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The academic experiences and social outcomes of Black males at a predominately White Christian university

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The academic experiences and social outcomes of Black males at a predominately White Christian university

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Content Running head: BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 1

THE ACADEMIC EXPERIENCES AND SOCIAL OUTCOMES OF BLACK MALES
AT A PREDOMINATELY WHITE CHRISTIAN UNIVERSITY

by
Edgar Dale Barron

A Dissertation Presented to the
FACULTY OF THE USC ROSSIER SCHOOL OF EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements of the Degree
DOCTOR OF EDUCATION

May 2016

Copyright 2016 Edgar Dale Barron

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 2

Table of Contents
Abstract 4

Chapter One: Overview of the Study 5

Background of the problem 7

Statement of the Problem 10

Purpose of the Study 11

Significance of the study 14

Research Questions 15

Limitations 16

Delimitations 17

Organization of Study 17

Chapter Two: Literature Review 18

The Black Male Experience in Higher Education 19

The PWI Experience 21

The HBCU Experience 25

Defining Stereotype Threat 26

Effects of Stereotype Threat 28

Racial Identity Development and the Role of Support Structures 31

Spiritual Formation as a Coping Mechanism for Black Males 36

Spiritual Formation and Persistence 42

Summary 46

Purpose of the Study 48

Research Questions 50

Chapter Three: Methodology 51

Sample and Population 52

Data Collection 53

Subjects 54

Data Analysis 54

Validation Strategies 56

Ethical Consideration 57

Participant Selection 57

The Role and Background of the Researcher 58

Chapter Four: Results 61

Participant Profiles 62

Table 1 Participants 62

Humble 62

Hollywood 63

Mature 64

Hoops 66

Thematic and Pattern Analysis 66

Thematic Finding: Culture Shock 68

Thematic Finding: Campus Climate 74

Summary

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 3

91

Chapter Five: Findings And Recommendations 92

Research Question One 92

Research Question Two 94

Research Question Three 96

Recommendations for Research 99

Recommendations for Practice 101

Conclusion 103

References 104

Appendix A: Interview Protocol 113

Appendix B: Information Sheet 117

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 4

Abstract
The purpose of this study is to explore the academic outcomes and social
experiences of black males undergraduate students at a predominately White Christian
university. A narrative inquiry approach will be used to in this qualitative study to collect
data from the participants. The study is designed to examine the perspectives of Black
males through the power of their stories and to understand the influence of spiritual
formation practices on their outcomes and experiences. The following research questions
guide this study:
1. How do Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian university
describe their academic experiences?
2. How do Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian university
perceive their campus climate relative to racism and racial discrimination?
3. What role does spiritual formation play in shaping the academic and social
experiences of Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian
university?
Six students voluntarily participated in in-depth interviews conducted on their
campus in a mutually agreed upon and secure location. A demographic profile of the
participants is provided in chapter four. Interview data are transcribed and
subsequently analyzed to facilitate the development of themes. The themes that
emerged are as follows: (1) Culture Shock, (2) Campus Climate, and (3) Spiritual
Formation. The themes are analyzed and the results discussed. A discussion of the
findings, along with recommendations for research and practice conclude the study.

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 5

CHAPTER ONE: OVERVIEW OF THE STUDY
The academic outcomes and social experiences of Black males, at all levels of
education, have been studied as much as any other segments of the academic population.
The educational challenges facing Black males are not limited to a specific geographic or
economic area or to specific institutions. Their academic outcomes and social
experiences tend to be consistent whether they are in homogeneous low socioeconomic
locations with low performing schools or in predominately White institutional spaces
(Cuyjet, 2008). In their early schooling experience, Black males are far more likely to be
referred to special education classes, be suspended and truant more often than any other
student group, and they drop out at a higher rate than their peers (Davis, 2003; Hucks,
2011). For the past three decades Black male enrollment and academic performance data
in higher education has remained relatively consistent among those that attend
predominately White institutions (U.S. Department of Education, 2012). Black males are
consistently at the bottom of the performance statistics when it comes to enrollment,
retention and graduation, and when compared to other groups Black males also have the
lowest cumulative grade point average.
Centuries of negative stereotyping of Black males in U.S. culture, in general, and
at predominately White institutions continues to influence how Black males adapt to
educational settings as well as how they are viewed by institutional agents (Steele, 1996;
Ogbu, 2003, Harper, 2009). They are too often seen as problems to be dealt with rather
than opportunities to be explored. It has only been recently that scholars like Shaun
Harper began to qualitatively examine the experiences of successful Black males at PWIs
and to reframe Black male achievement. Harper’s (2012) extensive study of 219
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 6

successful Black males at 43 different institutions shed much needed light and
understanding on some of the factors that lead to persistence and result in resiliency
among Black males and is helping institutions shift their focus from a deficit framework
characterized by disengagement and failure to an anti-deficit framework that goes beyond
attempts to discover why Black males are underachieving in college to examining what
causes their success (Bensimon & Dowd, 2015). For example, rather than ask why Black
males are so disengaged on campus, Harper (2012) suggest that the question be reframed
to ask, “what compels Black male to become involved in campus activity and engage in
student leadership”? Exploring what Harper (2009) calls counternarratives – stories told
from the anti-deficit framework – allows those professors, mentors, advisors and peers to
modify the frame through which they see Black males.
Among the wide range of predominately White colleges and universities in the
U.S. is a collection of Evangelical Christian schools that belong to the Council of
Christian Colleges and Universities. The CCCU is comprised of 181 comprehensive
colleges and institutions internationally and 121 in Northern America. All of the member
institutions are fully accredited and are academically focused on arts and sciences. The
mission of the CCCU is to advance the cause of Christ-centered higher education and to
help our institutions transform lives by faithfully relating scholarship and service to
biblical truth. The individual mission of all of the CCCU schools also emphasizes their
commitment to the spiritual development of their students, through a Christ-centered
academic experience, for a life of service beyond college. Spiritual development,
sometimes referred to as spiritual formation or integration is the biblical process adapted
by CCCUs to prepare students for service and leadership. Spiritual formation is defined
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 7

as the process of becoming conformed to the image of Christ, for the purpose of
fellowship with God and the community of believers. Whereas the vast majority of the
research of Black males has been conducted at non-faith based schools, including
Harper’s (2012) study, this study sought to better understand the influence of the spiritual
development process on the academic outcomes and social experiences of Black males at
a predominately White CCCU institution. In this study, the researcher is interested in
how spiritual development influences Black males academically and socially on a CCCU
campus.
Background of the problem
According to the Educational Trust (2012), Blacks students are graduating at
lower rates than White students. For example, the six-year graduation rate for Black
males is 50.7% compared to 74.2% for White males, and Black college graduation rates
are lowest among both sexes and all racial and ethnic groups in U.S. higher education
(Harper, 2006). At the community college level, Black male performance factors rank at
the bottom in almost every academic category. Woods and Turner (2010) report that
only 16% of Black males graduate from community college in three years, and their
mean grade point average of 2.65 ranks the lowest among all males in community
colleges.
Despite gains in employment and relative earnings immediately following
passage of the Civil Rights acts, the employment rate gap between Black and White men
with less that ten years of experience, and similar schooling increased nearly fifteen
percent from 1973 to 1987 (Bound & Freeman 1992). In addition, Holzer and Ofner,
(2002) state that employment among noninstitutionalized black men has declined
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 8

markedly with pronounced declines for the relatively less educated (p. 319). In assessing
the impact of college completion on occupational inequities between African American
and White males, Krymkowski & Mintz (2011) assert that between 1983 and 2002, the
occupational inequity gap between Black males and White males decreased slightly.
They point to education gains through college completion, leading to an increase in
earning ability, as one of the likely assignable causes for the increased equity. However,
the growth of Black male college enrollment and graduation continues to lag behind
White and Latino males (Harper, 2006; Strayhorn, 2010)
There are several reasons for concern if the historic trend of low academic
performance for Black males continues on its current trajectory. Perhaps the most
significant concern has to do with the projected impact on the national and global
economy. This is an important problem to address because by 2018, the United States
will require 22 million new college degrees. In addition, 63% of all jobs will require a
post-secondary degree (Carnevale, Smith & Strohl, 2010). These researchers go on to
argue that failure to increase recruitment, retention and graduation rates among Blacks, in
particular Black males, could threaten the nations ability to restore its status as first-in-
the-world in degree attainment while at the same time compound the nations ability to fill
new jobs requiring college degrees. Darling-Hammond (2006) asserts that the impact of
perpetual educational inequities experienced by students of color results not only in the
loss of opportunity and progress for individuals, but also for the nation.
Black males consistently under-perform at all levels of education in comparison
to White students, and they are subject to suspension, expulsion, dropouts, and referral to
special education with greater frequency than White students (Hucks, 2011). These
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 9

factors combine to reinforce the perceptions of Black male as problematic in the
academic setting, while perpetuating negative attitudes among institutional agents that
result in low expectations of Black males. Although the causes of chronic low academic
performance of Black males has been researched and debated for decades, the stigma of
the Black male student as detached, uneducable and violent continues to influence how
Black males view by their peers, as well as how they are viewed by teachers and
administrators (Strayhorn, 2008).
There are several factors believed to contributed to the academic
underachievement of Black males namely such as lack of emphasis on education in their
homes, low identity with the school environment, and lack of support systems and
programs during their early school experience (Steele, 1996). As prevalent as the data
are regarding the comparatively low education achievement of Black males, it is
important to keep in mind that all Black males are not the same. There is a great degree
of diversity among Black male, including family structures, economic and educational
background and physical features like skin tone that have historically made a difference
in how Black people have been treated by other races, Whites in particular (Harper &
Nichols, 2008). In light of the diversity that exist among Black males, the research
suggest that attention must be given to developing a variety of support systems and
programming, at all academic levels, that meet the various and sometime divergent needs
of Black male students (Lundberg & Schriener, 2004).
The research shows that it is an uphill climb for the Black male student to make it
out of K-12 and into college (Davis, 2003; Ford & Moore III, 2013). Of the 73.7% of
Black males that graduated from high school in 2000 only 33.8% went on to college.
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 10

Additionally, Black men make up only 4.3 percent of the total enrollment in four-year
colleges and universities (Palmer & Marimba, 2011). Of those that make it to college
and persist, the research shows that they have significant support from their peers,
families and their institutions (Davis, 1994; Wood & Turner, 2010). Institutional support
can take many forms including, peers, faculty and curricular and co-curricular programs.
These support systems can help Black males overcome barriers to academic performance
such as their low expectations by faculty, poor academic motivation, lack of autonomy
and friction with faculty (Bimper & Louis, 2012; Harper, 2009; Flowers, 2003).
Statement of the Problem
With the myriad of research regarding the academic outcomes and experiences of
Black males at predominately White schools, little has been done on Black males at
predominately White evangelical schools, particularly as it relates to the influence of the
process of spiritual formation. Studies involving Black males at Predominately White
institutions, as well as historically Black colleges and universities have determined that
spirituality is an important aspect of their lives and that they participate in spiritual
activities more that their White counterparts. The construct of spirituality can apply to a
wide variety of practices across any number of sects, denominations and organizations.
In this study, the researcher will examine the influence of spiritual formation through the
specific lens of evangelical Christianity practiced at an predominately White evangelical
school.
This study will seek to examine if the experiences of Black males at an
evangelical school that promote spiritual formation, are similar to or differ from those at
non-CCCU schools. This study will take place at an evangelical Christian university
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 11

located in the Western United States. One of the important biblical premises common to
evangelical Christian schools is the ascribed belief that all men are created equal, and that
all Christians are called by God to love each other. The evangelical Christian concept of
love, which appears in the Holy scriptures as the Greek word agape – meaning brotherly
love or charity – is best defined as the expression of compassion for others while treating
others as one would prefer to be treated (Ma, 2003; Rood, 2009). This kind of charitable
and selfless love is necessary for building community among Christians, is profitable for
promoting spiritual formation and well-being, and for strengthening Christian believers to
serve people the way that God calls them to (Welch & Milberg, 2008).
Of interest in this study are the perceptions of Black males at a predominately
White evangelical Christian university about the influence of spiritual formation on their
academic outcomes and social experiences, as well as how they believe they are
perceived by their peers and institutional agents. This study will draw on the theoretical
frames of Ma’s (2003) study of spiritual formation among college students as well as
Steele and Aronson’s (1995) insightful work on stereotype threat.
Purpose of the Study
The purpose of this study is to gain a better understanding of the academic
outcomes and social experiences of Black undergraduate males at a predominately White
evangelical Christian university by examining the influence of the evangelical Christian
process of spiritual formation. In addition to Ma’s (2003) definition of Spiritual
formation, the researcher will draw upon Willard’s (2000) conceptualization of the
evangelical form of spiritual formation in which Willard (2002) acknowledges is not
specific to evangelical Christianity. Spirituality and the formation of the inner self is
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 12

recognized by a number of religious and irreligious groups and individuals world wide,
but Willard (2000) makes the distinction regarding Christian spiritual formation by
stating that its orientation is explicitly towards obedience to Christ as expressed in the
Holy scriptures. Willard (2000) argues that spiritual formation is a theological and
psychological process of development in the life of a Christian by which she or he is
exposed to Christian truth and practice that effect the entire being and result in a personal
transformation into Christ-likeness. Although this transformation may be affirmed
outward works, these works are not the focus of the process of spiritual formation.
Nevertheless, Ma (2003) asserts that the spiritual formation yields outcomes in the life of
a Christian such as love and compassion towards others, devotion to doing good in
society and a commitment to the disciplines that define Christianity such as prayer,
fasting, worship, study and fellowship with other Christians.
The educational experiences of Black males have been well represented in the
literature by numerous studies conducted over the past three decades yet, despite the
decades of research on Black male achievement in college, their academic performance
related to retention and graduation has remained relatively static (Educational trust,
2013). These studies have address the chronic underrepresentation and low academic
performance of Black undergraduate males in a variety of institutional settings.
(Strayhorn, 2008; Strayhorn, 2010) However, there have been very few studies that have
examined the outcomes and experiences of Black males at predominately White
evangelical Christian universities, and that sought to understand the influence of the
spiritual formation process on those outcomes and experiences.
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 13

In reviewing the mission statements of Faith University, it is clear that the
statement acknowledges the reality of divers populations and credits God as creator of
such diversity. The mission contains statements that address a value for diversity and a
desire for their student body, faculty and staff to reflect the community in which they
they exist as well as the diversity in the world. Therefore, an assumption can be made that
these institutions place a degree of importance and priority on recruiting students of
color, and that they are making an intentional effort to increase the overall enrollment of
students of color. Smith (2015) would refer to this type reference to diversity in an
organizations mission statement as an accommodation. Such accommodations, according
to Smith (2015), are good starting points for building diversity efforts, but may lack the
strategy and capacity necessary to bring about institutional change.
This qualitative study of Black males at a predominately White evangelical
Christian university is important for several reasons. First, most evangelical Christian
universities place specific emphasis on spriritual intergration as a formal aspect of the
learning environment as evidenced by their promotion materials and websites. Spiritual
integration or formation is promoted at these institutions as an institutional distinctive
that sets them apart from public and other non-religeous private schools. This study will
explore how this distinctive is perceived by Black males relative to their academic and
social experiences of campus. Second, the concept of equality of creation is listed as a
core belief at Faith University. Again, their website refers to the belief that God created
and views all men equal and that the institution’s goal is to do the same. Therefore it is
important to explore the experiences of Black males, in the context of a predominately
White institution, in so much that it differs significantly from previous research domains.
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 14

Third, this study seeks to assist the reader in differentiating between the concepts of
equality and equity in evangelical Christian settings. In other words, this study will
examine the espoused belief of creational equality to determine if Black males believe it
is sufficient enough to bring about appreciable change in their outcomes. Finally, this
study will add to the body of Knowledge regarding the Black males that attend a
predominately White Christian University, which will assist institutional agents in the
development of processes for recruiting and serving Black males on their campuses. It
will also help Black males interpret and navigate the dissonance often encountered in
White institutional spaces that overtly claim to be warm and welcoming to all people.
Significance of the study
The challenges facing Black males in higher education are pervasive and require
analysis from a wide range of perspectives and experiences. This study will add to the
vast literature on the academic outcomes and social experiences of Black males in higher
education. This study is significant for a number of reasons. To begin with, Black male
underachievement in college carries with it a dire socio-economic consequence for Black
males, their families and the nation (Krymkowski, & Mintz, B 2011). More than ever, the
national and global economy will require workers with the knowledge and skills to
occupy 21
st
century jobs. More to the point, by 2020, an estimated 35 percent of job
openings will require at least a bachelor’s degree and 30 percent will require some
college or an associate’s degree (Carvnevale, Smith, & Strohl, 2010). Second, the
President of the United States, Barrack Obama, has set an aggressive degree attainment
goal that would once again position the nation as having the highest proportion of college
graduates in the world. The President’s goal is predicated in large part on increasing
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 15

access and affordability for all segments of the population, and although Black males
currently making up only 6% of college enrollment, a number proportionate to their
representation in the U.S. population, their degree attainment remains the lowest by
percentage among all other segments of the student population (Kim, E., & Hargrove, D.
T., 2013). Third, the low college completion rate for Black males means that they do not
fully participate in the college experience. Dropping out not only impacts Black males, it
also impacts their peers that risk experiencing college without the benefit of the diverse
perspectives that Black males bring to the learning environment (Hurtado, Dey, Gurin, &
Gurin, 2003). Finally, this study is significant because there has been very little research
done on the Black males at predominately White CCCUs in the U.S. By focusing on
CCCU schools and the construct of spiritual formation as it occurs at these schools, this
study will provide another lens through which to view this complex phenomenon.
Furthermore, this study could provide insight into the development of interventions,
programs and practices that can be implemented in non-CCCU school settings to improve
the academic outcomes of Black males on their campuses.
Research Questions
This study is designed to gain a better understanding of the academic and social
experiences of Black male undergraduate students in the context of predominately White
CCCUs, and how they perceive the influence of the spiritual formation process on their
outcomes and experiences. The study will be guided by the following research questions:
1. How do Black male undergraduate males at predominately White CCCUs
describe their academic experiences?
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 16

2. How do Black male undergraduate males at predominately White CCCUs
perceive their campus climate relative to racism and racial discrimination?
3. What role does spiritual formation play in shaping their academic experiences?
Limitations
This dissertation focuses on Black males attending CCCU schools and seeks to
better understand how the process of spiritual formation influences their academic
outcomes and social experiences. It is not intended to provide a basis for generalization,
as the sample size selected for this study is insufficient for that purpose. However, the
data collected as a part of this study will be valid, as the researcher will take great care to
record and report the interview data honestly and accurately. The qualitative
methodology chosen for this study is expected yield a deep and rich reflection of the
subject’s experiences and beliefs. However, the fact that the subjects will be aware of my
research, and perhaps that I have been involved in supporting Black male success at my
home institution must be considered as a potential limiting factor in that the subjects may
feel inclined to “tell me what they think I want to hear”. The researcher will attempt to
mitigate this limitation by selecting a socially and academically diverse group of subjects.
This selection process is discussed more in chapter three.
Subject interviews will be the only means of collecting data for this study since
what the researcher is looking to discover are perceptions and beliefs of the individual
subjects. This could also be a limiting factor since the researcher will not be utilizing
other strategies, such as observation or document review, which could triangulate the
findings.

