Opinion | Should College Advising Be Determined by Race?

Walking through Bolton Hall, you may notice the handful of offices lining the first floor. A quick glance shows signs like “African American Student Academic Services,” “American Indian Student Services,” “Southeast Asian-American Student Services” and “Roberto Hernandez Center.”

Ever wonder what’s behind those doors? Ever think, what do those people in those offices do? Or how about, so that’s where my tuition dollars are going? Well, those offices hold academic advisor for the “multicultural” students of the UWM campus.

I myself had no clue what the offices were for until I discovered that my own academic advisor could be found in the African -American Student Academic Services (AASAS) office. I am an African-American student.

The AASAS website states “The College of Letters and Science’s African-American Student Academic Services (AASAS) is specifically designed to guide African- American Students through their college requirements and on to graduation. Particularly for students who are first-generation college students who may not have a family member to consult, we provide assistance in navigating the many policies and procedures such as declaring a major, appealing a grade, adding a course, etc.”

Are there not Caucasian students who are first-generation college students? This concerned me. Isn’t the UWM campus supposed show diversity? This seemed to contradict that mission.

After poking around, it came out that Caucasian students of UWM that are a part of the College of Letters and Science are assigned a traditional L&S advisor, while minority students are assigned an adviser through one of the appropriate multicultural center.

I’ve heard many nightmare worthy stories of terrible, unhelpful and even mean advisers from fellow students, so I was curious what the Caucasian counterparts of  “multicultural” students thought about there being different advisers based on ethnicity.

Michael Glaser, a sophomore said, “I think that would be kind of cool, since those advisors seem like would be more eager to help their students succeed. Those students also probably get to stick with one advisor while they’re in school. I’ve already had two different advisors since starting at UWM.”

Out of UWM’s 23,031 students around 5,000 of them are “multicultural” students.

So why are students that are already singled out being singled out even more by getting a special advisor? “Welcome to the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Multicultural Student Centers (MSC) Website! The Centers are a collective of offices that enhance the learning and success of African American, American Indian, Latino/a, and Southeast Asian students.” This is the opening line to the MSC website. Why do minority students need a special center to “enhance the learning and success” of their studies? Do minority students need more help then their white counterparts at UWM?

Taylor Dews, an L&S junior, said, “I think that’s kind of odd, I didn’t know that was a thing. Why do “multicultural” students need an advisor in a special office?”

After speaking with Gary Cooper, an advisor in the AASAS center, I got some real clarification on how these centers are meant to act as a safe space for minority students and not act as any form of segregation. Cooper said, “A lot of people believe the reason we have these offices is to sub-segregate, but it’s quite the opposite. When a student is transitioning from going to a high school where there are all black students where they have leeway for pass periods to coming to UWM and understanding a hard deadline, 1 o’clock means 1 o’clock, this is an opportunity for us advisors to talk to those students and culturally you’re here at the university and these are the expectations and norms in order to be successful here.”

There is a constant striving for community outreach. The university website say things such as, “Students are urged to become active members of the UWM and Milwaukee communities and to take advantage of the types of opportunities that arise upon the achievement of educational, professional and personal goals.” Along with constant alerts to students via emails and posters through out the campus, these advisors really want to help their students feel that UWM is their home.

College is a challenging time for students, and UWM does its own part to help students in a way they see fit. Some may agree and some may not, but whatever helps students succeed and feel comfortable is what matters.