At that time, the word Posse was a hip word in the youth culture. It meant a group of friends who look out for one another, who 'back one another up'. One particular student stated that year, that if he had had his Posse with him, he never would have dropped out. It seemed an incredibly simple idea. Students from the city experiencing the culture shock of an out of state campus would then have a built-in support system.
Posses are groups, each made up of ten students from diverse cultural and economic backgrounds.
Posses act as traveling support teams and help to ensure that Posse Scholars succeed and graduate from college. In addition, Posses work with their partner universities to change the cultural climates on campus, and to increase interaction between culturally diverse groups.