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 17

Delimitations
The delimitations of this study pertain to the data collection strategy selected for
this study. Data collection is limited to Black undergraduate males from the selected
CCCU campuses in the Los Angeles area. The sampling strategy for this study is
purposive and convenience.
Organization of Study
This dissertation will be divided into five chapters and an appendix section. The
first chapter will provide an overview of the study followed by the background of the
problem, statement of the problem, purpose of the study, significance of the problem,
research questions, limitations, delimitations and organization of the study. Chapter two
consists of a comprehensive review of the literature. The third chapter provides a
description of the methodology that will be used, the population that will be studied and
how they will be selected, how data will be collected, how it will be analyzed, strategies
used to increase the validity and reliability of the study, potential ethical concerns and the
role and background of the researcher. Chapter four will present the results of the subject
interviews. In this chapter the themes from the transcribed interviews will be described
in detail in an attempt to accurately and adequately reflect the voices of the subjects.
Along with the themes actual quotes from the subjects will be incorporated. In chapter
five, the results of the study will be provided including thick rich descriptions collected
for the subjects. This section will also discuss limitations of this study as well as
implications for future studies.

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 18

CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW
This review of literature is focused on understanding the academic success of
Black male undergraduates at a predominately White Christian institution that belongs to
the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). For the purpose of this
review academic outcomes are defined in terms of persistence and retention, which is
why the student population selected for the study were seniors. To ensure a thorough
analysis of the academic outcomes for Black males across higher education, this review
will also examine their outcomes and experiences at non-Christian predominately White
institutions (PWI) as well as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU)
This review is organized into three sections. The first section will provide a look
into the experiences and outcomes of Black males across the spectrum of higher
education and then specifically at their experiences and outcomes at PWIs and HBCUs.
The second section is devoted to exploring studies that focus on some of the causal
factors, such as stereotype threat, lack of support structures and campus climate, that
contribute to the well-chronicled challenges that Black male face in the U.S. education
system. This review will also identify and critique proposed interventions for increasing
their academic success. The third section presents literature in the area of the spirituality
and spiritual formation among Black undergraduate males. Since religion and spirituality
are relatively new areas of interest on non-religious campuses (Cuyjet, 2006) the focus in
this section will be centered on studies conducted at CCCU schools. This section will
also highlight the need for further research regarding the impact of spirituality on the
academic outcomes for Black males at CCCU schools.

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 19

The Black Male Experience in Higher Education
The challenges facing Black males in college are well documented. For the past
several decades the dominant narrative used to describe the academic landscape for Black
males in higher education has been marked by under-achievement and failure (Davis,
2003, Jackson & Moore III, 2006). This prevailing view of inferiority has been
reinforced in the lives of Black males in virtually every aspect of their lives, including the
way they are viewed and treated in the classroom (Woodson, 1933). The literature is
replete with studies designed to provide insight into some of the causal factors
contributing to the under achievement and underrepresentation of Black males in higher
education (Palmer & Maramba, 2011). Despite the significant amount of research
focused on systemic, institutional and socio-economic causes, the achievement gap
between Black males and every other college student population continues to remain
significant (Darling-Hammond, 2007). The academic experience of Black males
continues to be characterized by under preparedness, low enrollment, abysmal retention
and poor graduation rates (Hucks, 2011)
The research shows that it is an uphill climb for the Black male student to make it
out of K-12 and into college (Davis, 2003; Ford & Moore III, 2013). Of the 73.7% of
Black males that graduated from high school in 2000 only 33.8% went on to college.
Black males consistently under-perform at all levels of education in comparison to White
students, and they are subject to suspension, expulsion, dropouts, and referral to special
education with greater frequency than White students (Hucks, 2011). The chronic low
academic performance of Black males has been researched and debated for decades, but
the stigma of the Black male student as detached, uneducable and violent continues to
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 20

influence how they view themselves as well as how they are viewed by their teachers and
administrators. Additionally, Black men make only up 4.3 percent of the total enrollment
in four-year colleges and universities – the lowest enrollment of any race gender (Palmer
& Marimba, 2011).
According to the department of education (1997), Black women out number
Black males in college 971,000 to 580,000, a percentage split of 62.6 women to 37.6
percent men. The percentages for Black male enrollment remained virtually flat from
1984 when there were 59.4 percent women in college compared to 37.4 (Roach, 2001).
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, Black males’ event dropout
rate is twice that of white males. The event drop out rate measures dropouts that occur
from the beginning of one school year to the beginning of the next. The NCES also
provides drop out data relative to the income status of students. They report that the
event drop out rate for students from low-income families is five-times higher that than
their peers from high-income families.
Toutkousian and Curtis (2005) posit that the effects of low socioeconomic factors
are far reaching and tend to impact students of color in a disproportionate manner. They
state that schools in low SES neighborhoods not only have lower test scores, but they also
have higher truancy and dropout rates. Other effects associated with low SES schools
and neighborhoods are high absenteeism, high teacher turnover, low family support and
low student expectations (Ford & Moore, 2013). Furthermore, low social economic
schools tend to have more minority students than high SES schools (Toutkousian &
Curtis, 2005). Families that have the economic ability can choose to move into
neighborhoods with high performing schools, while low-income families are locked into
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 21

poorer neighborhoods with beleaguered schools that are plagued by chronic
underperformance (Holme, 2002). Students often emerge from these schools not only
lacking academic preparation, but they also lack the social skills necessary to navigate
complex environment of college (Davis, 2003; Ford & Moore III, 2013). The result of
being academically and socially underprepared, especially for Black males, is that they
tend to disengage academically and have difficulty building positive relationships with
peers and faculty necessary for academic and social success (Palmer & Maramba, 2011).
However, Dowd and Bensimon (2015) argue that there is a danger in placing too
much significance on factors like family income or other socio-economic measures.
They suggest that doing so can mistakenly places the locus of responsibility for change
on the student, which by way of implication can exonerate the institution and its agents
from the need to critically examine any policies and practices that may be contributing to
the low academic outcomes of Black males. Additionally, Davis (2003) argues that the
early schooling experiences (grades K-3) for black male students are critical predictors of
their academic success. Davis concludes that interventions like head start, early start and
healthy start that are deliberately focused on Black boys can have a significant affect on
their academic trajectory. These types of programs help Black boys develop positive
identities at schools and at home and, can counteract the stereotypes that fuel the negative
views of Black masculine behavior (Steel, 1996). Unfortunately, such programs are
seldom available in low socioeconomic neighborhoods (Toutkousian & Curtis, 2005).
The PWI Experience
Perhaps the most studied aspect of the Black male academic experiences has
taken place in the context of predominately White institutions (PWI). A PWI is a college
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 22

or university with an enrollment of greater than fifty-percent White and they are
sometimes referred to as historically White institutions in recognition of the exclusion of
students of color prior to 1964 (Brown & Elon, 2010). Since 1964, college enrollment
numbers for students from traditionally underrepresented racial groups has seen a
significant increase (NCES). Rankin and Reason (2005) reported that the number of
students of color on college campuses, many of them PWIs, increased by 61% between
1984 and 1994, compared to 5% increase for White students during the same time period.
Consistent with the NCES forecast, the Educational Testing Service reported that by
2015 African Americans, Hispanics, Asian/Pacific Islanders, or American Indians would
make up 80% of the 2.6 million new college students to enroll in U.S. institutions.
Although this news is generally positive from an enrollment standpoint, Gurin et al
(2002) warn that structural diversity, though necessary, can create challenges for the
institution if they fail to focus on developing campus resources and a positive campus
climate required to support students of color succeed, particularly Black males.
Students of color, in particular Black males, tend to experience racism and racial
discrimination more frequently than any other group (Kim & Hargrove, D, 2013).
Research shows that systems and structures present in White institutional spaces can
support and reify by their very design. Kim & Hargrove’s (2013) work on critical race
theory (CRT) provides insights into the ways in which racism can be embedded into the
political fabric of an institution. Critical race theory consists of at three basic tenets that
aid in the interpretation and identification of racialized elements of policy and practice.
The first tenet stresses that racism is not an aberration but, is in fact “normal science” in
terms of the way society operates. Furthermore, , racism is in fact a part of the everyday
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 23

experiences of people of color in predominately White spaces. Thus, this first tenet of
CRT provides a strong argument against the notion of racism as an interpersonal dynamic
that can be moderated through simple forms of relationship building and reconciliation.
The second tenet deals with the social ascendancy of whiteness as normal and
superior to color thus making racism difficult to cure. An additional aspect of the second
tenet introduces the concept of interest convergence or material determinism. This
concept is used to describe the motivation of those that benefit from racism i.e., White
elites as well as White working-class, to participate in the construction of remedies to
lessen the effects of racism. In short, there must exist an identifiable gain for both Whites
and for people of color. A common example of interest convergence would be the
landmark case of Brown v. Board of Education. Whereas people of color gained access
to education in White spaces, White folks were able to salvage its waning image among
the international communities as a result of oppressive domestic human rights policies.
The third tenet of CRT is referred to as the social construction thesis. This tenet
holds that race and races are a product of social thought and not a result of inferiority or
superiority stemming from an individual’s ethnic origin, skin color or other physical
traits. The social construction of race and races is not authored by people of color but
rather by the dominant White culture that continually ignores the overwhelming scientific
data that concludes that there is far more commonality among races than there is
difference. Finally, there is a somewhat more recent development in the realm of social
construction is the idea of differential racialization, which refers to ways in which the
dominant society radicalizes the various minority groups at different times in history
based on shifting market needs. For example, at one point in U.S. history Japanese of
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 24

agricultural workers were a much need part of the labor market, but a another time they
were seen as a threat to national security and interned in war relocation camps.
Of all of the minority groups that make up the increasing enrollment numbers
across higher education, Black males continue to make up the lowest undergraduate
population in the U.S. at less than 6% (U.S. Department of Education, 2012), and
although there have been modest increases in enrollment for Black males it has not
translated to increases in degree attainment for Black males (Strayhorn, 2008).
Furthermore, the Black male enrollment increases tend to be concentrated within
HBCU’s and open access institutions such as community colleges and for-profit colleges
and universities (Kim & Hargrove, 2013).
From an experiential standpoint, Black males report significantly higher incidents
of discrimination based on race, as well as feeling of social-disconnectedness leading to
lower persistence and higher drop-out rates than any race or gender (Davis, 1999). Ogbu
and Simons’ (1998) research into how minority students from immigrant cultures respond
to education sheds light on why Black males have shown a tendency to develop an
oppositional response to education. They argue the importance of understanding the
circumstances that lead to a group or culture immigrating to the U.S. and whether the
circumstances were voluntary of involuntary in nature. For Blacks, the circumstances
were involuntary, which according to Ogbu and Simmons (1998) explains the historically
poor treatment of Black students in education as well as their response to the way in
which they experience education.

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 25

The HBCU Experience
Although there has been increased research into the academic experiences of
Black males on college campuses over the past three decades there has been little
research done on their experiences at HBCUs with much of the focus being on the issues
they face at predominately White institutions (Kimbrough & Harper, 2006). HBCUs
continue to play a key role in the education of Black males because they provide
increased access and affordability to students that might have difficulty qualifying for
state or private institutions. However, HBCUs continue to face difficulty in attracting
and retaining Black males (Kimbrough & Harper, 2006). According to Flowers (2003),
prior to the Brown v. Board of education ruling, over 90 percent of Black Americans
attended traditionally Black schools. By 2001 HBCUs enrolled only 17.2 percent of
Black students in the U.S. (NCES, 2003). Of this number, female students outnumbered
males by more than 50 percent, and males earned only 33 percent of the degrees awarded
to African Americans at HBCUs (NCES, 2013). One of the major contributing factors to
the low degree attainment numbers for Black men at HBCUs is their alarmingly high
attrition rate (Kimbrough & Harper, 2006). According to the Mortenson (2002), the
retention rate for Black males at HBCUs was less that 33 percent as compared to 60% for
their Black female counterparts and 58 percent for White males. Kimbrough & Harper,
(2006) note that these percentages are fairly comparable to continuation and graduation
trends of African American’s across higher education.
Harper (2001) and Strayhorn (2008) offer insights into why Black male academic
outcomes at HBCUs tend to track with their counterparts at PWIs. Although the campus
climate and support structures at HBCUs may be conducive to cultivating a positive
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 26

learning environment and a strong sense of community belonging, Harper (2001) and
Strayhorn (2008) found that Black males at HBCUs were just as unprepared for the rigor
of college as their counterparts at PWIs. Their conclusions support the findings cited in
Toutkousian, & Curtis’ (2005) study on the effects of socioeconomics on academic
outcomes. In this study, Toutkousian & Curtis’ (2005) found a direct correlation between
household income and educational achievement of parents and the academic outcomes of
their children. In essence, students from low economic and educational backgrounds had
lower grade point averages and test scores than students from higher socioeconomic
status families (SES).
This is not to say that all Black males, or people of color in general are from low
SES background, but HBCUs have traditionally been a popular option for Black males
because of their affordability and flexible admissions standards (Flowers, 2003).
However, Toutkousian & Curtis’ (2005) study failed to account for other salient factors
that could contribute to under preparedness. Davis (2003) adds that intermediate and
secondary schools with high minority student populations are riddle with challenges
ranging from being underfunded to high teacher turnover caused by low wages and
insufficient training and support. In the end, students from these schools are likely to be
less prepared to meet the demands of college than students from that have more
resources, well-trained teachers and administrative support (Holmes, 2002).
Defining Stereotype Threat
This section of the literature review will explore the concept of stereotype threat
and how it may affect Black males academic and intellectual performance, particularly at
PWIs. Unintelligible, uneducable, and disengaged are terms often used to describe Black
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 27

males in an academic setting. Regardless of the amount of success they achieve in the
academe, they are still associated with this prevailing stereotype (Harper, 2009). Because
this narrative is reinforced throughout the life experience of the Black male, they are
likely to buy-in to these popular notions and begin behaving in ways that seem to
reinforce the stereotypes, a phenomenon called internalized racism (Strayhorn, 2008). In
addition to the way they are perceived in academic settings, these stereotypical views of
Black males is also played out in popular media. Palmer and Maramba (2011) argue that
the media acts as a hidden curriculum that exist outside of the classroom and is teaching
young Black men, along with institutional agents, a not so subtle message about what it
means to be a Black male, thus reinforcing the barriers to academic success.
In addition to the social effects stereotyping has on Black men, Steele and
Aronson (1995) argue that stereotyping creates a constant threat for Black students in
academic settings. Steele (1997) posits that stereotypical views based on gender,
specifically female, and race can have a profound affect on intellectual performance for
women and minorities. He calls this phenomena stereotype threat. Simply put,
stereotype threat is when an individual senses a risk of conforming to a widely known
stereotype related their group. Steele (1997) argues that whenever Black males are asked
to perform an academic task that that they perceive requires a high level of intellectual
functioning, they face the threat of conforming to what they believe others think the
group to which they belong e.g., that they are unintelligent or incapable. Steele and
Aronson (1995) argue that stereotype threat can interfere with intellectual functioning
and can have a negative effect on standardized test taking and other academic activities
that are required for admission to college.
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 28

