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The Red and Black • Tuesday, May 15, 1990 • 3
Big Brothers and Sisters to be replaced
New Minority Assistant Peer
program to begin fall quarter
By DELBERT ELLERTON
Contributing Writer
Big brothers and big sisters are
now artifacts as far as the Black
Affairs Council is concerned.
The Big Brother/Big Sister pro
gram, which served as the Univer
sity’s primary orientation program
for black freshmen and transfer
students, was dismantled in Jan-
ua ry due to ineffectiveness.
The J )ro K rarn just was not
working” BAC President Ben
jamin Roundtree said.
Program successful
at South Carolina
The Big Brother/Big Sister pro
gram will be replaced by the Mi
nority Assistant Peer program,
which is patterned after a suc
cessful program by the same name
at the University of South Caro
lina.
The MAP program will be imple
mented on campus beginning fall
quarter.
The program will be under the
control of Minority Services and
Programs.
Ralph Johnson, assistant dean
of minority afTairs at USC, said,
‘The MAP program at USC has
been recognized both regionally
and nationally.
“UGA is not the only school mod
eling a program after ours.
Clemson is also presently imple
menting a similar program,” he
said.
Lack of interest
hurt new students
Roundtree said about 275 students
attended the Big Brother/Big
Sister program’s fall reception.
However, interest in the pro
gram had dwindled by the begin
ning of winter quarter.
Many freshmen and transfers
complained that their big brothers
and sisters weren’t providing the
support the program required.
“I made between 100 and 150
phone calls to upperclassmen.
Many freshmen were giving me
negative feedback on the program,”
Roundtree said.
BAC Vice President James Paul
said, "We had meetings to examine
the program piece-by-piece to see
where we were going wrong.”
‘There was a general consensus
that we should get rid of the pro
gram in its present form," he said.
‘Excellent idea
that went awry’
"People were not taking the pro
gram seriously and it was more
like a dating service,” Roundtree
said.
"I had freshmen come to me re
questing that their big brothers or
sisters be members of Greek-letter
organizations.
‘There were upperclassmen who
didn’t want their little brothers or
sisters because of their looks,” he
said.
Vanessa Williams, assistant di
rector of Minority Services and
Programs, said the Big Brother/Big
Sister program was an excellent
idea that just went awry.
"It was a wonderful idea in
theory — however, it was not
working in practice,” Williams
said.
“It is really hard for black
freshmen and transfers to come
here expecting to have someone to
connect with and those people let
them down,” she said.
Some students had
unsavory experiences
A student named Paul recalls
having an unsavory experience
with the program as a freshman in
1987.
“It was like I had the plague and
my big brother avoided me,” he
said.
“I like to be in the system and in
touch with the right administra
tors when I have problems.
“I thought my big brother would
do that, but he didn’t,” he said.
Williams believes that some
black students may have left the
University because of their bad ex
periences with the program.
‘‘Some students may have
needed their big brothers or sisters
to adjust to the University and
may have left because they weren’t
getting the help they needed,” she
said.
Some brothers, sisters
worked hard to help
However, BAC officers said there
were some big brothers and sisters
who really worked hard to help the
new students.
“Some people maintained very
good relationships,” Roundtree
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said.
Loretta Wilmore, a freshman
general business m^jor, had a
pleasant experience with the pro
gram. “Harold prettv much kept up
with me and he could answer all of
my questions.
“I met a lot of people through
him and he is a very good friend,”
Wilmore said of her big brother,
Harold Morris, a senior landscape
architecture major.
High hopes for MAP
success on campus
Despite the failure of the Big
Brother/Big Sister program, the
Office of Minority Services and
Programs will implement the MAP
program with very high expecta
tions.
Roundtree said the new program
will recruit sincere students.
‘The new process is going to
work because blatant insensitivity
will be weeded out,” he said.
“You can’t just look down on
someone just because you don’t
want to be bothered with them,”
Roundtree said.
“We need people who have a gen
uine concern for people. We need to
expose new students to people who
are not apathetic,” he said.
‘The program is moving to Mi
nority Services and we’re ex
panding. The BAC budget won’t
support the new program.
“We want the program to be
taken very seriously," Roundtree
said.
MAP has different
support system
Under the old program, each big
brother and sister was primarily
responsible for supporting one stu
dent without a support group to
lean on.
The new program will consist of
several small support groups that
will form one large group.
‘There will be between 30 and
50 upperclassmen who will be re
sponsible for five or six students
each," Roundtree said.
According to Williams, the new
program’s structure will be its
greatest attribute.
“If a MAP gets bogged down, we
will have someone to fill in for
them. We want a team approach.
“If MAPs are real busy, we don’t
want them to feel totally respon
sible for neglecting their group,”
Williams said.
Johnson said team building is
very important if the program is to
work.
“Students must realize that they
are part of a team. They must
make sure that they are peer facili
tators and not academic advisors,”
he said.
MAPs must have
several skills
After training with MAPs at USC,
Williams believes that interested
students should have three major
skills.
"I found that MAPs must have
good listening, counseling and re
ferral skills,” she said.
Johnson said he thinks the Uni
versity’s program will be suc
cessful.
“I think the program will work
very well at UGA. If it does nothing
else, it will soy a lot about diversity
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Ben Roundtree: Black Affairs Council president
and the University’s commitment
to minorities.
“Many students may feel alien
ated and possibly ostracized...to
have a program that eliminates ap
prehension says a lot," Johnson
said.
“I’ve had some students to tell
me that they chose USC over other
schools because of the MAP pro
gram.
‘The program shows how much
the school values minorities," he
said.
MAP applications
being taken now
Minority Services and Programs is
still accecpting applications for the
program. Interviews will begin
May 21.
“We haven’t received many ap
plications from males. The
freshman and transfer males are
going to need some strong role
models,” Williams said
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