Is the Fading HBCU Landscape a Sign of Progress? (Part 2)
on October 6th, 2004 at 8:47 amI think that I want to continue this discussion because I think there is a lot here that should be discussed.
It was mainly African-American churches and communities that founded many of the HBCU’s that we have today. Both the AME and the Black Baptist Church traditionally carried the financial burden for these schools. If you fast forward to today, you will see that the church’s role financially has greatly decreased due largely in part of low giving by the parishioners of these church institutions.
As one of my readers pointed out, one of the problems that many HBCU’s have been plagued with is the inability to hire solid administrative leaders that have the understanding and experience to either keep them fiscally sound, or to bring them out of the red so that they can be fiscally sound. In part one of this posting, I gave the example of how FAMU had to recently deal with this same issue. I also mentioned how Clark Atlanta University not too long ago lost their accreditation because of bad administrative decisions in the past. There are other schools that have either already closed, or are well on their way. Bill and Camile Cosby can only do so much to stop this trend that has been going on for sometime now.
What is directly tied to the financial stability of these schools is the quality of education these students need in order to be competitive within the global marketplace. For many of these schools, access to the latest in technology, as well as the quality of on campus dorms is a few steps behind from most of colleges across the US. Let me stress that not all HBCU’s are in financial dire straits. However, if we look at the trend over the past decade or so, the possibility of continued longevity looks bleak.
Again, going back to the comment from one of my readers, there is also a need to develop a culture in which graduates of HBCU’s keep some type of financial commitment (beyond school loans) to these schools. Most mid-size to large predominately white colleges have well established programs in which graduates can have an active part in raising funds for school. Although it is true that these schools receive federal monies, they also have their graduates that they can rely on for some type of financial commitment.
Question: Is this a case in which the government needs to bail certain HBCU’s out of debt? If so, how would that fix the problem of poor administration that some of these schools may currently have in place?
Question 2: How do you convince African-American people, who, according to our recent track record, have a difficult time investing in something in which there is no immediate or personal benefit (It was not always like this. Our previous generations knew and practiced the value of investing in the future, even though they themselves would not be around to benefit in any way)
On a personal note, within my family, I have graduates from Fisk, North Carolina A&T, Claflin, and Livingstone College. So this issue is something that is very dear to me. As far as the initial question “Is the Fading HBCU Landscape a Sign of Progress?“, based on the reason why HBCU’s were established in the first place (to give Blacks the opportunity for higher education in a time which we were not accepted in the “other” schools), I do not know if a solid plan for longevity has ever been in place. Clearly, we do not live in that time period anymore as Blacks are permitted to enter any school we wish.
Very interested in hearing what you have to say on this one.
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