Ogretta McNeil Emerging Scholar Lecture Series

Snapping Fingers for Anthony Jack

The ballroom was packed and students were occasionally snapping their fingers in approval for the Harvard professor in the ballroom.   Education professor Anthony A. Jack, author of the book “The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students,” pressed Holy Cross students to ask the question:  What does it mean to be a poor student on a rich campus?”  Jack who counts himself as coming from a poor segregated community in Miami, Florida highlights the reality that for poor students, getting into college is only half of the battle.  Access to education, he implies does not translate to inclusion.  Admissions to schools, Jack emphasizes do not result to social acceptance.   

Jack spoke about the experiences of doubly disadvantaged students – those who attended distressed public high schools and lacked the cultural capital valued in mainstream institutions.  Implying how poor students are often left on their own and set to unlikely succeed, Jack notes how stumbling blocks to student success are often associated with college policies that hurt lower income students.  Jack spoke about the phenomenon of a “hidden curriculum” – a system of unwritten rules or unspoken expectations that are normally made less accessible to all.  He questions the use of the term “office hours” which students can apparently misconstrue as the professor’s time for private work.  Why can’t “office hours” be called “student hours?” Jack suggests.  It doesn’t help, he observes how signing up for help and support has become stigmatized.  There’s a lot that colleges can do, Jack implies to mitigate the phenomenon of hidden economic and social statuses that comes with peer pressure and needs to belong.           

     

In her response to Anthony Jack’s presentation, psychology major Oluchi Ezemma (Class 2022), who attended the program with her friends notes how the talk was very relatable.  Oluchi confirms how some of her peers indeed struggle to set appointments with faculty or have not heard of “office hours” even before.   While Jack offered tools for students from different backgrounds, the talk Oluchi notes can be a source of learning for school decision makers as well.  Oluchi appreciates Jack’s message of how schools can work to be more receptive to the needs of students.  

The October 28 Anthony Jack talk was part of the “Emerging Scholar Lecture Series” held to remember the legacy of Holy Cross associate professor emerita of psychology Ogretta McNeil who held the distinction of being called the first African-American woman faculty of the college.  She helped organize the African Studies concentration and the Holy Cross chapter of the Phi Betta Kappa honors society while serving as an adviser to the Black Student Union and ALANA student organizations.  The symposium was organized by the Office of Multicultural Education together with the departments of psychology and education and the Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

As part of the Ogretta McNeil lecture series, OME likewise invited last November 12 UMass-Amherst's director of Intercultural Teaching and Faculty Development Amer F. Ahmed to speak on the topic:  "Healing, Justice and Inclusion: Skills and Strategies for Campus Inclusion in Tumultuous Times."