The impact which organizational decline in higher education has on African American students and institutional management of organizational decline can influence the access and success of African American students on predominantly White campuses. With higher education fighting for continued existence as a result of enrollment reductions and a shrinking economy, and the growing disparity between African Americans and White Americans, the press for survival prevails for both institutions and cultures. This study examined the effects which institutional decline in public higher education has upon African American students. Specifically, the study focused on how educational administrators and African American students in four Massachusetts institutions of higher learning described and explained the extent of the decline and their perceptions of its short-term and long-term effects. Various approaches and strategies utilized during decline and how they promoted or impeded an institution's ability to support goals and action related to participation of African American students were explored in the study. Attention was given to the different perceptions surrounding these issues in order to present a holistic and in-depth understanding of the dimensions of decline as it impacts African American students. Focus group interviews were used to explore and identify the complexity of these issues. The findings of the study indicate that the perceptions of both students and educational administrators were that African American students had been affected by the impact of organizational decline in terms of reduction and elimination of programs and services which are used and needed by this student population to access higher education as well as to survive in college environments which are hostile and unfriendly. The exploratory nature of this study, through the perceptions and reflections of African American students and educational administrators responsible to and for this population, should deepen the understanding within the academy regarding access and success of African American students during an era of decline.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UMASS/oai:scholarworks.umass.edu:dissertations-8836 |
| Date | 01 January 1993 |
| Creators | Lane, Phyllis Myra |
| Publisher | ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst |
| Source Sets | University of Massachusetts, Amherst |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Source | Doctoral Dissertations Available from Proquest |
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