The number of Minority Peer Counselors for the 2006-2007 academic year will fall from 25 to 20, the Third World Center confirmed Wednesday. The reduction coincides with a proposal to remove MPCs from the Residential Peer Leaders system and place them under the jurisdiction of the Third World Center and the Office of Campus Life and Student Services.
Two of the 20 MPCs will serve as MPC Coordinators, while the rest will be regular MPCs. When the MPC Steering Committee unveiled possible changes to the program at a March 8 information session, members indicated the total number of MPCs could fall to just 10.
The lower number of MPCs was the most contentious part of last week's information session, and a majority of questions and concerns raised by the students at the session addressed the issue. This reduction is due to the MPCs moving out of the RPL system and thus losing funding from the Office of Student Life. After the change, all funding for the program will come from the Office of Campus Life and Student Services and the TWC.
Eldridge Gilbert '05, a former MPC Coordinator, reacted strongly to the reduction.
"The idea that MPCs will not be a part of the RPL structure has been discussed for some time, but in all my years I never thought that the consequence of moving out of the RPL system would be to drop 10 people from the roster," he said.
Gilbert called the drop in numbers "a slight to the Third World community," and said it will make the job of an MPC much harder while decreasing the level of diversity resources on campus.
In a letter to alums dated March 9, Karen McLaurin '74, associate dean of the college and director of the Third World Center, wrote, "There is no effort to downsize the TWC or cut our budget."
McLaurin addressed reasons for the reduction, stating, "The number of 10 MPCs was initiated by me as the appropriate number to begin this new program platform. This number has been interpreted as a diminishment of services which was neither my intention nor the case."
Instead, the MPC Steering Committee was told when the proposal to remove MPCs from the RPL program was first being conceived that any changes should provide a higher level of service than what is currently available, according to David Greene, vice president for campus life and student services.
"With 20 students committed to 100 percent of the activity, you get a much higher level of support," Greene said, referencing the fact that many MPCs say 85 percent of their job currently mirrors that of a Residential Counselor.
The proposal to move MPCs out of the RPL program is an attempt to shift the focus of the position away from first-year unit-related responsibilities to serving a larger segment of the Brown community. This proposal has not yet been officially approved, Greene said.
Greene spoke positively of the new system, stressing in particular that having 20 MPCs instead of the 10 originally proposed will better serve the Brown community.
Cassie Owens '09 agreed with the new proposal and with the increase in the number of MPC positions allotted for next year. "The proposal sounds really, really good," she said. "There are a lot of messes that will have to be worked out, but that's true with any new program." She added that the new program would have difficulty operating with only 10 counselors.
Rakim Brooks '09, however, was more hesitant about the proposal. "I'm personally dissatisfied with why MPCs moved out of the RPL program," he said, explaining that the move out of the RPL system means the MPC program will lose a lot of funding and resources in terms of personnel and administrative support. He also expressed disappointment at the drop in the numbers of this year's MPCs from 30 to 25.
"The fact that they were willing to reduce the numbers to 10 (at first) reflects the fragmentation of the Third World community. ... I don't know if Brown has less commitment to the Third World community, or if there's less funding than there used to be," he said.
