African American Student Engagement

Student engagement is a key component to a well-rounded college experience. Chen, Ingram and Davis argue that “social engagement simply captures a one-sided perspective of the collegiate experience while higher education is a two-tier experience that also include an academic component, the social gains receive outside the classrooms are as equally important as academic advancements” (p. 6). For African American/ Black students the type of institution they select to attend determines their level of social engagement at the institution. The types of experiences available to college students are influenced by student affairs administrators and organizations of higher rank within the institution (Berger 2000; , Bean, 1983; Berger & Braxton, …show more content…
In addition to unveiling contributors to why African American/ Black Greek Letter organizations ascendancy over African American Black student attending predominately white institutions this study also aims to find new evidence to support why predominately white institutions should consider affiliating their institutions with African American/ Black Greek Letter Organizations.

Significance of the Study
This study is significant because it begins the discussion of why African American/Black Greek letter organizations are a critical addition to predominately white institutions in relation to engagement and retention of African American/ Black students.
This study is distinctive because it specifically looks at the influence African American/ Black Greek letter organizations have at predominately white institutions.

Research Questions
1. What role does African American/Black Greek letter organizations serve at predominately white …show more content…
In this research Black students are defined per the United States Census definition as “ a person having origins in any of the Black racial groups of Africa. It includes people who indicate their race as "Black, African American or Negro"; or report entries such as African American, Kenyan, Nigerian, or Haitian.”
Per (Brown II & Dancy II, 2010), Predominately White Institutions (PWIs) is the term used to describe institutions of higher learning in which Whites account for 50% or greater enrollment.
According to Parks, Morial, Malveaux & Hughey (2008) “African American/ Black Greek letter organizations (BGLOs) are predominantly college-based social service organizations with a combination of foci: the development of African American identity community uplift, brother or sisterhood and social justice.”
For the purposes of this study Social Engagement is a term that refers to a student’s level of participation outside the