Sharing expertise - Xavier University's partnership with Tulane University on public housing - Interview

Black Issues in Higher Education, April 30, 1998 by Ronald Roach

What strengths does Xavier University bring to this partnership with Tulane University?

Our faculty and students have had a strong volunteer commitment, and his has been true for the last ten years. What they brought to this partnership is that sensitivity, that commitment, and that identification with the you people in the projects. That's not to suggest that just being able to "identify" was sufficient, but in fact, they understood the youngsters. They, themselves as students, have been well-trained in their respective fields, as well as the faculty.

So what they brought to this project was what we call a diversity that Tulane didn't have, and it complemented the expertise that tulane had in various fields.

Tulane and Xavier have a partnership that predates the CAP program. Can you tell us a little more about that?

Actually, about twenty years ago, Xavier and Tulane decided to do a joint MBA program. Ten years prior to our starting the cooperative arrangement, Tulane had graduated one African American in its graduate program, its MBA program. And when they collaborated with us, with the number of students we had, we [created] what you call a three-one-one. A youngster in business administration at Xavier would spend three years at Xavier, one year at Tulane and Xavier, and in their five year go totally to Tulane. In the first ten years [of the program], they've graduated thirty African Americans [as compared to] one in the previous ten years.

So that was the start of a collaboration where we were able to combine what I call respective and complementary strengths.... That was our first collaboration.

After that. we joined with them in the while environmental program. Again, Tulane has [done]great work and research [on] the environment. We had youngsters in the sciences who wanted to study the environment, who wanted to get involved in the environmental programs and the like. And so we created a research project and then we created a center, called the Center for Bioenvironmental Research. Now we have joint appointments of faculty from Tulane and Xavier.... We have a lab up on Tulane Avenue, which is across from the Medical Center, where we have offices for faculty and students.

And so here again, we expanded the opportunity for our young students to get a broader range of experiences than we could give on the research level as well as in the graduate programs.

How did the CAP partnership come about?

[Our collaborations] started with business [and] went to science, [so] it was a natural [by the time] we talked to then-HUD Secretary [Henry] Cisneros.... Mayor [Marc Morial] was talking to Cisneros about the housing authority. We [had] already started talking about how and what we [might] do in working with the projects -- and in particular, the C.J. Peete project. We were looking at a comprehensive approach. The value there, which again was a collaboration between the two universities, was [that] universities have a lot of people with different backgrounds and different skills to offer.

Heretofore, most housing authorities were providing a place for a resident to live and to sleep, so to speak. Our feelings were there ought to be a broader concept; there ought to be other services that are not being provided right on site. Some of those would be tutoring for the students, job placement, and the kinds of things that [act] as a catalytic agent [so] we could connect the residents with health services and social services. We took on the C.J. Peete project. So this CAP program was a natural transition for partnerships with Tulane.

How does the CAP partnership benefit Xavier as an institution? How does it benefit students?

Every school says in its mission that a part of what they want to do is to educate young students to be able to live the good life, earn a living, and to serve others. You don't always achieve that unless you are conscious about what opportunities you provide [for them] to serve others. Because [when] you think of going to college [you think you've] got to go to class, got to go to lab, got to do [your] homework, got to get through exams, and you wouldn't normally think, "Where is that opportunity and encouragement to give leadership?" You could say student government, to a degree, but student government is [only] one aspect.

The community is a larger arena. [It] gives a student an opportunity to work in what I call a measurable project that meets our commitment and our mission to develop leadership and service. So, we see the college experience at Xavier as not simply a classroom experience.

Many times, universities forget that ... they're citizens of a community. And just like any other citizen, they ought to be concerned about how that community grows, how it thrives, and what one can do in it.... We had youngsters volunteering in a lot of things, but this gave us a direct measurable opportunity to give students the experience of leadership and community service. And so it wasn't just, "Well, we're going to do something good for the people." We did a lot of good things for ourselves. It's a part of our total education.