So what can we all do to retain more black students?

Sometimes dialoguing is all you can do. \nSo when IU sophomore Sara Alghani and senior Rodney Cobb invited IU's historically black greek organization members to join fellow students and faculty to discuss and explore the issues preventing nearly half of IU's black students from graduating, I was more than happy to RSVP.\nFrom the Benton Murals in Woodburn Hall to the 2003 anti-affirmative action bake sale staged in Dunn Meadow, discussing the issues has often been the singular recourse for black students unsatisfied with the state of the campus.\nI remember when, in February 2003, the Black Student Union sponsored a town hall meeting to discuss the Indiana Daily Student's publication of a political cartoon satirizing affirmative action. The illustration, chosen from a wire service and printed in the opinion section of the paper, depicted a rather small-headed, large-bodied brother holding a sign that read "Being a minority -- 20 points." The character stood next to another character half his size -- a white guy -- holding a sign that read "Perfect SAT score -- 12 points." A final sign read, "Feeling entitled to special benefits: pointless."\nThe cartoon was published on a Wednesday. On Friday, six letters admonishing the cartoon's publication appeared in the Jordan River Forum.\nFolks crowded Teter Quad's formal lounge the night of the meeting. More than a few black students raised their hands, finally having the opportunity to express how unwelcome, frustrated and ignored they'd felt on IU's campus. \nAt the time, "dialogue therapy," if you will, served as the Band-Aid for what ailed us. But, after attending the IU Students of Color Committed to Excellence Summit, I've come to recognize lackluster graduation and retention rates is a different kind of beast for which Band-Aids just won't do. Unlike a regressive-thinking cartoon creator, black students are finally in a position to do more than just talk about the issue. \nWe can improve it.\nLittle more than half of black students attending IU actually walk away with a degree within six years of beginning their studies here. Today's graduation rate for IU's black students is about the same as it was almost a decade ago -- 52 percent. But despite the consistency, the disparities between blacks and whites have grown. The graduation rate for white students increased from 69 percent in 1996 to 72.9 percent today. \nThe graduation rate gap between that of black and white students has been a long-running problem nationwide. Based on the national average, only 40 percent of black students attending the country's schools graduate with a degree within six years -- that figure is 21 percentage points lower than the graduation rate for white students.\nThe reasons for the disparities are myriad. \nMounting financial burdens often deter black students from continuing their studies past the first year. For example, recent legislation decreased the availability of loans and increased fees and interest rates to boot.\nBlack students are too often without the support network of peers, professors, advisers and mentors to tackle everyday problems and to counteract what can be considered an oftentimes uncomfortable campus climate.\nPrograms such as Groups, Hudson & Holland Scholars Program, Faculty and Students for Excellence and so on, have proven themselves to do a good job of catering to the academic, economic and social needs of many black students. But students not involved in any such programs often fall through the cracks.\nThe odds are stacked up against black students. The current situation, however, differs from the cartoon and the bake sale situations. In those cases, we combated regressive concepts and ideas with those of our own. But now much-needed venting and rich dialogue is only half the battle. In the words of keynote speaker and IU professor Fred McElroy, "I invite you to struggle. I invite you to follow up."\nWe can take a cue from Cobb and Alghani. In our dogged pursuit of graduation, we're obligated to lead the focus groups, make the suggestions and follow up on the progress of our efforts. The way to eradicate unacceptable graduation and retention rates is quite simple: We must graduate. As black students, we have the first and final say in improving graduation and retention rates. \nWe have the power to improve the numbers -- we are the numbers.