Yale to Revamp Ethnic Counselor Program for First-Year Students

Yale University recently announced that it was phasing out its ethnic counselor program for incoming freshmen. Heretofore, there were 90 residential counselors and 13 ethnic counselors whose responsibility was to help black and other minority students adjust to campus life.

Under the new plan, all freshman counselors will be trained to handle the duties now performed by Yale’s ethnic counselors. The new group of counselors will be charged with making their students aware of the many cultural resources on campus as well as helping students with mentoring and other support services available on campus.

George Levesque, dean of freshman affairs, says that the change should be welcome by incoming minority students. “What we’re talking about is increasing and broadening the support for students whose social and cultural adjustment is the greatest,” he told the Yale Daily News.

It appears that Yale’s move is in response to litigation that has challenged programs earmarked for a particular racial or ethnic group.

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