Cultural dorm not meeting expectations

Matt Heistand Arizona Daily Wildcat English sophomore Kimberly Arthur uses one of the computers in the Native American Resource Center yesterday in the Nugent Building. The center is working together with Residence Life to help American Indian students make the transition to college easier and to help them succeed, but questions have risen about its effectiveness.

That is the concept University of Arizona Residence Life and Native American Resource Center administrators harnessed by creating a wing in Graham-Greenlee Residence Hall specifically for American Indian students. The idea was to help the residents adjust to university life and do better in school.

The problem is, it doesn't appear to be making a difference.

"It really hasn't proven to be the panacea for academic success," said Bruce Meyers, assistant dean of Native American student affairs.

UA Residence Life Director James Van Arsdel said the cultural wing program began in 1992, in the hopes of convincing 30 American Indian students to live together on the same wing.

The wing was created so Americans Indians, who Van Arsdel said often have trouble adjusting to university life, could give each other support and help one another succeed at the UA.

"For many Native American students, there is a huge adjustment to be made between living on a reservation and living on a university campus," he said.

Van Arsdel said a desire to help those students succeed academically outweighed the risk of receiving criticism for creating a "segregated" wing.

"We knew this had the potential for being controversial," he said.

The cost and controversy may, unfortunately, be to no avail, said Graham-Greenlee Hall Director Brad Henner.

"I haven't seen any compelling evidence the wing is really helping students," he said. "We would like to see them really stand out from the rest of the Native American community, but that's not the case."

Another problem is finding students who want to live in the wing, Henner said.

This year, 14 American Indian students live on the special wing, while other rooms were assigned to non-American Indians who were late in applying for campus housing, he said.

Henner said inadequate recruiting is a reason for the lack of applicants.

Barbara Elgutaa, the Native American Resource Center's senior academic specialist, said she and her colleagues contacted about 97 percent of the UA's 151 American Indian freshmen and transfer students this year to tell them about outreach programs including the cultural wing.

Elgutaa said 594 American Indians attend the UA - about 1.7 percent of the total student population.

Mathematics sophomore Dan Lacapa, a White Mountain Apache who lives in the wing, said he simply applied late for a room and was told he could live in Graham-Greenlee because of his heritage.

Lacapa said he is glad to be living there, and plans to return next fall as the wing's resident assistant.

"It's like a little bit of home for students who normally live on reservations," he said.

Lacapa said residents who live on the wing benefit more socially than academically.

He also said the Native American Resource Center provides tutoring, computers and faculty fellows to assist students, though few take advantage of it.

"I personally don't use the NARC building," he said.

Elgutaa said, however, more than half of the UA's American Indian freshmen have visited the center.

The wing's current RA, anthropology senior Kim McNally, said she is not sure the wing helps students.

"I don't think a wing designed to a specific culture or race is going to help with academics," she said. "That's what the resource centers are for."

McNally also said the concept of the wing seems to contradict Residence Life's stated hall living philosophy.

"Residence Life promotes diversity and getting out of your comfort zone," she said. "It's kind of a contradiction to stay together with people of your kind."

McNally said the idea may have sounded good to Van Arsdel and other top administrators, but they have not been paying attention to its lack of success.

"The higher up you go, I don't think they really take the time to sit and listen," she said.

As to the future of the program, Meyers was unsure.

"We're evaluating the wing right now, and we're not sure where it's headed," he said.