Peer mentoring can help minority students succeed

Editor,

Completing a college degree can be a daunting challenge, especially for people of color and first-generation students who have few, if any, role models in their families and communities. This situation can be exacerbated by a university where 78 percent of the tenure-track faculty are white. People of color are woefully underrepresented in UNM, except in the ranks of undergraduates.

At UNM, minority graduation rates and minority enrollment in graduate programs, especially Ph.D. programs, are abysmal. For example, only 12 percent of the students graduating with a Ph.D. from UNM are Hispanic. In a state where we're the majority of the population, the statistics scream that something is wrong with the system.

There are many reasons for this. Let's start with the grade school system that is not working for people of color. APS records consistently show that the higher the percentage of minorities in a given school, the lower the average Terra Nova test scores. This means students hailing from minority-majority schools tend to be less prepared for college.

Another reason students of color are less likely to graduate from UNM is because we're often the first in our families to attend college. Experts agree that first-generation college students are less likely to complete an undergraduate degree, much less enter into a graduate program. There is also the aforementioned lack of faculty of color at UNM. What does that say to students when they don't see people like themselves being accepted into the higher ranks of academia? With the deck stacked against us, it's no wonder so few of us graduate and even fewer enter the ranks of graduate students.

But this doesn't have to be so. Minority, first-generation and students who are having a tough time adjusting to college life, or who would like some help in negotiating the obstacles ahead, should seek peer mentoring. Anyone who has been through the gauntlet of higher education, and whose culture resembles yours, is ideal. If you can't find a mentor, the organization called Peer Mentoring for Graduates of Color will help UNM juniors, seniors and graduate students find mentors. You don't have to be a member of a minority group to take advantage of the services. For more information, visit the Web site at Unm.edu/~grad/pmgc/pmgc.html.

Danny Hernandez

UNM student