However, critiques of Steele and Aronson’s (1995) stereotype threat theory have
begun to emerge regarding the validity of stereotype threat in non-laboratory
environments, and whether distinctions can and should be made between a perceived
threat and experienced discrimination as causal factors of intellectual underperformance
by students of color. Sackett, Hardison and Cullen (2004), argue that the claims made by
Steele and Aronson (1995) are to far reaching in their explanation of academic
underperformance among stereotyped minority groups. They suggest that stereotype
threat alone is insufficient in explaining the persistent performance gap between White
students and students of color. A later study by Cullen, Walters and Sackett (2006) found
that the effects of stereotype threat were most prevalent when conducted in a laboratory
setting when minority and gender status were made salient. Additionally, Cullen,
Walters and Sackett (2006) argue that informing the stereotyped group that the test they
were about to take did not contain any gender or racial bias could mitigate stereotype
threat. In these cases the test results for women were higher than those of women that
took test without receiving the same disclosure of information. Despite the studies
proceeding Steel and Aronson’s (1995) research into stereotype threat theory, there
remains a significant amount of credibility regarding the theory’s validity in explaining
the persistent performance gap between minoritized groups and non-minoritized groups
(Good, Aronson and Harder, 2008)
Effects of Stereotype Threat
It is important to understand the effects of stereotype threat if educational
institutions and their agents are to develop interventions that actually reduce the
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 29

achievement gap for Black males. Therefore, this section of the literature review will
shed light on some of the ways that stereotype threat impacts Black males at PWIs.
For decades, Black males have been battling the negative affects of the social
construction of their ethnic identity and their masculinity. The stereotypical view of
Black men as aggressive and violent has resulted in a sense of inferiority on the part of
Black men and has made it difficult to integrate successfully into academic settings
(Harper, 2009). Even if these stereotypes are inaccurate they are still capable of creating
real barriers to the success of Black males related to their academic performance (Steele,
1995). Steel (1997) notes that anxiety grows when individuals perceive that they are
about to be the target of prejudice or stereotyping. For example, if Black boys are told
that they are not good at math they will not perform well on the math portion of a
standard test. The resulting anxiety reduces their cognitive ability and results in poorer
academic performance than White students that do not face the same threat (Steele &
Aronson, 1995). Although stereotype threat is not specific to Black males, some of the
most widely accepted negative stereotypes in American society are associated with Black
males (Harper, 2009). However, there are some Black college students that are aware of
“the threat”. They say that they try to use the negative stereotype that others have of them
as motivation to persist in accomplishing their goal to graduate from college (Bimper &
Harrison, 2012; Flowers, 2003; Strayhorn, 2008). At the same time, Black males also
admit that the burden of fighting against how they are perceived on campus takes a
considerable amount of energy and effort and has a negative effect on their overall
college experience (Harper, 2009; Lundberg & Schreiner 2004; Strayhorn, 2008).
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 30

One of the weaknesses of stereotype threat in explaining the underachievement of
Black males is the assumption that all Black males are the same, and that the effects of
stereotype threat can be attributed somewhat equally to every member of the group
(Harper, 2009 & Nichols, 2008). As with every group, Black males are a diverse
population representing the entire socioeconomic and experiential spectrum (Harper,
2006; Hucks, 2011). Unfortunately, much of the research on Black males tends to view
them as a homogeneous group Harper (Harper, 2009 & Nichols, 2008). This kind of
research approach unwittingly reinforces the socio-historic narrative used to negatively
define Black males thus impeding the discovery of equity-based interventions capable of
producing positive changes in the academic outcomes of Black males in college (Harper
& Nichols, 2008; Strayhorn 2004).
When Black males internalize the stereotypes often associated with them it has
proven to have a negative impact on their relationships with other Black males (Harper,
2009). In his research on the use of the word nigger, and how it has been widely used to
define black males, Harper (2009) argues that the social, educational, economic and
political identities of Black males have been socially constructed, in part, by the use of
this pejorative over the past two centuries – what Harper (2009) calls the nigger
framework. Overcoming the nigger framework has proven to be a formidable
undertaking for Black males in college, but learning from those that have can provide
critical insights into reversing the negative image of Black males and improving their
academic outcomes. (Fries-Britt, 1998; Harper, 2009; Palmer & Marimba, 2011). In the
upcoming section on spiritual formation the researcher will examine the how spiritual
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 31

formation can mitigate the influence of negative stereotypes by supporting the
development of a positive self-image.
Racial Identity Development and the Role of Support Structures
Critical to the success in college is a student’s sense of self and social belonging
that results from the process of racial identity development. Cross (1995) defines racial
identity as an individual set of characteristics shared with other members of the same
race, gender or ethnicity, and the cultural traditions that connect groups of people. In this
section of the review of literature the researcher will examine how the concepts of
support from family, peers and institutional forms along with the development of racial
identity inform persistence leading to graduation.
Spurgeon and Myers (2010) conducted a study of 400 black male undergraduate
students, using Cross’ (1995) Black identity development model, to determine the impact
of racial identity development on college success. The study defined success as students
reaching their junior or senior years, which considered them to be highly likely to
graduate from college. Of the 400 students, 200 were from HBCUs and 200 were from
PWIs. The study found that Black males at HBCU experienced greater support in their
identity development and less anxiety associated with fitting in to the social climate than
Blacks at PWIs. The study also showed that Blacks at PWI were more prone to exhibit
behaviors consistent with what Billson (1993) refers to as cool pose, which is a strategy
adopted by Black males to cope with and make sense of environments that they perceive
to be outside of their cultural norms. Research shows that Black males often resist being
seen as smart because to them being smart is tantamount to acting white (Ogbu, 1994).
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 32

Black males may even reinforce their Black identity by adopting a cool pose, in which
they choose to act in ways that reify their black identity (Fries-Britt, 1998).
What the Spurgeon and Myers (2010) study fails to clarify is the socio-economic
and racial backgrounds of the study’s participants. The researches seem to make the
assumption of homogeneity among Black males. Darling-Hammond (2007) argues that
access to quality educational resources at the preparatory level is highly based on socio-
economic factors such as family income and parent’s school level, yet the study did not
collect that level of data from the participants. In addition, the study does not account for
bi-racial and multi-racial males that choose identify as Black. Although the study
concluded that racial identity development does influence college success in so much that
it makes a difference in how campus climate is perceived, it is limited in terms of
generalization because on the exclusion of the factors mentioned above.
Support by other Black male undergraduates is also important to persistence
because it helps to diffuse negative stereotypes and, it provides a sense of belonging that
is critical to persistence (Harper & Nichols 2008; Lundberg & Schreiner 2004). Having
other Black males as support can help in dealing with the conflict that can be caused by
being Black and smart (Harper, 2006). Harper (2006) found that building relationships
with Black male peers and faculty has shown to promote healthy identity development
and increase academic performance among low achieving Black males over an extended
period of time. This finding is more prevalent at PWIs than it is at HBCU (Flowers,
2003). This type of interaction among Black males could also lead to forming positive
relationship that overtime can provide much needed positive images of educated Black
males (Hucks, 2011; Mandara, 2006).
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 33

Peer support is also an important factor that affects the overall college experience
of Black males. Lundberg and Schreiner (2004) assert that grades are not the only
indicator of the academic experience. In fact, they argue that the quality of the overall
experience of a student is a significant predictive factor on whether or not students persist
in higher education. Lundberg and Schreiner (2004) go on to assert that being socially
connected is not only important for persistence but, also for developing a healthy self
image and sense of efficacy. Strayhorn (2008) argues that one of the main reason student
of color do not persist at PWIs is that they do not feel like they fit in. They are plagued
by a continuing sense of alienation, marginalization and disconnectedness that eventually
leads to an erosion of self-efficacy. On the other hand, Spurgeon and Myers (2010) posit
that Black males at HBCUs experience a warmer campus climate because of the presence
of other Black males on their campus. However, the presence of a positive campus alone
is not sufficient enough to influence a change in the academic success of males at
HBCUs.
Social belonging among Black males is particularly salient at PWIs because of the
chronic low enrollment of Black males at these institutions. The fact the Black male
college enrollment at continues to be less that five percent (NCES, 2013) creates a
challenge when it comes to building community among Black males. Not only is there a
limited likelihood that Black males will connect on campus due to their low numbers, it
can not be assumed that they will have similar academic or social interest (Cuyjet, 2006).
Harper (2007) argues that it is a mistake to assume that all Black males are alike and that
they have the same or similar social, economic and educational background. He posits
that such generalizations can lead to poorly conceived and ineffective interventions that
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 34

have little to no effect on improving the academic outcomes for Black males. However,
Bimper and Louis’ (2012) research in the area of Black male athletes notes that the sense
of community created by athletic teams is one of the factors leading to persistence and
graduation for Black males. Although athletes may fall victim to being stereotyped as
“dumb jocks” they often have higher retention and graduation rates than their none
athletic peers. Whether it is as a part of an athletic team, a campus organization or a
formalized network peer-to-peer relationship with other Black males, social
connectedness among Black males with similar interest has proven beneficial towards
improving retention, graduation and overall academic performance (Bimper & Louis
2012; Harper, 2006).
Families of origin as a means of support. Whereas the Black male’s family of
origin can have a negative impact on their academic performance because of the lack of
parental educational accomplishments and other factors related to low socioeconomic
factors family support salient factor academic success, families are also an important
source of inspiration regarding education. (Toutkousian & Curtis, 2005). Dating back to
the emancipation proclamation, education has been an important part of the Black family
(Palmer & Marimba, 2011). Education continues to be seen as the best means to change
the socioeconomic status of the black family (Bound & Freeman, 1992; Carnevale, Smith
& Strohl, 2010). The research shows that the family plays a significant role of shaping
the beliefs, value and perception of education (Hucks, 2011; Mandara, 2006). This is
important to note because over the course of a Black males educational experience most
of his teachers are likely to be white females that have not been equipped to encourage
and challenge them in their academic and identity development (Harper, 2009).
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 35

One of the factors that require consideration is the difference in the families of
origin of Black males (Harper, 2006; Mandara, 2006). The constitution of the home in
which Black males are raised can vary greatly, and so can the disciplinary measures used
to correct behavior (Ford & Moore III, 2013; Hucks 2011; Mandara, 2006). Research has
shown that Black males that come from homes where disciplinary measures used by their
parents or authority figure was consistent, caring and rigorous showed better educational
outcomes than Black males from less disciplined homes (Davis 2003; Mandara, 2006).
The researchers noted that Black parents were less likely to administer consistent
authoritative discipline, such as spanking and the removal of privileges (Davis 2003;
Mandara, 2006) and as a result Black boys may have a more difficult time connecting
real consequences to their behavior (Mandara, 2006). It is also important to note that
discipline, although necessary, must not be excessive and must always be administered
with care and with an eye towards helping the child develop an appropriate sense of self
and of the world around them (Davis 2003; Mandara, 2006). Finally, spanking is by no
means a final solution for improving the academic performance of Black males - it is just
one part of a greater strategy (Davis 2003; Mandara, 2006). However, there is merit to
the old dictum often used in Black homes and that says, “discipline your boys, or the
police will”. Mandara (2006) refers to the type of discipline discussed earlier as being
somewhat specific to the Black experience and noted that some of the disciplinary
methods may be viewed as harsh by some other cultures.
Faculty as a means of support. The research is virtually unanimous when it
comes to the important role that faculty play in supporting students on college campuses.
Not only is faculty support related to increased retention and graduation, their support is
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 36

also connected to improving learning outcomes (Bimper & Harrison, 2012; Lundberg &
Schriener, 2004; Strayhorn, 2008). When it comes to Black males’ interactions with
faculty, they have a greater affinity with Black faculty and feel more comfortable
disclosing personal information with them. It is believed that Black male students have a
greater sense of shared life experience with Black male faculty that will lead to a better
understanding of the experiences that Black male students have navigating college
(Flowers, 2003). Unfortunately, the low number of Black males in higher education has
translated in to a low number of Black faculty in higher education. Only four percent of
professors and associate professors in higher education are Black (Allen, Epps, Guillory,
Suh, & Bonous-Hammarth, 2000).
Spiritual Formation as a Coping Mechanism for Black Males
Up to this point in this review the research has uncovered only slight differences
in the academic outcomes and social experiences of Black males at HBCUs and non-
Christian PWIs. In this section of the literature review the researcher will examine the
construct of spiritual formation and its influence of persistence and graduation at a
predominately White Christian school - a construct that is unique to this type of
institution. The goal will be to determine if the literature points to discernable
differences in the academic and social experiences of Black males at these types of
institutions that can be associated with spiritual formation.
For the purpose of this literature review the researcher will use Ma’s (2003)
definition of spiritual formation:
Spiritual formation is defined as the process of becoming conformed to the image
of Christ, for the purpose of fellowship with God and the community of believers.
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 37

The process involves a personal relationship with God the Father, through a
person’s dynamic faith and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, and the
regeneration of the Holy Spirit. The process involves all aspects of a person:
heart, mind and spirit and develops mature Christian character in a Christian
believer over the course of a lifetime. Spiritual formation involves integrative and
restorative growth in relationships; namely, relationships with God, others and
ourselves. Mature Christian character involves integration and growth in all
aspects of human development; the cognitive, affective, volitional, and spiritual
domains. Spiritual disciplines played an essential role in the process.
Schreiner (2000) first introduced the concept of spiritual integration as a way to better
understand persistence and attrition at a predominately White Christian school. Schreiner
defines spiritual integration, or spiritual fit, as the following:
• Students feel comfortable with the levels of spirituality on campus;
• They are growing spiritually and attribute that growth to their campus experience
• They are satisfied with the ministry opportunities available to them;
• They find the support they need on campus when they are struggling with
questions and doubt;
• They are critically challenge to examine their faith and values, within the context
of supportive relationships;
• They feel comfortable talking to faculty and staff about faith issues;
• They understanding of God is being strengthened by experiences they are having
in the classroom and elsewhere on campus, and;
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 38

• They are connecting ways of “knowing” and “doing” – connecting their
knowledge of God with a lifestyle congruent with that knowledge
Although Schreiner’s notion of spiritual integration is not the same as spiritual formation
it does provide a roadmap that helps understand the process of spiritual formation as
defined by Ma (2003).
In addition to the various ways mentioned in this review that Black males feel
supported, they also seek support through their affiliation with a local church. Religion
and spirituality are often used to cope with the stress and emotional duress brought on by
having to constantly navigate the dominant culture at PWIs (Herndon, 2003; Dancy,
2010). However, spirituality and religion are not typically part of the curricular or co-
curricular offerings at secular institutions thus requiring Black males that desire this
support to look elsewhere to find it (Ma 2003).
Dancy (2010) uses the working definition of spirituality as an individual’s belief in
the supernatural dominion, and the continual search for purpose in God’s will for their
life. Religion is defined as the organized way in which a person can pursue deeper
spiritual understanding in community with other like-mined people. Spirituality and
religious community provide support for Black males in a variety of ways. Where there
is often a lack of Black male role models on campus, Black males can find mentoring and
direction from Black males in their church (Dancy, 2010). Pastoral leaders in the church
not only provide spiritual direction, but serve as life coaches and mentors to Black males.
There is also a sense of responsibility among Black males of representing the people
and community that you are from, including the church, that often provides motivation
for succeeding in college. Herndon (2003) argues the importance of Black males finding
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 39

opportunities to express their religious beliefs. Herndon found that Black males report
higher levels of spirituality and religiosity than White males at PWIs. He goes on to
suggest that the more Black males have the opportunity to practice their religious beliefs
and form strong spiritual ties the more they experience the sense of belonging that
Shriner (2000) argues is critical to academic success.
Whereas most African Americans embrace spiritual values (Herndon, 2003) not
all Black males in college have access to a local community of worship either due to
being out of state, not having adequate transportation to get to services during the week,
or the weekend, or because of the demands of coursework. Nevertheless, the research
suggests that spirituality is a critical aspect of Black male achievement at PWI’s, which
would include predominately White Christian schools. Herndon (2003) posits that
spirituality is used to help maintain Black male’s focus on their goal of graduating on
college. This point is captured in the response of one of the study’s participants that
stated:
It is very frustrating attending school at a predominantly White college. However,
I constantly remind myself that I cannot and will not allow myself to be defeated
by the obstacles that have been placed before me. My spirit helps me to stay
strong and never give up. My spirit also tells me that, once I give up, I am
defeated. If I allow this to happen, I am of no use to anyone.
Not only is spirituality used as a coping and persistence mechanism by Black males, it is
also a salient factor in the identity development process. Black males are often
categorically defined as underachieving, less academically capable and unintelligent
(Harper, 2009; Parker and Maramba, 2010) however, Dancy (2010) suggest that as the
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 40

spiritual identity develops it may become more salient, to the individual, than their ethnic
identity. This is not to suggest that they have a diminished regard for their ethnic
identity, but that the emergence of a spiritual identity may lead to a more holistic identity
that falls under the master category of spirituality, or Christian. Harper (2009) uses the
pejorative term niggered to describe the auto-attribution of negative identity traits to
Black men. He admits to being niggered in grade school and goes on to describes the
effect it had on how he viewed himself. In so much that these attributions emanate from
external sources like media pop culture and pedagogy (Parker and Maramba, 2010).
Steele (1997) posits that educators have the responsibility of adapting curriculum and
their approach to teach and learning in ways that consider the valid threat that results
from engrained stereotypes.
One of the recommended adaptations that predominately White Christian
institutions can make is to consider the salience of spirituality as a means of developing a
strong positive self-image and identity. Since this occurs as a matter of commitment to
the mission of a predominately White Christian school it is reasonable to expect to see
differences in the academic and social outcomes of Black males than at non Christian
schools. However, there has not been much empirical research conducted in this area.
Lundberg and Schreiner’s (2004) research in the area of holistic student success, a
construct they refer to as thriving, shows that students of color at Christian schools have a
significantly lower thriving quotient (TQ) than White students that attend the same
schools, and that Black students have the lowest TQ among all students and both genders.
Nevertheless, the pursuit of spiritual formation at both Christian schools and non-
Christian schools has been proven to be effective in making meaning of divergent
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 41

