Letter: Bring data approach to COD board

The Lumina Foundation just released a report called "Balancing Act: The Trade-offs and Challenges Facing Black Students in Higher Education." Lumina surveyed 12,015 U.S. adults and recorded that in addition to diminishing enrollment for black students over the last decade, students who did enroll in higher education faced the challenges of discrimination and financial struggles. "The data is sad and distressing, but the fact that we now have the data, we can't hide and say we don't know anymore" said Courtney Brown from the Lunina Foundation.

During this April's municipal and school elections, there are two open trustee positions for the College of DuPage board. The first name that will appear on the ballot for DuPage residents is Haroon Atcha. Haroon is an alum of COD, and he has already been analyzing the trends of students who graduate from the college. On average of 12.75% of black students graduating from College of DuPage (collegetuitioncompare.com), and it is time to employ a scientific approach to increasing the number of students who complete their studies in DuPage.

In his day-to-day life, Haroon is a data scientist who analyzes data to assess the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. These are the skills Haroon will bring to the board as a trustee. Haroon has earned the endorsement of the Friends of Education 502, College of DuPage's faculty association.

To paraphrase a recent interview, Haroon made the statement that if two students drop from a class of 30, it is a student problem. If 50% of the class drop, it is an instructor problem. And if 80% of the student population do not make it to graduation, it is an institutional problem. Haroon plans to bring data to change this trend. This April, vote No. 1, Haroon Atcha for College of DuPage trustee.

Martin Dunne

Lombard