My Brothers’ Keeper

University of West Georgia program focuses on creating a brotherhood of successful Black male students.

By Ernest Holsendolph

Carrollton, Ga.
Dressed in crisp white shirts and ties, a group of African-American men are in a deep discussion about Black manhood. The discussion is led by Dr. Said L. Sewell III, an assistant professor of political science at the University of West Georgia. The students, all freshmen, live together, counsel together and reinforce one another in the effort to learn, achieve — and graduate.

Called the West Georgia Learning Community, the students under Sewell’s tutelage are learning to trust one another, almost as brothers, and then are learning to care about one another’s success. These are the rudiments of cooperation that so many other students take for granted. 

Sewell, a Texas native who also happens to be a Baptist preacher, is clear on his objectives.

“This program is about the mentorship of brothers supporting one another. We have high expectations of them, and we are telling them not to lower their expectations,” he says.

Sound principles. But aren’t they part of the perspective of all students?

Not necessarily for Black males, according to scholars. For too many Black men, setting foot on a college campus is like emerging from the airport as a stranger in a foreign land. As educators have learned in opportunity programs for the disadvantaged, some students, especially young Black men, need help adjusting to several factors in college life, specifically the admissions process, dealing with peers, interacting with teachers and authority figures and organizational skills.

Compounding the problem, says Dr. Michael J. Cuyjet, a specialist in counseling at the University of Louisville, is that research suggests that males are less likely to seek help when they run into trouble.
“We find that women are more likely to collaborate than men,” Cuyjet says. “Women are more likely to get help from others. Men are conditioned to go it alone.”