political and socio-cultural constructs, and in helping Black males develop a worldview
that enhances their ability to persist in school (Harper, 2007, Strayhorn, 2008 and Fries-
Britt 1998). Furthermore, Spiritual formation results in increased efficacy and agency,
which allows Black male students to take greater risk and pursue a broader array of
opportunities, including selecting courses of study and majors typically associated with
their White counterparts (Herndon, 2003). In light of the promising data regarding the
salience of spiritual formation, questions remain related to the chronic low enrollment,
retention and graduation rates of Black males at predominately White Christian schools.
Palmer and Maramba (2010) argue that issues of culture, power hegemony are
indicative of the ways in which the dominant culture can continue to oppress and
subjugate minoritized groups. They posit the hegemonic pedagogy is a passive means of
reifying assimilation, thus making it difficult, if not impossible for Black males to
develop a healthy sense of their identity. They go even further by challenging educators
to adopt a Freirian approach (named for Brazilian philosopher Paulo Freire) of teaching
that places more emphasis on asking questions than on answering them. This
pedagogical approach aligns with Dancy’s (2010) assertion that notions of curiosity and
discovery are natural by-products of the pursuit of one’s spiritual development and that
they contribute to the identity development process in positive ways.
The presence of stereotype threat (Steele & Aronson, 1995) and the stress that
accompanies it (Herndon, 2003) can be addressed, and to some degree mitigated, by
creating a campus environment that fosters engagement and interaction from all students,
and that places value on the experience and perspectives of all learners. What is salient
about Dancy’s (2010) study is that spiritual curiosity and eventual formation can have
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 42

positive effects on academic outcomes of college students by providing a way in which to
make sense of their environment and their place in it.
Spiritual Formation and Persistence
This section of the literature review looks specifically at the construct of
spirituality, or spiritual formation in higher education and its implications relative to
influences on persistence, retention, self-awareness and identity development. Evidence
of spiritual formation goes beyond the quoting of biblical text, or scriptures, which may
only serve to indicate the extent to which one has memorized certain passages in the
bible. True spiritual formation is evidenced by a transformation in the way individuals
see the word and the role they play in society (Lawson, 2003). This is particularly
important for Black males in light of the pervasive attribution of negative characteristics
in virtually every area of their experience. For the evangelical Christian, spiritual
formation is specifically tied to the central truths of the Holy Scriptures, such as the deity
of Christ and inerrancy of scripture, and the tradition of the Christian church as being
representing God’s work on the earth (Lawson 2003).
Ma (2003) asserts that Christian spiritual formation has played an important role
in the history of American higher education in that it has provided a basis for the
development of character and leadership for college students. However, most colleges
and universities have moved away from their original mission as Christian institution
towards more secularized notions of education. With this departure came a decreased
focus on spiritual formation as an integral part of the undergraduate student experience
(Ma, 2003). This created a void in the educational system from K-12 through college as
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 43

pubic and private institutions began to value the life of the mind over the life of the spirit
(Lawson, 2003).
Beginning in the twentieth century, the Christian church began to increase its
focus on the importance of Christian education. Through the local church, as well as
religious-based non-profit organizations like the American Sunday School Association,
Christian leaders espoused the need to keep biblical tenets at the center of learning
(Lawson, 2003). In the early years of the twentieth century Evangelical Christian
education was solely focused on the reinforcement of the concept of faith and the
authority of scripture for the purpose of training Christians how to apply the teaching of
scripture to their lives. There was also a focus on equipping Christians to share the
teachings of scripture with those in their spheres of influence (Lawson, 2003).
The early expressions of Evangelical Christian educational settings were
primarily concern with developing Christian educators that would be responsible for
teaching and training future educators for the purpose of equipping the laity. It would not
be until later in the century that the focus of Christian education would expand to include
more traditional offerings in the liberal arts. The emergent Christian colleges of the early
twentieth century were distinguished by their commitment to integrating faith and
learning towards the development of the whole person; mind, body and spirit (Ma, 2003).
Whereas Christian institutions continued to focus on whole person student development,
secular campuses drifted away from any emphasis on spiritual formation. Ma (2003)
argues that this drift away from spirituality negatively impacts the ability of both student
and academic affairs professionals to promote whole person development in the areas of
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 44

self-awareness and identity development leading to positive academic experiences and
outcomes.
Both Lawson (2003) and Ma (2003) argue that spiritual formation, as a construct,
is beneficial beyond traditional religious applications. Spiritual formation leads to a
greater understanding of self as well as to the formation of a world-view, which is critical
to students ability to make sense of the systems and structures he or she interacts with.
Welch and Milberg (2008) refer to the process of spiritual maturation as a quest, and they
argue that the discipline and commitment needed to persist in this quest is very similar to
that which is needed to persist in college. They go on to posit that this maturation
process is critical to the development of a healthy self-identity because it requires self-
examination through the lens of biblical truth. Lawson (2003) makes an important
distinction relative to the process and outcomes of spiritual formation, or maturation; he
points out that simply memorizing bible passages will not lead to maturity, it is only
through honest self-examination that real transformation will take place resulting in the
formation of the true self. This is an important distinction for educators to understand in
light of the fact that much of our modern pedagogy is based on the first stages of Bloom’s
taxonomy, therefore attention and effort must be given to encouraging Bloom’s latter
stages of application and analysis of what is being taught (Ma, 2003).
One of the outcomes of the spiritual formation process as pointed out by Ma
(2003) is the sense of community that forms with significant others involved in various
aspects of the process such as teachers, pastors, group leaders and peers. This sense of
community is critical because it is the source of support and resources required to persist
to maturity (Harper, 2009, Lundberg & Schreiner, 2004 and Strayhorn 2008). Again, the
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 45

concept of persistence is transferable to the academic environment (Welch and Milberg,
2008). Rood (2009) in writing about first generation college students argues that spiritual
integration is critical to persistence and graduation. One of the reasons he cites for low
persistence among first generation college students is the lack of a sense of community.
When these students sense that they are not connected to their campus community, or that
they feel disconnected from their familial community, they tend to retreat emotionally
and intellectually to the point of dropping out. However, when there is a spiritual
connection, or fit, among this group of students they often report that they receive an
inner strength that enables them to continue to persist spiritually, which in turn leads to
academic persistence. The challenge facing Black males in the spiritual formation process
at White Christian schools is that these institutions historically White styles of worship
are unfamiliar to many Black males (Herdon, 2003). Despite the welcoming campus
climate described by White students at predominately White Christian schools, students
of color continue to report higher incidences of racial discrimination and marginalization
(Harper, 2012). Herndon (2003) argues that when Black males are not given the
opportunity to experience God in a manner that they are accustom it reinforces the
feelings of being an outsider leading them to withdraw socially and disengage
academically.
Morris, Smith and Cedja (2008) also examined spiritual formation as a predictor
of persistence among college students. Whereas Rood (2009) was concerned with the
influence of spirituality with first generation students, Morris, Smith and Cedja’s (2008)
work included a broader more inclusive sample of students. Similar to Rood (2009),
Morris, Smith and Cedja’s (2008) study determined that spiritual integration was
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 46

significantly related to student persistence. This study helps to strengthen the belief that
Christian universities are unique places that appear to focus more holistically on the lives
of their students than do non-Christian institutions (Schreiner 2000). Because of the
work of Christian educators during the early twentieth century, the idea of spiritual
formation was introduced to evangelical Christians and became a part of their academic
experience. Bryant (2011) posits that students from evangelical backgrounds and with
exposure to spiritual formation opportunities tend to acclimate to the rules of intellectual
discourse found in academic settings. It seems that the self-awareness and the discipline
of self-reflection encouraged by the spiritual formation process prepares these students
for the challenging setting of college. On the other hand, these same students may have a
difficult time adjusting to ideologies and behaviors that differ from their own teachings
and traditions often resulting in cloistering with other Christians that have similar
ideologies (Herndon, 2003).
Summary
This literature review focused on examining the academic outcomes of Black
undergraduate males at HBCUs, PWIs and CCCUs. The review sought to better
understand the distinctions as well as the similarities of the academic outcomes for Black
males at various types of institutions. Of particular interest in this review is the construct
of the curricular and co-curricular process of spiritual formation that is unique to CCCU
schools, and how Black males perceived its connection to persistence and graduation.
The review showed that there is not a great degree of difference in between HBCUs and
PWIs with respect to the persistence and graduation rates of Black males (Cuyjet, 2008,
Harper, 2006 & Flowers, 2003). Although Black males benefit from a warmer and more
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 47

accepting campus climate at HBCUs, and have greater opportunities to interact with
Black faculty members, their average rates of persistence and graduation are virtually the
same as at PWIs (Flowers, 2003).
Whereas the literature indicates that spirituality, in general, is an important
element in developing resilience among Black males, what is missing from the literature
are empirical studies examining the effects of a spiritual formation process as part of the
institutional pedagogy such that exist at CCCU schools. Therefore, this research project
will focus on the academic outcomes and experiences of Black males at CCCU in order
to determine how they perceive the formal process of spiritual formation as it relates to
academic outcomes. The following research questions will drive the study.
1. How do Black undergraduate males at predominately a White Christian
institutions describe their academic experience?
Herndon, M. K. (2003). Expressions of spirituality among african-american college
males. Journal of Men's Studies, 12(1), 75.
2. How do Black males at Christian institutions perceive their campus climate
relative to racism and racial discrimination?
Walker, K. L., & Dixon, V. (2002). Spirituality and academic performance among
African American college students. Journal of Black Psychology, 28(2),
107-121.
Asplund, L. K. (2009). Understanding the role of faith in decisions to persist in
college for first-generation Black male students. Christian Perspectives in
Education, 3(1), 1.
3. What role does spiritual formation play in shaping their academic experiences
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 48

Dancy, T. E. (2010). Faith in the unseen: The intersection (s) of spirituality and
identity among African American males in college. The Journal of Negro
Education, 416-432.
Schreiner, L. (2000) Spiritual fit in FIPSE – Through the eyes of retention.
Washington DC.. CCCU, 10-12
Morris, J. M., Smith, A. B., & Cejda, B. D. (2003). Spiritual integration as a predictor
of persistence at a Christian institution of higher education. Christian Higher
Education, 2(4), 341-351.
Wood, J. L., & Hilton, A. A. (2012). Spirituality and academic success: Perceptions
of African American males in the community college. Religion & Education,
39(1), 28-47.
Purpose of the Study
This study will focus on the academic outcomes of Black undergraduate males at
a predominately White institution. The educational experiences of Black males has been
well represented in the literature by numerous studies conducted over the past three
decades yet, despite the decades of research on Black male achievement in college, their
academic performance related to retention and graduation has remained relatively static
(Educational Trust, 2013).
These studies have address the chronic underrepresentation and academic
performance of Black undergraduate males in a variety of institutional settings
(Strayhorn, 2008). However, there have been very few studies that have examined the
experiences and outcomes of Black males at a predominately White Christian university
and that sought to understand the perceived influence of the process of spiritual formation
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 49

on academic outcomes. In reviewing the mission statements of the predominately White
Christian schools, the majority of them contain statements that address diversity and a
desire for their student body to reflect the community they serve as well as the diversity
within Christian community. Therefore, an assumption can be made that these
institutions place importance on recruiting students of color, which can result in an
increase in their numbers, including Black males.
This qualitative study of Black males at predominately a White predominately
White Christian school is important for several reasons. First, predominately White
Christian schools place specific emphasis on spiritual integration as a formal aspect of the
learning environment as evidenced by their promotion materials and websites. As such,
spiritual integration or formation is promoted by these institutions as an institutional
distinctive that sets them apart from public and non-religious private schools. Second,
the concept of equality of creation is listed as a core belief of these types of schools.
Again, most of the websites for predominately White Christian schools refer to the belief
that God created and views all men equal and that the institution’s goal is to do the same.
Third, this study seeks to assist the reader in differentiating between the concept of
equality and concept of equity in evangelical Christian settings. In other words, this
study will challenge the sufficiency of the espoused belief that it is enough to believe,
from a creational aspect, that all men are created equal to bring about appreciable change
in the outcomes for Black males? Finally, this study will add to the body of Knowledge
regarding the Black males that attend a predominately White Christian school, which will
assist institutional agents in the development of processes for recruiting and serving
Black males on their campuses. It will also help Black males themselves interpret and
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 50

navigate the dissonance often encountered in White institutional spaces that overtly claim
to be warm and welcoming of all people.
Research Questions
The central research question for this study seeks to explore the academic outcomes
and social experiences of Black males at a predominately White Council Christian
Universities. This study will be guided by three specific research questions:
4. How do Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian
university describe their academic experiences?
5. How do Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian university
perceive their campus climate relative to racism and racial discrimination?
6. What role does spiritual formation play in shaping the academic and social
experiences of Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian
university?

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 51

CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY
The idea of research involves inquiry or investigation of a particular phenomenon
in an area of interest to the researcher in order to learn more (Merriam, 2009). Research
can be defined by the two general categories of basic and applied. Basic research is
focused on intellectual understanding that results in the expansion of knowledge through
the addition of theory (Merriam, 2009), and applied research is useful in solving
problems of practice at a local level i.e., at a particular school site or college campus, or
to improve the quality of practice at a local level. For this study I will be using a
qualitative approach within an applied research context to interpret the story behind data
collected through quantitative measures such as test scores, grade point average, etc. on
Black male academic outcomes. A narrative inquiry methodological approach will be
used as a way to give contour to the life and experiences of the study participants. This
approach will allow for a deep exploration, through story, of the experiences and
perceptions of a population that often feels that their stories do not matter. Another
reason for using a narrative inquiry approach is that it will allow for the use of the
verbatim quotes of the participants in chapter for of this study. This is an important
aspect of this study because although there has been a significant amount of qualitative
research involving Black males at PWIs, these studies did not include Black males at a
predominately White Christian university. Most of what is known about the academic
experiences of Black males in these institutions has been gathered through quantitative
means.
Additionally, the concept of spiritual formation poses a significant challenge from
a measurement standpoint. According to Ma (2003), the process of spiritual formation
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 52

involves all aspects of a person including the heart, mind and spirit, and develops mature
Christian character in a Christian believer over the course of a lifetime. The ethereal
nature of this process requires deep and meaningful interactions with the study
participants that can only be achieved though qualitative means. The qualitative method
is also conducive for the exploration of the influence of stereotype threat theory. Steele’s
(1997) research on stereotype threat was conducted primarily in a laboratory setting
however, Steele describes the phenomena of stereotype threat as a “threat in the air”,
which assumes that it can be replicated in real world settings such as classrooms, dorm
rooms and other campus settings. In other words, affected students are likely to not be
cognitively aware of the threat, but the effects are nonetheless apparent in their academic
outcomes. Steele (1997) argues that this is particularly true for Black males at
predominately White institutions.
Sample and Population
The sampling strategy selected for this study is purposive and convenience.
According to Merriam (2009) the general goal of sampling is to select an individual or
group that reflects the population under study. The population for this study is Black
undergraduate males in traditional undergraduate programs at predominately White
Christian University. The rational of purposive and convenience sampling, as opposes to
randomized sampling, is that purposive sampling provides a greater opportunity to select
and engage a larger group of subjects. This is an important factor because Black male
enrollment at predominately White Christian universities and colleges is the lowest of all
races and both sexes according to the Educational trust (20013). As such, the researcher
anticipates a challenge in identifying enough subjects to participate in the study. As
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 53

mentioned earlier, the type of institution is important because this study focuses
exploring the concepts of stereotype threat and spiritual formation as they occur on an
evangelical college campus. The research questions driving this study are designed to
flesh out the experiences and perceptions of Black males have about their campus
environment and the extent to which there may be a threat in the air, and how they view
the significance of the spiritual formation process. This study will be conducted at a
Christian university located on the west coast and will be referred to as Faith College.
Data Collection
Data will be collected for this study using the semi-structured person – to – person
interview process and will be guided by an interview protocol (See Appendix A). Patton
(2002) posits that conducting an interview is like entering into a collaborative
conversation with the subject through whom you discover their perspective and way of
thinking. Interviewing, as a form of data collection, involves gaining insight into the
human experience and the emotions that ultimately have a bearing on behavior and
performance, but are typically not observable (Merriam 2009). Interviews also provide
the subject the opportunity, in a safe environment; to share feelings, thoughts and ideas
that he or she may not otherwise be invited to share (Weiss 1994). Since interviews can
be viewed as conversations, or partnerships between researcher and subject, adjustments
can be made during the interview to probe deeper and provide clarity on information that
emerges during the interview (Merriam, 2009). Patton (1999) asserts that there are no
magic questions, but that any question can serve as a good one if it prompts the subject to
provide information useful for the study.

