UF’s Black Affairs will initiate two new programs in the Fall dedicated to strengthening UF’s black community — P.A.A.C.T. and the Black Cultural Living Learning Community.
P.A.A.C.T., which stands for Pledging to Advance Academic Capacity Together, is a free, four-to-five day program for incoming black students that helps them become more familiar with black professionals and upperclassmen.
The program began at UF in 1998, but it ended about 10 years ago due to a lack of funds.
Sarah Gebretsadik, a UF psychology senior and student coordinator for P.A.A.C.T., said it’s a good time to revamp the program because UF’s experienced a low retention rate and decrease in incoming black students.
“I just hope to see community again within the black community,” she said. “I want students to be able to feel comfortable enough to acknowledge each other when they walk around campus.”
The number of incoming black freshmen has decreased by about half over the past five or six years, Gebretsadik said. The 21-year-old added that this may be because UF does not have a prominent black community.
“I would encourage any freshmen to go to any event where they get to meet people, regardless, but P.A.A.C.T. is a type of program where you’re meeting a special group where the people have had specific experiences very similar to yours,” she said.
The program was reinstated after the Black Students Affairs Task Force sent out a survey to black students asking them how they felt about being black on campus, Gebretsadik said.
In addition to P.A.A.C.T., Black Affairs paired with UF’s Housing and Residence Education to create a new living center to support the recruitment and retention of UF’s black students.
According to the website, the Black Cultural LLC will be a residence hall in the Graham area. Students will be able to participate in activities, such as workshops and cookouts, that help them learn about black culture and encourage success.
Although these new programs are attempting to strengthen the black community, Daniel Weldon, a UF political science junior, said he believes it will degrade the black community.
“By design, it assumes black students cannot succeed without extra help,” Weldon said. “To assume that someone needs extra help only because the color of their skin is racist.”
The UF linebacker wrote in an article on Young America’s Foundation that implementing these programs are causing black students to self-segregate, and he said this will cause UF’s campus to become less diverse.
William Atkins, the executive director of UF’s Multicultural and Diversity Affairs, said these programs are not mandatory, so students don’t have to participate if they don’t want to.
“It’s not something that we are forcing students to participate in, but for those students who feel like it would be a great resource for them, we’re happy to provide that for them,” he said.
Atkins said he is hopeful that many students will participate in the P.A.A.C.T. program. He said UF alumni who have gone through the program many years ago were excited to hear that it was going to be coming back to campus.
“It’s our first year, so we’ll see how this pilot year goes,” Atkins said. “As we build momentum, I can imagine it will be a great success.”
Contact Catie Wegman at cwegman@alligator.org and follow her on Twitter: @catie_wegman.
