad will remain online through August 6.

Mike is the NACAC’s director for government relations. You can reach him at mrose@nacacnet.org.

Access, Advocacy, College Readiness

Study: Students Exposed to Police Violence are Less Likely to Graduate from High School, Enroll in College

New research confirms what many school counselors have witnessed firsthand: Black and Hispanic students who live near police killings experience significant negative impacts to their educational and emotional well-being.

Those findings are included in a working paper published this week by Desmond Ang, an assistant professor of public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School (MA).

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Access, Advocacy

Study: Black Students Face Racist Actions 5 Times a Day

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New research shines a spotlight on the extent to which Black teens experience racism and explores how those experiences impact mental health.

A small study of 101 students from Washington, DC, found that Black teens, on average, encounter racism and discrimination five times a day. Students who faced the most severe incidents of racism were more likely to experience depression.

The study, led by Devin English of Rutgers University (NJ), was published in the January-February issue of the Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology.

Science News for Students examined the findings and interviewed English for a recent article aimed at helping all teens recognize and address racism. In easy-to-understand language, the article explains why the onslaught of discrimination faced by Black students is so damaging and offers white students advice for becoming antiracist.

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