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 54

Subjects
Harper (2006) argues that Black males are not homogeneous and that their
backgrounds experiences and families of origins can vary greatly. For instance, it would
be a mistake to assume that all Black males come from single parent homes, are athletes,
or attended low performing high schools. However, Steele (1997) posits that stereotype
threat is grounded in a prevailing negative perceptions associated with a particular people
group regardless of their background. It is this socially constructed negative perception
of Black that creates the “threat in the air” that Steele (1997) credits with diminishing the
academic functioning of the targeted group regardless of their background or previous
academic accomplishments. Therefore, it will be important, from a data collection stand
point, to select a diverse group of Black male subjects for this study that represent a
broad spectrum of backgrounds.
Another important aspect that requires identification is whether or not the subject
has professed faith in Christ. According to Ma (2003) spiritual formation begins at the
point when a person becomes a Christian as evidenced by a public profession of faith in
Christ. The research site selected for this study, Faith University, requires that all
students have a professed faith in Christ and that they sign a statement of faith that attests
to their belief.
Data Analysis
Once the data collection process is complete the researcher will transcribe the
interview notes from the audio recordings. Although time consuming, Merriam (2009)
posits that the data analysis process allows the researcher to become familiar with the
data. Bogdan and Biklen (2007) offer the following suggestions to facilitate effective
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 55

data analysis as the data are being collected: (1) force yourself to make decisions that
narrow the study, (2) force yourself to make decisions concerning the type of study you
want to accomplish, (3) Develop analytic questions, (4) Write memos to yourself about
what you are learning, (5) Try out ideas and themes on participants, (6) Review your
literature while you are in the field, (7) Use visual devises.
The process that will be used to analyze the data gathered from the qualitative
interviews will follow the steps laid out by Creswell (2009):
1. The researcher will read through all of the transcribed data to get a sense of
complete story that the data is telling. Notes will be taken during this process to
capture ideas that emerge.
2. One interview document will be randomly elected and examined with the
question “what is this about” in mind. The purpose of this review is to begin to
understand what story each interview is telling. This process will be repeated
with each interview document
3. After this review is complete, a list of the emergent topics and ideas will be
compiled and clustered by similarity.
4. This list of similarly compiled topics will then be coded using an abbreviation that
describes the topic cluster. At this point another review will be conducted to
determine if new categories and codes emerge.
5. Select the most descriptive wording for the topics and convert them into themes.
6. Select the final abbreviations for each category and make an alphabetized list of
the categories.
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 56

7. Align the data belonging to each category is a specific are in order to begin the
analysis process.
The researcher will use a Microsoft Word file to contain the transcribed
interviews and will catalogue them by subject. The files will be stored on the researchers
personal computer and backed up on an external hard drive. The transcribed data files
will also be password protected. The researcher will use an open coding process during
the initial stage of analysis to begin to identify categories and patterns within the data.
Once the categories have been identifies they will be grouped into themes, named and
designated by a specific color code to facilitate sorting and retrieval.
Validation Strategies
All research is concerned with producing valid and reliable knowledge in an
ethical manner. Being able to trust research results is especially important to
professionals in applied fields because practioners intervene in people’s lives (Merriam,
2009 p. 209). The concept of validity and reliability, typically associated with
quantitative studies is referred to in this study as credibility and will be achieved by using
the strategies of gathering sufficient detail through thick rich descriptions, respondent
validation and researcher reflexivity. The thick rich descriptions will be achieved by
representing the participants’ voice as accurately as possible through transcribed
interview responses. Respondent validations, or member checks will be used to solicit
feedback as findings emerge throughout the study. This is a critical strategy considering
the amount of data that will be collected and the number of subjects involved. Finally,
since the researcher is a Black male it will be important to understand my position as a
researcher as it relates to the participants through reflexive practice. The researcher
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 57

describes his own academic journey and experiences, along with his potential biases, at
the end of this chapter. This multi-strategy approach is necessary given that one of the
important assumptions that underlie qualitative research is that reality is holistic,
multidimensional, and always changing (Merriam, 2009).
Ethical Consideration
All of the participants will be treated in accordance with the ethical guidelines of
the University of Southern California Institutional review board. Although there are no
foreseeable risks related to participation in this study the researcher will take care in
protecting the anonymity of the individual participants and to ensure that each participant
feels safe, valued and comfortable, and recognizes that they can opt out of the study at
any time if they deem it necessary. These considerations will be incorporated into the
research design stage of the study.
Participant Selection
The selection process began by making contact with, and building a relationship
with, an influential Black male administrator at the research site that could identify
potential research subjects and that had the relational capitol to encourage their
participation. I provided this the administrator with a copy of the description of my study
as well as my protocol and interview questionnaire in for the purpose of familiarizing the
administrator with the study. The administrator them arranged a site visit at which I
would be able to meet with a group of Black male students and Black male administrators
for the purpose of familiarizing me with the sociocultural and sociopolitical campus
climate from their perspective and to make me aware of the current efforts underway on
campus designed to provide academic and social support for Black males.
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 58

After the site visit I provided my administrative liaison with schedule of dates that
I would be available to conduct on site interviews. I asked that he distribute the schedule
to as many potential subjects as possible, and that he ask them to contact me to set up an
interview time. All of the interviews would be held on campus, for the convenience of
the subject, and would take place at a location conducive to privacy. The location was
secured by the administrative liaison. I was then able to communicate the location to
each participant at the time they contacted me to express their consent to participate.
Prior to the start of each interview I provided the participant with an information sheet
(Appendix B) that described the purpose of the study along with other useful information
regarding the study including the fact that the interviews would be recorded.
The Role and Background of the Researcher
I am a black male graduate student in my late fifties, and I was the first in my
family to attend college. My post-secondary educational path has been circuitous at best.
I attended a community college for one year, right after high school primarily because I
was unaware of any other options. A school counselor never approached me nor was I
aware of any college prep sessions being held on campus. Although it was my dream to
attend college I had no vision for how to achieve my goal. When I arrived on campus I
asked about a friend of mine that had graduated a year earlier and enrolled in the same
community college. I was told that he transferred after one year to a public four-year
university. His actions empowered me to explore the same path and sure enough, I
transferred to a large four-year public school after completing one year at the community
college. However, the type of incidental serendipitous intervention wasn’t enough to
cause me to persist and I ended up dropping out after my junior year. It would be ten
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 59

years before I returned to school to complete my education through a degree completion
program at a small liberal arts school. All of the institutions I attended were
predominately White and although I was not aware of the theories like stereotype threat
and critical race, looking back I can recall numerous time when I experienced racial
discrimination and racism. I received a master’s degree at age 55 from the same
institution that I was employed at, which is a predominately White institution. It was
during this time, while working in student affairs, that I began to understand some of the
conditions that contribute to the difficulties that students of color have adjusting to at
predominately White institutions. As my understanding increased I began to reflect on
my own post-secondary journey. I began to see how I felt like I didn’t belong. I feared
being uncovered as an imposter.
At age 58 I was accepted into a doctoral program at the University of Southern
California. I knew from the beginning that I wanted to study the academic outcomes of
Black males at a predominately White Christian institutions that intentionally integrates
spiritual formation into their curricular and co-curricular efforts. As a Christian Black
male that has experienced set backs and disappointment in my educational journey I
believe that I can relate experientially to the participants in this study. I am also aware
that I will need to guard against leading the subjects in providing the types of responses
that confirm my hunches and biases. Fortunately, I have had experience conducting
qualitative researching using interviews and I have learned to manage my reactions and
responses to participant answers so as not to unduly influence their responses. I want
them to share their experiences not tell me what they believe they want to hear. I have a
great deal of respect for qualitative research and the thick rich data that can come from it,
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 60

and I will do my best to conduct this study with the utmost integrity and professionalism
in order to add meaningful research to the knowledge base regarding Black males in
higher education. My hope is that the results of this study will move the needle forward
with respect to improving the academic outcomes of Black males at a predominately
White school.

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 61

CHAPTER FOUR: RESULTS
This chapter presents the findings from participant interviews as they related to
the research questions composed for this study. The chapter is organized into three
sections. The first section provides a profile of each participant to assist the reader in
relating to the participant and in interpreting the findings. To protect the identity of the
participants they were each assigned a pseudonym by the researcher that emerged during
the course of the interview process. Table 1 contains a demographic summary of each of
the participants. The second section is a presentation and discussion of each theme in
relationship to the research questions. The three research questions that drove this study
are:
1. How do Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian university
describe their academic experiences?
2. How do Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian university
perceive their campus climate relative to racism and discrimination?
3. What role does spiritual formation play in shaping the academic and social
experiences of Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian
university?
The final section of this chapter provides a summary of the chapter. The quotes
used through out this chapter are written verbatim to preserve the integrity of the
participants’ responses.
From the outset of this study it was important to me to remember that I was not
only collecting data as part of a research project but, that I was also providing an
opportunity for the participants, Black males, to tell their stories in part. Harper (2009)
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 62

and Cuyjet (2006) reminds us that the Black male experience on predominately White
campuses often consist of feelings of marginalization and of social disconnectedness.
They often feel that their voices are not heard and that their academic and social images
are shaped by the prevailing stereotypes that arrived on their campuses long before they
ever did. According to Harper (2009), Black males students have a story to tell that if
listened to can hold keys to their persistence and can therefore serve as critical
counternarratives useful in constructing campus policies and practices that lead to more
effective support systems not just for Black males but for all students.
Participant Profiles
Table 1
Participants
Name Age Year C.C. Transfer In-State Athlete
Humble 22 Sr. Yes Yes No
Hollywood 23 Sr. Yes Yes No
Mature 32 Sr. Yes Yes No
Suburbs 23 Sr. Yes Yes No
Talented 24 Sr. Yes No No
Hoops 21 Jr. No Yes Yes

Humble
Black male participant number one is referred to as Humble. Humble is a senior
transfer student from an in state community college. When Humble entered the room his
demeanor and tone of voice both set me at ease while at the same time commanded my
attention. Although he was soft spoken there was never any doubt about his confidence,
self-awareness or his ability to share in depth about his experience at Faith University.
Humble informed me that he identifies as Black although he is bi-racial, Black and
Latino. He attended a high school that was in a predominately Latino neighborhood.
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 63

Humble was one of five Black kids at his high school, two of which were his siblings.
Humble admitted that prior to the start of his first semester he had never visited Faith
University and therefore had no expectations or preconceptions regarding the racial
demographics of the campus. During his time at Faith University Humble has immersed
himself in a variety student activities including becoming the president of the Black
Student Association, which has given him a platform to address some of the challenges
he sees that Black students face. Becoming part of various clubs and organizations also
helped Humble develop relationships that facilitated his adjustment to the campus culture
at Faith University.
Hollywood
Black male participant number two is referred to as Hollywood. He is a senior
transfer student from a large public university in the Midwest. I assigned this identifier
to this participant because his given name sounds like it could belong to a Hollywood
actor or entertainer, and he is majoring in film production. In addition to his interest in
film production it seems like he could easily make the transition to being in front of the
camera. His tall stature and striking looks caught my attention as soon as he arrived for
the interview. Hollywood was not on the original list of participant, but asked to
participate once he became aware of the study. He was eager to share his experience at
Faith and mentioned a few times that it was refreshing just to talk to someone about his
time at Faith University. Hollywood grew up in a predominately Black neighborhood
and attended an inner-city high school that was also predominately Black. He reflected
on his time at his high school and his first years of college and remarked that he never
spent too much time thinking about race because of the diversity that existed on his high
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 64

school and college campuses. It wasn’t until he came to Faith University, where he did
not see many faces that looked like his, that race became more salient to his experience.
Mature
Black male participant number three is referred to as Mature. Mature, as his name
suggest is considerably older than a traditional undergraduate student. He is a thirty-two
year old senior transfer student from an instate community college where he changed his
major several times over a period of years and never received a degree. However, he was
able to amass enough credits to transfer to Faith University. Mature attended three
different high schools, two of which were in urban areas with student bodies that were
predominately students of color. I had the opportunity to meet Mature, prior to the study,
while I was on campus to speak at an unrelated event. One of the Black male
administrators arranged a luncheon to introduce me to a hand full of Black male
administrators as well as a couple of students. Although Mature is thirty-two he looks
young for his age and could easily pass for an average college student. I had some initial
hesitations about including Mature in the study because of the amount of time he had
spent away from school but during our initial meeting it was clear that he was very
interested in participating. I watched Mature as he listened intensely as I talked about the
study – on several occasions he closed his eyes and lowered his head as if reliving
experiences conjured up by my description of the study. Over the course of that
gathering I grew more curious than caution regarding his story and made the decision to
invite Mature to participate.

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 65

Suburbs
Black male participant number four is referred to as Suburbs. As his name
suggests Suburbs grew up in a predominately White suburban neighborhood not far from
Faith University and attended a predominately White high school where he was involved
in a variety of campus activities and student leadership groups. Both of Suburbs’ parents
are from Nigeria but Suburbs was born in the U.S. He is also a senior transfer student
from a local community college majoring in political science. He spoke with a distinct
eloquence that I found to be somewhat unusual for a traditional undergraduate college
student. His personality was very upbeat and he also expressed an eagerness to
participate in the study. Like the participants I interviewed prior to Suburbs, he too had
never visited the campus prior to attending. However, he did not seem to experience
some of the culture shock expressed by the other participants. It seems as though his
experience in high school had prepared him for the campus climate at Faith University.
Talented. Black male participant number five is referred to as Talented because
of his varied interest and accomplishments in film and the performing arts. He is a senior
majoring in Film Production. I first met Talented on the day that I spoke at an event at
Faith University. I noticed him in the crowed because he was one of the only a handful
of students that sat in the front. In fact, he was the only Black male that I could see in the
audience. After the event was over Talented introduced himself to me and told me that
he would like to participate in the study.
Talented was raised in a predominately Latino neighborhood and was one of only
a few of Black kids in his neighborhood. He talked about being teased and physically
assaulted as a kid by bullies in his neighborhood. Talented would run away from bullies
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 66

to keep from being picked on. He soon discovered that he was a pretty fast runner.
Ultimately, it was his athletic ability that enabled him to build connections with his peers.
Despite his success in athletics, and in the classroom, Talented got expelled from his high
school for and undisclosed violation of school police. Although the charges were later
dropped Talented chose to complete high school in another city. After high school
Talented joined the Marine Corp where he served for four years before attending a
community college. Like the other study participants Talented did not visit the Faith
University campus prior to attending.
Hoops
Black male participant number six is referred to as Hoops because he is a member
of Faith University’s basketball team. Hoops is the only student athlete participant in this
study and is one of only four Black males on the team. He is a junior majoring in
Sociology with an emphasis in Criminal Justice. Multiple schools out of high school
recruited him but he chose to play basketball at Faith University. He attended high
school in an urban area where the majority of the students were Black and Latino and his
neighborhood reflected the same demographic as his high school. Hoops stated that he
had not given too much thought to the student demographics at Faith University because
he was just excited to receive a scholarship.
Thematic and Pattern Analysis
The data analysis process followed the Creswell’s (2012) steps laid out in chapter
three. The process began once the audio taped interviews were transcribed to text
documents. The data reduction process consisted of reading and re-reading the
transcribed data to get a feel for the stories the participants were telling. Themes began
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 67

to emerge from this process. Next, an open coding procedure was utilized to begin to
identify the emergent themes. The three emergent themes were (1) Culture shock, (2)
Campus Climate, (3) Spiritual Development. Each of these three thematic findings will
be analyzed in light of a corresponding research question.
In addition to these three themes a distinct pattern also emerged related to the
absence of an intentional process used by each participant to choose attend Faith
University. It will be evident by their stories that the participants were unfamiliar with
important aspects of Faith University, especially its student demographics. For the most
part they were unaware that Faith University was a predominately White campus and
were therefore unprepared to handle the shock of being noticeably underrepresented.
Davis (1999) notes that Black males at predominately White campuses experience
significantly higher incidents of racial discrimination, inside and outside the classroom,
that lead to increased feelings of being an outsider.
By way of background, Faith University is an evangelical Christian school that is
part of the Council of Christian Colleges and Universities (CCCU). Faith University
requires that all potential students are practicing Christians and that they sign the
university’s statement of faith, which attests to their commitment to live in accordance
with its tenets. In addition, all students are required to take a prescribed number of bible
courses and attend chapel services several times per week. The participants revealed that
their choices to attend Faith University were not primarily influenced by the fact that
Faith University is a Christian school. The fact that Faith University was a Christian
school seemed to be a positive complimentary element but it was not necessarily the
primary criteria. This is important to note because Faith University, along with being a
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 68

