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A Bridge Over Troubled Water
health counselor as a specific liaison for the LLC. The faculty director should work with
Black males on their course schedule to ensure that they will have a balanced course
load. In the past, the inaugural faculty director noticed students taking STEM-heavy
courses their first semester, and, as a result, some students were overwhelmed and did
not do well, resulting in academic probation. Making sure that students take a balanced
load of general education courses (STEM, humanities, social science, diversity, etc.) is
key to their making good grades, especially their first semester.
A Black male LLC should have an outreach component to parents and Black alumni.
This outreach is needed to inform parents about the activities their sons will engage
in as well as to connect them with Black alumni for mentoring and career opportunities.
At Jamii House, the outreach efforts include a welcome reception for parents at
the beginning of the fall semester and a Black History Month program honoring Black
alums of Jamii University.
Research
Additional research and evaluation on the effectiveness of programs like the Jamii
House are needed to provide further evidence demonstrating the ability of LLC programs
to advance the outcomes of Black males in higher education. This should include
mixed-methods research. We need evaluations of LLC programs that employ
both quantitative causal inference (e.g., see Cintron et al., 2020) and qualitative methods
to explore what components of the program are working for the participants and
why (e.g., Cintron et al., 2020; Hines, Mayes, et al., 2021). Furthermore, it is essential
that evaluations on the effectiveness of programs like the Jamii House employ a critical
race theory (Lynn & Dixson, 2013) lens for their evaluation activities.
QuantCrit draws on critical race theory to establish some essential tenets to guide
the use and analysis of quantitative data:
(1) the centrality of racism as a complex and deeply rooted aspect of society that is
not readily amenable to quantification; (2) numbers are not neutral and should be
interrogated for their role in promoting deficit analyses that serve White racial interests;
(3) categories are neither " natural " nor given and so the units and forms of analysis must
be critically evaluated; (4) voice and insight are vital: data cannot " speak for itself " and
critical analyses should be informed by the experiential knowledge of marginalized
groups; and (5) statistical analyses have no inherent value but can play a role in struggles
for social justice. (Gillborn et al., 2018, p. 158)
CONCLUSION
The graduation rates of Black males should be similar to those of their peers. Institutional
support, collaboration with key stakeholders, appropriate programming, and a
dedicated faculty director can create a transformative experience for Black males on a
college or university campus and can improve persistence, retention, and graduation
rates. A Black male LLC can serve as a gateway to successful career and education pathways
for Black men in college and beyond. 
78 The Journal of College and University Student Housing

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