"We want to double the number of African-American and Latino-American males that make dean's list here at Cornell," said Alex Muir '10, co-president of The LINK: Men's Alliance, to more than 100 people attending The LINK's Academic Collaboration Event (ACE) at Appel Community Center Aug. 30.

Only 75 percent of black male students at Cornell graduate in six years, according to Cornell Deputy Provost David Harris, compared with 89 percent of black women and 92 percent of all students. The LINK: Men's Alliance, a student organization that helps African-American and Latino-American males transition into the challenging and sometimes intimidating atmosphere of Cornell, has set a goal to close that gap.

"Underachievement is of particular concern," co-president Nicholas Chavez '10 said.

To help young minority men at Cornell, The LINK has launched the "Make It Happen" scholarship and mentorship program to encourage African-American and Latino-American males at Cornell improve their grade-point averages.

The program pairs first-year minority men with upperclass minority male students in the same field of study to serve as mentors and talk about study skills, important classes, time management and work/life balance. The student pair that achieves the highest combined grade-point average this academic year will receive a scholarship, which is still in its fundraising stage.

"The best thing I could have ever done was come to this event [my freshman year]," said Olamide Williams '10, a LINK executive board member, adding that his participation in LINK and the ACE as a freshman helped him earn a 3.7 grade-point average his first semester at Cornell.

Attendees were also advised by various speakers to access the many resources at Cornell, research which classes are most appropriate for them to take, learn from trial and error, go to professors' office hours and branch out and meet all types of people, "because education has no color."

This was the first year female students were invited to attend the event. "We felt that this program should be for the community, and so we opened it up to everyone," Chavez said.

"A lot of the mistakes I made in my academic career could have been avoided if I had attended an event like this when I was a freshman," said Danielle Samuels '12.

Marissa Duncan '09, now a Cornell engineering graduate student, said she was all for giving students dos and don'ts to succeed at Cornell. "The scholarship is a great idea, a great incentive for the students," she said.

Attendees also heard from Harris on the status of diversity at Cornell and from Renee Alexander '74, director of the Office of Minority Alumni Programs, on informing minority alumni about undergraduate life at Cornell and their fundraising efforts.

"These students are being proactive about being more engaged in their academic achievement and their outcomes," she said, adding that LINK members are taking it upon themselves to do something about the academic struggles of minority men at Cornell. "This is a great thing."

Graduate student Marcus Walter is a writer intern at the Cornell Chronicle.