Christian school is also predominately White. The fact that the participants were, for the
most part, unfamiliar with this type of school might suggest that they were also unaware
of the other campus aspects like climate and student demographics. This will be
discussed later in this chapter.
Thematic Finding: Culture Shock
The first research question asked, “How do Black undergraduate males at a
predominately White Christian university describe their academic experiences?” This
section begins to address the thematic finding of culture shock that emerged from the
inquires associated with the first research question that sought to explore how Black
males described their academic experiences at Faith University. It is evident from the
responses of the participant that the racial demographics of Faith University came as
somewhat of a surprise to them, and although Faith University is a Christian school that
fact did not seem to lessen the impact of their sense of shock.
Suburbs, who was the only participant who grew up in a primarily White
neighborhood and attended a predominately White school offered the following reason
for choosing to attend Faith University:
I made a deal with God that if he can’t get me a specific car that I wanted when it
was time to apply for school, I picked a Christian school and I didn’t have enough
money. I had approximately half of what the car was being sold for and in three
day he got me the car. So the ball was in my court. When it was time to apply
for schools I had been listening to a particular pastor, his name was James Smith,
and some other pastors and they’ve been researching schools and they bring up a
whole list throughout the whole nation and I wanted to stay in California so I
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 69

started narrowing down and found Faith University and I vaguely remember
hearing the name. I didn’t register at all, and so it was new to me and I was
researching Faith University, I looked at the notable alumni, I noticed that this
pastor that I listened to, James Smith, graduated from there. I figured okay they
have one, zero everyone else. And to make a long story short I applied to Faith
University and a bunch of other schools in Southern California and I got into just
about all of them except two, but I didn’t receive any paperwork from them at all,
it got lost in the mail – all of them except Faith University’s. That’s how I got
here.
It is clear from Suburbs’ retelling of his story that his decision to attend Faith University
was not based on anything other than chance. He did not provide any evidence of wed-
based research or advanced campus visits. All he had to go on was the deal he made with
God and the radio show he had listened to.
Although a Christian, Hoop’s decision to attend Faith University also had very
little to do with the fact that it is a Christian University. In commenting on why he chose
to attend Faith University he states:
I chose this institution because I was recruited here out of high school. I
obviously had like other opportunities to play other places, but I just thought it
would be a good thing for me to stay local. I kind of don’t live too far away so
my parents can come and watch me play, so mainly because I play basketball.
Like Suburbs, Hoops admitted that he had not heard much about Faith University and did
not know much about it. He was, however, aware that it was a Christian school, which
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 70

seemed to be a tolerable distinction as opposed to a motivating factor affecting his
choice.
Hollywood was the only participant who came from out of state to attend Faith
University. He is a transfer student from a large public university in the eastern region of
the country. Hollywood had this to say about his choice to attend Faith University:
I chose Faith University because after I got my associates in marketing I knew I
wanted to do a career in film, and I knew I needed to come to California to do
that. I’m actually from Ohio. So I found Faith University online and I discovered
that they mixed both the emphasis on vocation but also on spiritual formation in
the Bible. So that was a time when I was kind of getting into that stuff. So I
wanted to be able to study my career but also theology as well.
Like the other participants, Hollywood’s reasons for choosing Faith University were not
primarily based on getting a Christian education or on his own spiritual development, but
rather it seemed to almost be an after thought. He was also unaware of the racial
demographics of the students, staff and faculty at Faith University.
Spurgeon and Myers (2002) argue that structural, or compositional diversity has
an influence on campus climate no matter what the dominant group is. They note that at
predominately White institutions Black male students tend to cope with feelings of social
disconnectedness by playing up the stereotype of being cool, in doing so they are reifying
their identity as Black males (Billison, 1993, Fries-Britt, 1998). The fact that the
participants were not familiar with the student demographics at Faith University suggests
that they were likely unaware of the campus’ climate. As such, the participants
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 71

experienced substantial unexpected culture shock upon arrival at Faith University. Hoops
recalls the day he moved into campus housing:
Yeah, it was real different. I was actually a bit nervous. Actually, I was
intimidated. My first… when I stepped in on campus… my first day here when I
moved into the dorms… just seeing so many white faces. It was like… kind of
scared me a little bit. I had never experienced something like this before and…
like, I am yet to see a black face… like, the first day I got there… I didn’t see any.
I was like…wow! And I felt kind of like a little bit uncomfortable because I
didn’t see someone that looked like me there, you know. I’ll never forget that day.
I was real uncomfortable, made me uneasy a little bit.
It was apparent by Hoops story that the degree to which he was oriented to the
campus was either insufficient or altogether nonexistent. It is clear that he was not
prepared for the shock of seeing a sea of White faces and absolutely no Black folks.
Given the low enrollment of Black males and their propensity towards isolation (Billson,
1993) it is not surprising that Hoops didn’t see anyone that looked like him. Hoops was
quick to acknowledge that being a part of a team help his acclamation to the campus and
develop social networks, an advantage that non-athletes do not have. Hoops states:
But I think, because I was part of the team… the basketball team helped me kind
of get over that and then, like, over the course of time, I made friends. But I
mean, the first initial day that I walked on campus was tough! Socially… yeah, I
feel like athletes are probably more… I find people are more social with them
because they are like the popular faces on campus. They are the ones that you
see, like, in the paper or hear about them through the Faith University Radio
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 72

station or different social media… the Internet or whatever. So I feel like
people… especially people who want to get to know you and know who you are.
I think that leads to them be more… like social, being more approachable.
Humble attended a high school that was predominately Black and Latino. He
noted during the interview that Whites were the minority and as far as he could tell that
everyone in the school got along. Humble is bi-racial, Black and Latino but identifies as
Black. Here is how Humble describes his first days at Faith University:
Well base of off like the JC environment I kind of I knew more people were
getting more mature in the sense that I feel like JC is like high school all over
again. So coming here I was just like trying to get out of JC because I don’t want
that whole environment to like effect me. And I didn’t really expect, I didn’t
really think of the demographics of like, is there more black people there or
they’re more like more racial, if there’s more people that are not white at Faith
University, I never thought of that until I kind of had like the shock of when I got
accepted here and not seeing that many black people or Hispanics involved or
yeah like walking around campus and not seeing that many, similar faces as mine.
Then coming in to having to see all the blacks are over there like hidden and
whites are more involved and socially active than blacks and Hispanics.
Talented is slightly older than a traditional college student having served in the military
for four years. Whereas Talented recognized that the student population at Faith
University was predominately White, the challenges that come with being an older
student were more salient to him. He describes his transition to Faith University as
follows:
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 73

It's been a culture shock, to say the least. Everything from relationships to
academic delivery has been different from what I've received in my previous
educations. So, relationally relating to, I'm a little bit of an older student so
relating to younger students in a predominantly white school, that was a
challenge. I have a texture of experiences that many students here just don't have
because they're coming out of high school and the ones that do you have similar
experiences there seems to be just a felt distance.
Suburbs is perhaps the outlier of the group in terms of how he describes experience with
the culture of Faith University. He attended a predominately White high school where he
described his experience as being very positive. Both of Suburbs’ parents are Nigerian
born. According to Ogbu (1994) Suburbs’ parents would be considered voluntary
immigrants and therefore would be more likely to have positive a predisposition to the U.
S. educational system as opposed to involuntary immigrants that would be prone to view
education as a hegemonic system used to facilitate assimilation into the dominate culture.
Suburb’s seemed to be oblivious to how the some of the other participants perceived the
campus not once referring to the underrepresentation of students of color, specifically
Black males. Instead, Suburbs’ shared a very different perspective:
Then I guess student social life, you know there’s all types of groups on campus
whether you’re in a particular sports team, like girls volleyball or boys baseball or
a particular dorm that has a stigma, not a stigma, a reputation for being the study
dorm or the all girls dorm or what have you. So everyone belongs to at least one
or different social groups. There aren’t any cligues, that’s something I noticed
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 74

that I liked, there are not cligues of any kind and all social groups have an open
door policy I would say, which is really nice.
With the exception of Suburbs, all of the participants expressed some level of
disappointment or shock at the lack of students of color at Faith University. They also
expressed difficulty in adjusting to the predominately White environment at Faith
University, which subsequently had an impact on their academic experience. In the
following section this study examines the connection between student demographics,
culture, and the influence it has on the social climate at Faith University.
Thematic Finding: Campus Climate
The second research question asked, “How do Black undergraduate males at a
predominately White Christian university perceive their campus climate relative to
racism and discrimination?” This section addresses the second research question and
explores the perceptions that the Participants have about the campus climate at Faith
University relative to racism and racial discrimination. What begins to emerge from this
section is the description of a specific sub-culture described in starkly similar terms by
virtually all of the participants. The consistent way in which the participants describe the
culture at Faith University is a strong indicator of the way in which they perceive the
campus climate.
At the time of the writing of this dissertation there are a myriad of events
involving police shootings of Black males resulting in riots and unrest in cities across the
United States. The police shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson Mo., the choking
death of Eric Garner at the hands of the New York police are just a few of the incidents
that have served to heightened tension regarding race over the past few years. University
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 75

campuses have often been the scene of social protest and support of the movements that
have sprung up in the aftermath of the tragedies. The “I can’t Breath” and Black Lives
Matter movements have gained significant support from concerned students of all races
and both genders on college campuses. Recently, on the flagship campus of the
University of Missouri student rallied in protest against University administrators that
they believe failed to adequately respond to a series of racial incidents on campus dating
back to 2010. Similar protests have taken place at Yale and Claremont McKenna.
The participants in this study frequently used to the term “the Faith (University)
bubble” to describe the campus climate. This was their way of describing the insular and
somewhat isolated nature of the culture of the university. The participants perceived “the
Faith Bubble” as a negative factor that inhibited the campus, and its agents from
identifying and meeting their social and academic needs. Spurgeon and Myer’s (2010)
study on the identity development of Black males at Predominately Black institutions and
at historically Black colleges and universities showed that identity development among
Blacks in predominately White spaces was slower and more inhibited than it was for
Blacks at HBCUs. Blacks at PWIs were also more likely to be isolated and act in ways
that suggested they did not need help or support form peers, instructors or other
institutional agents (Billings, 1993, Harper, 2009).
In their experience “the Faith bubble” is disconnected from the rest of the world,
particularly from race-based events and actions taking place elsewhere in the nation.
Already dealing with feelings of disconnectedness due to the significantly low number of
Black males on campus, the perceived apathy of the administration towards race-related
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 76

events only served to reinforce these feelings. When asked how he felt Faith University
students and agents respond to nation race-related issues Hollywood states:
I think it's something that is relegated to just mostly the people who already kind
of speak about that stuff. Namely a lot of other African American people or
people who at least show some type of empathy towards what African Americans
go through. So but I do think it is, there is the apprehension that I have
sometimes, especially when those kind of emotional, you know, things happen
like, you know, with different victims of, you know, brutality and violence and so
on and so forth. There is apprehension to want to address that. So there is a little
bit of a bottling up because I think it might potentially spark, you know, a
negative reaction or might, you know, start as a conversation or as a concern and
become, you know, this sort of just argument or debate which I try to like avoid.
It's like not a thing to debate about, right?
Hollywood went on to describe an interaction he had with his White roommates
about the Michael Brown shooting that took place in Ferguson Missouri:
I think it was at the time that Ferguson occurred. I actually talked to one of my
housemates who live off campus, in our own house, and there's seven of us and
I’m the only African American one in the house. So I remember talking to one of
my housemates, and it kind of started of as a conversation but turned into more of
a like racial debate, and I was trying to explain to him that everything that is
occurring or reoccurring, having everyone look at it now, is a byproduct of
something that happened in thee past. And he kind of saw it as current African
Americans who I guess he believes have equal status with everyone else, are
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 77

reaching back into the past and he used the phrase “holding up our chains” and,
you know, in my mind I am thinking like, you know, the chains are always going
to look like they are off, you know, wearing them, you know. So he had it from a
different, I think, maybe kind of skewed perspective of what was going on and I
am trying to look deeper into why these things happen and the fact that there is a
pattern going on, especially with these issues that we are seeing in the media
whereas he saw it as maybe an isolated event that has nothing to do with anything
that we have been through before and that we are using like a springboard to sort
of complain or talk about it.
What Hollywood is describing is an example of the way individuals in the
“bubble” can choose to view chronic issues as independent occurrences and by doing so
diminished their impact and importance. Once these incidents are categorized as isolated
events White students and other White institutional agents feel no responsibility to
address them. This is fact the affect of the bubble.
Hoops recalls the this response to an attempt to raise awareness about the Black
Lives Matter movement:
I don’t really see any responses to be honest with you. I mean sometimes they
have, like, they… when the Fergusson stuff happened, they put up flags and stuff
around the… by the bells. They put out a flier saying like, “Black lives
matter’’… like that, but I feel like that’s not really addressing the problem… like,
people are just walking by looking at it and then going back to their day is not
really…
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 78

Hoops example seems to reinforce the notion that what happens outside for the
Faith bubble is of little importance to the campus as a whole. This climate can be
alienating to Black males. Hollywood describes how he copes with the social campus
climate at Faith University:
You know I guess I just kind of talk to myself about it in my head and try to
process it and sometimes I have to step away from it. Because there just seems be
a huge proliferation in the media of, you know, lots of things going on with us, to
the point where I can get almost desensitized to it. So there are times when I need
to just like had to step away and can’t even, don’t want to talk about it. But I
mean I do find myself frequently talking to other African American people on
campus, you know, and having, you know, being able to kind of vent to them and
talk to them about these issues. So, yeah, I tried to process it by either just kind of,
kind of being introspective about it. And just, you know, thinking about it on my
own, or maybe engaging in conversation with someone else but that usually
doesn’t leave the realm of, you know, my friends and, you know, people I know
that are African American at least familiar with what is going on.
Suburbs, a first generation American born to Nigerian parents, seemed to adapt to
the campus climate at Faith University easier than the other participants. His responses
during the interview suggested that he perceived the Faith Bubble as being normative.
Notice how he describes the social campus climate at Faith University:
Then I guess student social life, you know there’s all types of groups on campus
whether you’re in a particular sports team, like girls volleyball or boys baseball or
a particular dorm that has a stigma, not a stigma, a reputation for being the study
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 79

dorm or the all girls dorm or what have you. So everyone belongs to at least one
or different social groups. There aren’t any clicks, that’s something I noticed that
I liked, there are not clicks of any kind and all social groups have an open door
policy I would say, which is really nice
Although it differs significantly from the other participants, there is no doubt that
this is an accurate picture of Suburbs’ experiences at Faith University. Another response
given by Suburbs could provide insight into understanding the difference in his
perception of the campus climate at Faith University:
There are few students on campus and I wish you would interviewer this
particular guy, his name is Samson, but he is catalyst for what Faith University
expects students to be and brings that out of students, because he’s a Muslim to a
Christian convert and so he’s a new Christian and is very dynamic in barely two
or three years. He’s a very, very good student, and he would have a very
interesting perspective. I’m Nigerian, he’s Nigerian also. And so you have
students like that who bring the best out of other students. They say you know
you’re doing well when people start acting better, once you start walking towards
them. It is a powerful statement. And there are some – I mean feel free to listen
to whatever music you like to listen to, but when Samson comes around even if
he’s not looking at your laptop you instantly pause and change to something else.
In describing Sampson’s impact on the students at Faith University Suburbs
highlights a few interesting things. First, he notes that Sampson in the type of student
that Faith University wants to develop – the type of student that others can immolate. I
can only assume that what Suburbs is referring to is the strength of Sampson’s
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 80

commitment to his faith and the way he in which he conducts himself. The other
interesting observation about Suburbs’ reflection on Sampson is that he also identified as
Nigerian. It is possible that both Suburbs’ and Sampson’s acclimation to the campus
climate could have been facilitated by the fact that they are both voluntary minorities
(Ogbu, 1993). As such, they would be more likely to embrace the dominant culture as
positive and empowering as opposed to suppressive or even oppressive.
Humble, a bi-racial student that identifies as Black had this to say about the social
climate at Faith University:
I guess I expected it to be easier to make social relationships with other people,
but in reality it’s more of like, I got the sense of – even though we are Christians
and we all love God and the same God, but it’s different when others see your
skin rather than they see your belief, like I feel that it’s easier for whites to get
along with whites, Asians get along with Asians and maybe blacks get along with
blacks, because I feel like most black people here don’t really socialize with other
blacks because they want to be – they feel like just because we’re black doesn’t
mean we have to get along with each other, it’s more of like I want to see if I can
get along with other races rather than my own race.
You can almost sense the struggle to “fit in to the Faith University culture” in Humble’s
reflection. You can also see the juxtaposition of his statements as compared to Suburb’s
comments about the absence of cliques on campus. I was particularly intrigued by the
astute way in which Humble describes the dissonance between the tenets of the Christian
faith and the reality of the Black male experience at Faith University. He asserts that
race, in a sense trumps religion when it comes to building relationships on campus. Once
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 81

again, this could create a climate on campus in which Black males feel an increasing
sense of disconnectedness and marginalization leading to behavior that can be interpreted
by others as being aloof disengaged. As an athlete Hoops has had to employ some added
strategies to overcome some of the stereotypical ways in which athletes can be viewed in
the classroom:
I don’t know. I think… yeah, going back to what I said earlier, I think they see
me… oh he’s just a basketball player. He’s just trying to get in and get his grade
and, you know, leave. But I remember our coaches actually got on me about this
to always sit in the front row and always being contact with my professors, let
them know who I am and let them know my schedule and that I am not just here
just to get a pass grade and just, you know, going about my day. I think some
professors have that mindset… oh he’s an athlete. So he must… he’s going to do
this… like, I don’t know. It may not be true, but that’s the mindset kind of.
Here is how Hoops describes how he might be perceived by his peers:
I feel they think I am not as educated as they are, because I am an athlete and I am
a student of color and especially playing basketball, I think basketball players
tend to have, like, this stereotype of the dumb ones I guess or even, like, football
players. Especially being, like an African American here with the majority of
people here being white, I think it kind of just adds on to that stereotype; but it is
interesting because this is supposed to be a Christian campus, but they are
definitely still it is like stereotypes and racism, things like that nature… yeah.
He also had an interesting insight into issues of race that occur outside of the Faith
Bubble can be easily dismissed:
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I feel like people just don’t want to hear that here, really. I felt that’s not their…
what they are focused on because I don’t think it’s been an issue for them,
because the majority of faces here are white or Asian. So I felt that’s not really an
issue for them; so I feel like they might not want to even hear anything. But I felt
like I can… if I need to, I will address the issue if a problem arises out of it.
When asked to comment on what he felt Faith University was more concerned with he
stated:
Yeah… internal, spiritual… to walk with the Lord. More so than, like, the outside
forces… things have… the world on the outside, because I think now that’s a
problem. I do think that’s a problem because people get so content with this.
They think this is like… life, but it really isn’t. Yeah, there’s stuff outside that’s
like… that deals with real life stuff, so yeah.
Talented’s involvement in some of the campus activities and groups that focus on race
and reconciliation seem to have inspired hope and optimism in terms of a shifting campus
climate that may be more conducive to Black males. Talented stated:
From my experience, on this campus, I've seen a very balanced approach. This
campus isn't afraid to discuss racial tension or micro-aggression. I don't know
exactly where that standing is and I think that the majority of that is negligence on
my own behalf. I happen to be extremely busy trying to catch up with grades and
I'm not available to attend some of the conferences and be a part of the multi-
ethnic department as much as I would like to. So, I kind of eat a lot of that
responsibility but I know that this campus has changed a lot since I have been
here. What I mean by that is I've seen some pretty ugly stuff here but I've also
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seen some pretty beautiful stuff, in the context of racial reconciliation. I believe
that there is definitely a pursuit of reconciling the issues and there's definitely a
space that is being provided for those discussions whether conflict or space for
asking questions. So, I appreciate that, although I'm not able to be as engaged as
I'd like to be.
Talented did however identify what still seems to be a signs of dissonance between the
campus climate priorities and what happens outside of the campus:
I say that there's not a full investment by the student body into these issues and
that's kind of what I mean by seeing some of the ugly side of this is because I
remember when Ferguson happened and black lives matter campaign hit the West
Coast, here there was kick back on this campus and the debate of all lives matter
versus black lives matter or just other debates that distracted from the main issue
that we should be in support of what's happening and we should have a discussion
of why these things are taking place – what can we do to equip ourselves and
prepare to have meaningful conversation and to reconcile people not just ethnicity
or racially but also to Christ because ultimately I believe that's what we are here
to do.
Mature, the thirty-two year old transfer student, talks about feeling disregarded by Faith
University financial aid personnel as he was trying to figure out how to stay in school.
I know you’re recording stuff. I’m not saying that I’m a blowup at school. That
is not what I’m saying, but at that moment, I was like, “I get it. I was just like,
“Okay. I’ll see where that frustration comes from,” because you’re walking and
you’re going – I know that there’s nothing wrong with me. I feel like but
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something is up and you have other people persecute me like, “You're just not
doing it.” No, I know I am. Then it was almost like, “I'm giving you a chance,”
like the frustration and then the depression and you just like, “Yow, somebody
needs to pay for this.” I think it hurt worst because you're walking out seeing
Jesus all over the place and you’re like, “Yow! I took the same quest as you did,
didn't you?” That kind of hurt a little bit.
It is evident by the participant narratives in this section that the campus climate at
Faith University presents identifiable challenges for participants in terms of having their
voices heard and finding their place within the social structures at Faith University. From
their responses they make the argument that the campus climate, described as “the Faith
bubble” inhibits students at Faith University from interacting with or engaging in national
and global events that deal with racism. In their opinion, if it doesn’t affect the dominant
group in the culture than it does not get addressed. This represents a painful reality for
most of the participant.
Thematic Finding: Spiritual Formation
The third research question asked, “What role does spiritual formation play in
shaping the academic and social experiences of Black undergraduate males at a
predominately White Christian university?” This section addresses the final research
question and seeks to understand the role of spiritual formation in shaping the academic
and social experiences of the participants. Rood (2009) argues that spiritual integration,
particularly among first generation college students is critical to persistence leading to
graduation. He asserts that spiritual integration helps students cope with feeling of
disconnectedness that may cause students to retreat emotionally and intellectually
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resulting in them dropping out of school. However, it is important to note that methods
used by institutions in the process of spiritual integration can be hegemonic in effect. As
will be seen by some of the participant observations in this section, activities like chapel
tend to reinforce dominant cultural values of worship while the absence or
underrepresentation of other cultural styles of worship effectively devalues them among
the students (Palmer & Maramba)
Schreiner (2000) states that students undergoing the process of spiritual
integration and development largely attribute their growth to their experiences on
campus. Engaging activities such as chapel, small group studies and spiritual mentoring
help students develop spiritually. One of the outcomes of these spiritually focus activities
is the students’ ability to examine their faith and values in the context of supportive
relationships. Mature observed this about the significance of being in a community
focused on spiritual integration:
Faith in God is a very interesting part of this campus because you have a lot of
students who come from all different walks. And what brings them together is
what we believe is the strongest bond other than your race or your nationality.
In this observation Mature alludes to the importance of bond of Christian faith as a
galvanizing force in a community. However, as a Black male he places its salience just
below that of race or nationality.
In the data collection process I wanted to explore how the participants perceived
the effectiveness of chapel and bible course had on shaping the campus climate in ways
that supported Black males. All Faith University undergraduate students are required to
attend chapel services during the week, as well as take a number of required courses on
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bible and theology. In fact, every Faith University graduate receives a minor in biblical
studies. Hoops observed:
I don’t think the Chapels here have anything to do with racism. I felt that that’s
not the thing they focus on. Really chapels are… I felt like it’s just… you got
like… people are out to get their credit and they have to come to chapel to get
their credit. I don’t think, like, the people who are preaching at the chapels are
trying to speak on that subject matter and I don’t think the students expect to hear
about that. But I do wonder if people knew that the subject matter will be on race,
if people would attend… yeah.
Hoops seems to infer that Faith University could be missing an opportunity to
integrate relevant topics like race into their process of spiritual development in so much
that chapel is a requirement, and the assumption is that most of the student body is in
attendance. Mature expressed his experience regarding student attitudes around the topic
of race or diversity in chapel:
On chapel, I know personally that students go, “Ah, it’s another diversity chapel
and so they already come in like diversity chapel. Being that you can kind of
choose which ones you can go to, you don't really even - if you don't want to have
to go. If you change one heart, you change once heart, but you already have such
a – most students I feel like a negative lookout on chapel that like it is like an
extra class. That even if something positive comes from there, you’re almost, it’s
going to do have to do so much more to overcome just the negative view of
chapel on and then just with the diversity part. I think that diversity is such – has
such a negative like connotation because your diversity and it almost feels like
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students are coming in like, “All right. You’re going to force me to look at this
too.” It’s diversity has become that word. I feel like, there should be more of a
biblical association to it.
Matures comments suggest that topics like race and diversity are viewed as
disparate from other topics that are typically discussed in Christian spaces causing some
students to actively oppose the introduction of the topic of race in these spaces.
Furthermore, Black males may be more prone to welcome such integration of race and
spirituality as opposed to White males (Herndon 2003). Herndon (2003) goes on to
argues that the integration of race and religion on predominately White campuses can
create a more welcoming space for Black males thus enriching their experiences and
increasing persistence. Humble who is biracial noted this about chapel:
Because I know like in chapels they have black individuals come and lead chapel
rather than like just constantly like, Caucasians that come in, there’s other races
than come and speak. I feel that that helps in the sense that they kind of get a
sense of like how other people like see the Bible and can view other topics in the
Bible rather than just like what Caucasians might hear on Sundays that seems
kind of like a sermon. But I feel that when let’s say a Hispanic or black speaker
comes I feel that it’s sort of – the Caucasians in the audience they’re kind of like,
they don’t tune in as much as if it was like a Caucasian that was speaking,
because I know that I remember one time there was a black speaker that was
coming in and like, I know that black speakers are more active when they’re on
stage and that’s something that I love, it’s like engaging. But, I know that a lot of
Caucasians are kind of like they’re not used to it. So it kind of like, I’m not going
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to go to that chapel because I don’t like the whole like liveliness, there’s more
very straightforward to like, okay you said you listen and that’s it. Rather than
like, with a black speaker I feel like it’s a more lively it’s more interactive and
that’s what I’m used to. So I feel that it’s a plus, if the people have that sense, oh
I’m going to go and I’m going to hear, but if they’re just like, it’s just a chapel
credit and I’m like I don’t want to go to that one because its not someone I can
relate to.
In his observation Humble refers to the fact that students at Faith University get credit for
attending chapel and they allowed to miss a number of chapel services each semester as
long as they collect the at least the minimum number of credits. Humble suggests that
some White students can use their allowed absences to opt out of chapel services when
they suspect that the speaker or topic falls outside of their traditional comfort zone.
However, because the preponderance of speakers tend to be White Black students can not
exercise the same option with the same relative frequency as Whites.
Also evident in Humbles comments is a somewhat inadvertent perpetuation of the
feeling that Black males have expressed of not being welcomed or not being a part of the
Faith University community. In a sense they can feel discriminated against when
speakers that look like them receive fewer invitations to speak or Black speakers receive
met with an apathetic or ambivalent response from White students (Davis, 1999, Harper,
2001, Strayhorn, 2008). Talented articulates what he believes to be a lost opportunity
regarding chapel. He observes:
I would think that what we're learning at Chapel, what was being presented to us,
is impacting us but I don't know that racial issues are brought up enough in
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Chapel or even if racial issues are the focus of Chapel's, which I think is another
conversation in itself. I know for certain the diversifying of worship is a response
to this deficit of reconciliation, the spaces that are being facilitated to have these
conversations are deliberate, there's an intentionality that is there. I know I'm
straying away from your question, but even the demographic of the student body
is changing and with that it almost forces the other, it forces the question of what
am I actually teaching the students, what am I actually presenting to them at
Chapel, can they even relate to it, or am I just saying stuff that is relevant to my
own culture? To my dominant culture, and I'm just representing one side of this
narrative? My own. And I think, of course I'm not a teacher or instructor, but I
think the teachers are forced to change their methodologies if they're audience
changes. There's a song by an artist I like his name is Propaganda and he talks
about the Puritan teachers, the Puritan preachers, that his pastor preaches from
and he talks about his inability to relate because of the reputation that they have of
owning slaves. And so of course Propaganda is an established artist and so forth
but that type of conversation is bound to come up when your demographic
changes. If someone is offended by what you're teaching them because they can't
relate to someone who used to own slaves and now you're teaching them and they
have a conversation with you I would hope that that conversation pushes you to
change the way that you deliver your information.
Another aspect of theme of spiritual integration focused on the spiritual
development of the participants. Herndon (2003) and Darcy (2010) suggests that the
process of spiritual development in the life of a Black male can foster efficacy in the
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areas of engagement and relationship building among their peers, and can mitigate the
effects of stereotype threat. Despite their views of effectiveness of chapel in shaping the
campus climate at Faith University, many of the participants felt that they experienced
growth in their faith during their time at Faith University.
Hollywood, a transfer student from a large and diverse public university noted
this about his experience at Faith University related to the opportunity to growth in his
Christian faith:
I haven’t gotten that type of spiritual emphasis on theology and just real practical
growth and understanding in life anywhere else like I have here. So I don’t think
I would have traded what I have learned theologically and existentially for
another school.
Mature also expressed his appreciation for the opportunity to develop his spirituality at
Faith University:
I’ve learned so much about myself, about my beliefs and I make sure to see where
I go from there. The person that I’ve become now, I can't argue with.
Despite the challenges experienced by many of the participants due to the culture
shock over the lack of ethnic diversity and a campus climate that is shaped by the
majority culture, each of the participants is persisting in their goal to graduate from
college. Although they did not perceive the Universities around spiritual formation to be
particularly effective in shifting the campus climate to more welcoming to students of
color they did acknowledge and express a sense of thankfulness for their own spiritual
formation.

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Summary
This chapter included a presentation of thematic findings that were drawn from
the data analysis as presented in chapter three. Profiles were developed to allow readers a
characterization of the research participants who chose to take part in this study. The data
analysis procedures were discussed and the emergence of themes was illustrated in a
narrative format.
The Black male participants in this study were selected based on there academic
standing at their institution. The goal was to gather the perspectives and opinions of
participants that had reached senior status at Faith University, which should insure that
they had experienced a variety of settings and had been involved in significant
interactions and activities with other students, faculty and administrators. All of the
participants in this study were seniors with the exception of Hoops who is a junior. He
was also the only athlete to participate in the study and the only participant that did not
transfer in from another institution. Four of the participants were transfer students from
the community college system and one transferred from a four-year public university.
All six participants did not visit Faith University prior to being accepted and all six
identified as Black or African American although one participant was a bi-racial Black
and Latino.

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CHAPTER FIVE: FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
This chapter provides an explanation of findings based on the analysis of the data
covered in chapter 4. The explanation of findings is anchored in the review of literature
provided in chapter two. The structure of the literature review provides a perspective of
Black males at secular, or non-Christian predominately White institutions and those at
historical Black colleges and universities in order to establish a backdrop for reflection.
The primary theoretical lenses used to explain the findings of this project are Stereotype
Threat theory and Spiritual formation theory. Harper’s (2009) contributions to the study
of the Black male experience at predominately White institutions also provides critical
insights that aid in the interpretation of the findings. There are 4 sections in this chapter.
They are (1) Explanation of findings by theme (2) Recommendations for future research
(3) Recommendations for practice (4) Conclusion.
Research Question One
The first research question asked, “How do Black undergraduate males at a
Predominately White Christian University describe their academic experiences?”
Participants in this study experienced a measure of surprise at the lack of diversity at
Faith University. None of the participants in this study participated in any type of pre-
enrollment visit to the campus and therefore had no way of anticipating the lack of racial
diversity of the campus. The feelings that they described when they arrived on campus
suggested that they were not only surprised by the lack of faces of color on campus, they
also described feelings of being outsiders or even intruders on the campus. Woodson
(1993) argues that Black males often experience the feelings of inferiority resulting from
centuries of negative stereotyping by White Americans. Steele (1997) posits that these
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feelings of inferiority can be accompanied by a strong sense of a preoccupying threat in
the air. The threat refers to the fear, on the part of Black males, of confirming the
pervasive negative stereotypes of them that are help by White Americans. Steele (1997)
found that stereotype threat could create a cognitive load that diminishes the intellectual
functioning and moderates the social interactions among Black males often leading to
academic and social disengagement. Harper (2001) and Strayhorn (2008) assert that
social disconnectedness is one of the leading contributory factors to stop out and drop out
decisions among Black males.
The fact that the participants did not engage in any type of pre-enrollment visits to
campus could also indicate that they had lacked adequate assistance in the college
selection and application process. Although this study was not concerned with whether
the participants were first generation, the fact that Black males make up less than 4.3%
for the 4-year college population suggest that they may lack sufficient mentoring in the
college-bound process, and that their help seeking skills a may be under-developed.
(Palmer & Marimba, 2011).
It is likely that all of the participants lacked adequate social capitol to develop and
implement a solid college section strategy, which none of the participants had (Holme,
2002). To a person, the participant’s choice to attend Faith University was based more
on chance and somewhat vague reasons than on strategy and intentionality. Hoops is the
only athlete among the participants and was recruited by Faith University to play
basketball. Although a few other schools recruited him he choose to attend Faith
University because it was closet to home and family. His process for choosing a college
was perhaps the most strategic of all the participants.
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Research Question Two
The second research question asked, “How do Black undergraduate males at a
Predominately White Christian University perceive their campus relative to racism and
racial discrimination?” Black males make up less than six percent of college students
enrolled at 4-year colleges and universities and they have higher reported incidents of
racial discrimination than any other ethnic or gender group (Davis, 1999). On
predominately White college campuses Black males often experience feelings of social
disconnectedness due to the lack of other Black male peers and the lack of Black faculty
and staff. These feeling of being on the outside contribute to low persistence and high
drop out rates among Black males (Harper & Nichols 2008; Lundberg & Schreiner 2004).
The lack of Black males on campus goes beyond social disconnectedness, Black males
can also develop coping behaviors that negatively impact their intellectual functioning
and their academic potential (Steele, 1997 and Cross, 1995).
At Faith University the students use the term “the Faith Bubble” to describe the
campus climate. The Faith Bubble is code speak for the dominate cultural norms that
shape the campus climate at Faith University; cultural norms that are not shared by the
majority of the study participants. The Faith Bubble acts as a cultural insulator that
protects the university’s students from unwelcome or irrelevant social dynamics that
occur outside of the bubble. The Black males that participated in this study described
feeling a pressure to fit in to the culture or risk being alienated by it. They also felt that if
they spoke up about current and social issues that were important to them that the feared
being labeled as radical or rebellious. These preoccupying sentiments surrounding
assimilation described by the participants are consistent with the effects of the nigger
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framework that Harper (2009) asserts most Black males are seen through. Black males
need to develop their identity in healthy and affirming environments in order to emerge
with a strong sense of self-efficacy in order to persist in school and in life (Cross, 1995).
From the perspective of the participants, the campus climate at Faith does more to
create a threating and adverse atmosphere for Black males than it does to foster inclusion
and healthy identity development. The campus climate inhibits positive campus change
in the areas of diversity and inclusion of underrepresented students university by reifying
the virtue of the cultural status quo among university leaders. As a result of this cultural
reification, the voices of those that fear being labeled as cultural decenters are muted and
thus eliminated from full participation in building and shaping a more inclusive campus
climate that represents to diversity of the student body (Harper, S. R., Patton, L. D., &
Wooden, O. S. (2009).
The more the participants feel disenfranchised by the campus climate the more
prone they are to the experience the effects of stereotype threat that extend beyond test
taking to affecting help seeking ability and academic engagement (Hurtado, S., Dey, E.
L., Gurin, P. Y., & Gurin, G. (2003). Participants also experienced feelings of
marginalization when it came to campus events that tended to represent the majority
culture more often than not. They specifically referred to the people invited by the
university to speak in chapel services that occur several times during the week. These
quest speakers, by number, tended to be overwhelmingly White, and the few times a
person of color was invited to speak the participants felt that White students were less
engaged or refused to attend altogether. In so much that Chapel represents an important
part of the Faith University’s identity as a Christian college, as well as one of its most
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consistent cultural expressions, the lack of diversity of speakers results in an oppressive
experience for most of the participants. In a sense, it is one more reminder that the
participants of this study are not full participants in the culture and that their overall
experience at Faith University is less fulfilling than their White counterparts (Shreiner,
2000).
The lack of Black male faculty and staff also play an important role in shaping the
campus climate at Faith University. The study participants reflected on how they
perceived White faculty members viewed their academic capability. They perceived that
they were viewed as less academically capable than they actually are. Although Black
males have used the negative views and low expectations of institutional agents to propel
them to work harder the perceptions shared by the participants served as demotivating
factors (Harper, 2009 and Frees-Brit, 1998). What these Black males are in search for are
the examples and affirmation of Black campus leaders that relate to their experiences and
that can serve as guides and mentors to validate their competency. Unfortunately, when
there is a lack of such examples Black males are forced to decide whether to attempt
cultural assimilation or hold on to their cultural identity and fight in isolation (Fries-Britt
1995).
Research Question Three
The third research question asked, “What role does spiritual formation play in
shaping the academic and social experiences of Black undergraduate males at a
predominately White Christian University?” Perhaps the most distinguishing aspect of
institutions like Faith University is the focus they placed on the spiritual formation of
their students. Ma (2003) defines Spiritual formation is defined as the process of
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becoming conformed to the image of Christ, for the purpose of fellowship with God and
the community of believers. The process involves a personal relationship with God the
Father, through a person’s dynamic faith and commitment to the Lord Jesus Christ, and
the regeneration of the Holy Spirit. The process also involves all aspects of a person:
heart, mind and spirit and develops mature Christian character in a Christian believer
over the course of a lifetime.
Based on Ma’s (2003) definition it is clear that there should be corporate, as well
as individual benefits that derive from the spiritual formation process. From a corporate,
or Church standpoint participants in the spiritual formation process should experience a
the sense of enhanced community bonding or belonging based on a deep understanding
of spirituality that is shared by others in the community. Among the study participants it
was widely perceived that the Faith Bubble served as a clear indicator of the community
bonding based on shared belief among White students and institutional agents. However,
the study participants did not necessarily feel a part of this spiritual community. Rather,
they felt excluded and at times marginalized by the spiritual community. In fact, some of
the participants articulated that they believed that spiritual formation served as a
hegemonic devise that reinforced dominant cultural norms as opposed to removing
barriers that promote racism and race related prejudice.
From an individual perspective the study participants had very positive
experiences regarding their own spiritual formation. Each of them entered their time at
Faith as born-again Christians. They came from homes where their parents were
Christians and where they attended church on a regular basis so, being in a faith
community was not unfamiliar to them. What was unfamiliar to them were some of the
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faith customs and traditions that are part of the Faith University culture. Traditions like
worship and music styles, and a type of world-view that seemed to exclude socio-political
events that were important to the study participants made it difficult for them to feel a
part of the community (Herndon, 2003; Shreiner, 2000).
Although the study participants experienced feelings of disconnectedness and
marginalization from the spiritual community at Faith University, they are all persisting
and are scheduled to graduate on time. Dandy (2010) argues the importance of
spirituality and religious community among Black males citing that it is a critical factor
in their persistence in higher education. Whether at a secular of religious school black
males benefit from spiritual support and mentoring from those in the spiritual
communities such as pastors, counselors and peers.
The participants in this study did not have a sense of belonging to the spiritual
community at Faith University, nor were they connected to a spiritual community of
campus. Nevertheless, they exhibited a strong personal faith and a focused sense of
determination to achieve their goal of attaining a college degree. Even in the absence of
a spiritual community if Black males are given the opportunity to practice their spiritual
beliefs resulting increased focus on goals such as degree attainment (Herndon, 2003).
Not only did the participants experience an increase in their spirituality, they also
experienced growth in their identities as Black males, and were able to develop the
requisite resilience to cope effectively with the reality of an oppositional culture (Dandy,
2010).

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Recommendations for Research
This qualitative study focused on the experiences of Black males at a single
predominately white Christian institution in the western region of the United States.
Although some of the findings in the study are similar to those found in other studies of
Black males at non-Christian PWIs it would be helpful to extend this study to include
additional Christian campus in other regions of the U.S. A broader study of Christian
PWIs would allow for comparison based on denominational affiliation of the institution
as well as other socio-cultural and demographic factors based on specific regions. It
would be beneficial to explore the ways in which spiritual formation practices and
processes are developed at predominately White institutions like Faith University since
most of the participants felt that the way in which Faith University approached spiritual
formation tended to alienate them rather than make them feel a part of the community.
Exploration and redesign of these practices and processes must extend beyond adding a
gospel choir or bringing in a speaker of color on occasion. This study demonstrated that
these types of approaches only serve to widen the cultural gap and often result in some
White students choosing to opt out of chapel services when they perceive that the topic or
speaker represents the experiences of historically underrepresented students; an option
Black males cannot exercise given that the majority of speaker and topics represent what
they perceive to be the majority culture.
It will also be useful to conduct research on the decision making process that
Black males use in determining which college to attend, especially when at least one of
the schools being considered is a predominately White Christian school like Faith
University. Only one of the participants, Hoops, had a specific motivation for attending
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Faith University, and none of them visited the campus prior to their move-in date.
Therefore, they were not aware of the racial demographics of the campus, especially
those related to Black males. Subsequently, each of them experienced what this study
describes as culture shock when they arrived on campus. Hoops stated:
It’s definitely been a journey. For a freshman, like I said before… coming in was
a shock to my system and so I had to adjust to everything coming out of High
School, a Public High School… coming in to this Christian campus, Christian
community, taking Bible classes. So that was, of course, difficult for me.
It is possible that the extent of the culture shock could have been mitigated if campus
agents and the participants would have taken steps to undertake or promote opportunities
for social and cultural orientation prior to their official arrival to campus. This idea will
be explored in the recommendation for practice section.
Another recommendation for research would be the experiences of Black women
at predominately White Christian schools. There were a number times though out this
study that Black women expressed an interest in participating. They voiced their concern
over the increased focus on their male counterparts, and of feeling overlooked at the local
and national level. There were also points in this study when the participants compared
their experiences on campus with that of Black females. These perceptions were not
explored because they were not the focus of this study.
The final recommendation for research would be to explore the White
administrator’s perceptions of the campus climate at Faith University relative to the
institutions mission. Much like the experiences of students of color at other
predominately White institutions, the participants in this study feel like the students are
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more aware, and therefore care more about, racial issues on campus than do the
administrators, and that institutional rhetoric does not line up with it’s actions. The
participants also believe that campus administrators tend to reinforce the Faith University
cultural bubble through their ambivalent or, in some cases non-response to current and
critical social events involving race.
Recommendations for Practice
The primary recommendation stemming from this research project is the
establishment of a comprehensive institutional initiative that focuses on improving the
outcomes of Black males at Faith University and that in line with President Obama’s
Excellence in Education for Boys and Men of Color Initiative. Initiatives like this are
being implemented on secular campuses across the U. S. and there is a growing amount
of imperial data that attest to their success. However, at the time of this project there is
only one institution with in the CCCU that has this type of an Initiative for Black males.
Harper and Kuykendall (2012) developed a standards-based approach to improving Black
male achievement that could serve as a guide for developing an initiative at Faith
University. What follows are a few specific recommendations related to a Black male
initiative at Faith University.
It seemed as though the participants in this study had been waiting for an
opportunity and invitation to voice their perceptions about their experience at Faith
University. It was as if they were saying, “its about time someone asked me this!”
However, each of them approached this opportunity without malice or ill intent. Rather,
they provided their perspectives with passion and a hope that their input would be used to
shape a campus climate wherein all Faith University students would thrive. In light of
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their willingness to participate in shaping campus climate, it would be useful for campus
administrators to intentionally provide Black males, and other traditionally marginalized
groups regular and repeated opportunities to speak from their experiences, especially
when they differ from the dominant cultural norm. Not only will these opportunities
increase the self-efficacy of Black males, they will also provide an opportunity for them
to develop a deeper sense of community and affinity with other Black males that
otherwise might not occur; something that Humble eluded to during his interview:
I feel like most black people here don’t really socialize with other blacks because
they want to be – they feel like just because we’re black doesn’t mean we have to
get along with each other, it’s more of like I want to see if I can get along with
other races rather than my own race.
Another recommendation for practice is to provide mentors for the Black males at
Faith University. Although research has shown cross-cultural mentoring to be beneficial,
it yields lower results for Black males when compared to those mentored by Black male
staff or faculty (Cuyjet, 2006; Harper, S. R., & Kuykendall, J. A., 2012). Unfortunately,
institutions like Faith University do not have the numbers of Black male staff and faculty
to serve as mentors. At the time of this study Faith University had only one full-time
faculty Black male faculty member and less than ten full-time Black male staff. If Black
male enrollment, persistence and graduation are expected to improve, it is imperative that
Faith University revisits its commitment to its to recruiting, hiring and retaining Black
male faculty and staff.
This study determined that the participants experienced feelings of
disconnectedness for the broader student body; most of them stated that they did not feel
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 103

like they were a part of the community. Therefore, promoting meaningfully engagement
of Black undergraduate males, as collaborators and experts, in the design,
implementation, and assessment of campus wide initiatives such as chapel themes can
result in increased levels of inclusion, satisfaction and sense of belonging on the part of
Black males. Black male engagement can also serve as a model for developing
opportunities to engage other marginalized groups on campus.
Conclusion
Although this study differs from previous studies, in that it explored the influence
of the spiritual formation dimension on the Black male experience at a predominately
White Christian, it supports previous findings on the experiences of Black males at
predominately White institutions (Cuyjet, 2006; Harper, 2006, 2009; Harper and Nichols,
2008). Therefore, continued efforts must be made by institutional agents to incorporate
the voices and experiences of Black males at Faith University in order to improve the
academic experiences and social outcomes of Black males at Faith University.

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 104

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Appendix A
Interview Protocol
Study: To better understand the roll of spiritual formation in the academic and social
outcomes of Black males at predominately White CCCU schools.

Research Questions:
1. How do Black undergraduate males at a Predominately White Christian
University describe their academic experiences?
2. How do Black undergraduate males at a Predominately White Christian
University perceive their campus relative to racism and racial discrimination?
3. What role does spiritual formation play in shaping the academic and social
experiences of Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian
University?

Date ___________________________

Time ___________________________

Location ________________________

Interviewer ______________________

Interviewee ______________________

Release form signed? ____

Introduction script:

Thank you for your participation. My name is Edgar Barron and I am the Chair of
the Leadership and Organizational Psychology department Azusa Pacific
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 114

University, and a Doctoral student at the University of Southern California. I’m
conducting a study on how Black male students perspectives on how spiritual
formation shapes their academic experiences and outcomes. I believe your input
will be valuable to this research and in helping to deepen the understanding of this
important aspect of the higher education experience. What you say in the
interview will be held in confidence and your participation is voluntary. I will be
recording the interview to ensure I capture all the information you share.
Approximate length of interview: 45 - 60 minutes (provide the information sheet)

Research question:

How do Black undergraduate males at a Predominately White Christian university
describe their academic and social experiences?

Interview questions:

1. Please tell me your name, year in school and major.
2. Why did you choose this institution?
3. What were you’re expectations coming into this institution?
4. Have there been any differences between your expectations and your experiences?
If so, please explain
5. How do you feel about the level of academic and social supported offered by your
institution?
6. Do you feel like you are a part of this community?
7. If you had to choose again would you choose to attend here? Why? Why not?
8. Describe your high school experience?

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 115

Research question:
How do Black undergraduate males at predominately White Christian university perceive
their campus climate relative to racism and racial discrimination?
Interview questions:

1. Where do you believe your institution stands on the issue of racism and racial
discrimination?
2. In what ways have you seen your institution respond to race related issues that
have occurred in places like L.A.; Ferguson, Missouri; N.Y.; Charleston N.C.
etc.?
3. How do you believe your professor’s view your academic capability?
4. How do you believe your peers view your academic capability?
5. Have you experienced racial discrimination or bias while at this institution?
6. Do you feel that you are able to speak up about race and racial discrimination?
7. Have you ever had to speak up? If yes, tell me more about this?
Research question:
What role does spiritual formation play in shaping the academic and social experiences of
Black undergraduate males and predominately White Christian university?
Interview questions:
1. The bible says that God created humans in His image and likeness; what do you
believe that means related to racism and racial discrimination?
2. Has that been your experience here at this institution?
3. Do you believe the way this institution talks about and deals with race is different
from a non-religious school? If so, why?
BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 116

4. Do you think the fact that students at this institution take bible classes and attend
influences how they view racism and racial discrimination? If so, why? Why not?
5. Do you believe that the closer one gets to God, the better that person will treat
others?
6. Do you think racism can exist in a Christian community?
7. Is there anything else you want to tell me that you have not had an opportunity to?

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 117

Appendix B
Information Sheet
University of Southern California
Rossier
School
of
Education

Waite
Phillips
Hall,
Suite
300
Los
Angeles,
CA
90089-‐4033

INFORMATION SHEET FOR NON-MEDICAL RESEARCH

Exploring
Black
male
academic
outcomes
and
social
experiences

You
are
invited
to
participate
in
a
research
study
conducted
by
Edgar
Barron,
Doctoral

Candidate,
under
the
supervision
of
Alan
Green,
PhD.,
at
the
University
of
Southern

California,
because
you
are
a
Black
male
undergraduate
aged
18
years
or
older,
at
Biola

University.
Your
participation
is
voluntary.
You
should
read
the
information
below,
and
ask

questions
about
anything
you
do
not
understand,
before
deciding
whether
to
participate.

Please
take
as
much
time
as
you
need
to
read
this
information
sheet.
You
may
also
decide
to

discuss
participation
with
your
family
or
friends.
You
may
keep
this
form
for
you
records.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The
purpose
of
the
study
is
to
explore
how
Black
male
undergraduates
at
Biola
University

perceive
in
the
influence
of
Spiritual
formation
on
their
academic
outcomes
and
social

experiences.

STUDY PROCEDURES
If
you
volunteer
to
participate
in
this
study,
you
will
be
asked
to
participate
in
a
45
–
60

minute
interview
based
on
the
purpose
of
this
study.
The
interview
will
take
place
at
a

location
on
Biola’s
campus
and
will
be
audio
recorded
with
your
permission.

POTENTIAL BENEFITS TO PARTICIPANTS AND/OR TO SOCIETY
You
may
not
directly
benefit
from
you
participation
in
this
study;
it
is
hoped
that
this
study

will
obtain
the
Black
Male’s
perspective
of
the
influence
of
the
Christian
community,
or

spiritual
formation
on
their
academic
outcomes
and
social
experiences

CONFIDENTIALITY
Any
identifiable
information
obtained
in
connection
with
this
study
will
remain

confidential.
Your
responses
will
be
coded
with
a
false
name
(pseudonym)
and
maintained

separately
from
any
identifiable
data.
The
audio-‐tapes
will
be
destroyed
once
they
have

been
transcribed;
identifiable
data
will
be
destroyed
completion
of
the
research
study.

The
members
of
the
research
study
team
and
the
University
of
Southern
California’s
Human

Subjects
Protection
Program
(HSPP)
may
access
the
data.
The
HSPP
reviews
and
monitors

research
studies
to
protect
the
rights
and
welfare
of
research
subjects.

When
the
results
of
the
research
study
are
published
or
discussed,
no
identifiable

information
will
be
used.

BLACK MALE ACADEMIC OUTCOMES 118

PARTICIPATION AND WITHDRAWAL
Your
participation
is
voluntary.
Your
refusal
to
participate
will
involve
no
penalty
or
loss
of

benefits
to
which
you
are
otherwise
entitled.
You
may
withdraw
your
consent
at
any
time

and
discontinue
participation
without
penalty.
You
are
not
waiving
any
legal
claims,
rights

or
remedies
because
of
your
participation
in
this
research
study.

ALTERNATIVES TO PARTICIPATION
Your
alternative
is
to
not
participate
in
this
study;
your
relationship
with
Biola,
or
USC

Universities
will
not
be
affected,
whether
or
not
you
participate
in
this
study.

INVESTIGATOR’S CONTACT INFORMATION
If
you
have
any
questions
or
concerns
about
the
research,
please
feel
free
to
contact
Ed

Barron
via
email
at
ebarron@usc.edu
or
phone
at
(626)
815-‐6000

RIGHTS OF RESEARCH PARTICIPANT – IRB CONTACT INFORMATION
If
you
have
questions,
concerns,
or
complaints
about
your
rights
as
a
research
participant
or

the
research
in
general
and
are
unable
to
contact
the
research
team,
or
if
you
want
to
talk
to

someone
independent
of
the
research
team,
please
contact
the
University
Park
Institutional

Review
Board
(UPIRB),
3720
South
Flower
Street
#301,
Los
Angeles,
CA

90089-‐0702,

(213)
821-‐5272
or
upirb@usc.edu

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The purpose of this study is to explore the academic outcomes and social experiences of black males undergraduate students at a predominately White Christian university. A narrative inquiry approach will be used to in this qualitative study to collect data from the participants. The study is designed to examine the perspectives of Black males through the power of their stories and to understand the influence of spiritual formation practices on their outcomes and experiences. The following research questions guide this study: ❧ 1. How do Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian university describe their academic experiences? ❧ 2. How do Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian university perceive their campus climate relative to racism and racial discrimination? ❧ 3. What role does spiritual formation play in shaping the academic and social experiences of Black undergraduate males at a predominately White Christian university? ❧ Six students voluntarily participated in in-depth interviews conducted on their campus in a mutually agreed upon and secure location. A demographic profile of the participants is provided in chapter four. Interview data are transcribed and subsequently analyzed to facilitate the development of themes. The themes that emerged are as follows: (1) Culture Shock, (2) Campus Climate, and (3) Spiritual Formation. The themes are analyzed and the results discussed. A discussion of the findings, along with recommendations for research and practice conclude the study.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Barron, Edgar Dale (author)

Core Title The academic experiences and social outcomes of Black males at a predominately White Christian university

School Rossier School of Education

Degree Doctor of Education

Degree Program Education (Leadership)

Publication Date 04/25/2016

Defense Date 03/17/2016

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag Black males,OAI-PMH Harvest,Spiritual formation,stereotype threat

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Green, Alan (committee chair), Baca, Reynaldo (committee member), Jun, Alex (committee member)

Creator Email ebarron@apu.edu,ebarron@usc.edu

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c40-242892

Unique identifier UC11277108

Identifier etd-BarronEdga-4374.pdf (filename),usctheses-c40-242892 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-BarronEdga-4374-1.pdf

Dmrecord 242892

Document Type Dissertation

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Barron, Edgar Dale

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA