THE CRISES IN HBCUs: A MUST READ!!! One of my FB friends suggested that the current problems at HBCUs were new and republican-generated. I responded with the following. The issue of the condition of HBCUs is not a new one. Nor is it an issue that can be explained away simply by accusing Republicans. There are any number of partial explanations for our condition. We did not get this way overnight. In fact, many argue that most HBCUs were not established with our interests in mind in the first place. Surely, conservative state governments play a role. In states like Louisiana, the Republican governors select the members of the public HBCU boards; they certainly are not seeking political diversity when they do that. Historic underfunding also plays a role in the condition of HBCUs. But some of the responsibility lies within the walls of these institutions. For example, we are notorious for poor financial management in the business office AND in the financial aid office. I am aware of one HBCU wherein an administration misappropriated more than $20 million in Title IV funding. Look at the recent findings at one of our institutions in Alabama. We also have many HBCU boards that enjoy micromanaging. I am aware of a board president who overstepped his bounds and personally fired a coach after the athletic director and campus CEO had decided to retain that coach. We are also known for our unwillingness to cross-train employees. I am fond of the illustration of an HBCU student going into the registrars office to seek a copy of their transcript and being told that they should come back next week--because the person who prints transcripts is on vacation. Shouldnt everyone in the registrars office be able--and willing--to print a transcript for a student? Curriculum is another issue. Like other institutions, HBCUs have some good academic programs and some programs that are not so good. But on many of our campuses few people seem to be concerned about improving the quality of our programs. Also on the topic of curriculum, why is it that in order to study black studies one is often left with a predominantly white institution as the only choice? Why are we afraid to have such programs on our campuses? Often the prohibition comes right from the top--the campus president or chancellor. On one campus, an African American librarian--who was opposed to having black studies on her campus--asked what could a student do with a degree in black studies? My response was that they could do what any other bachelor degree recipient could do; they could go to graduate school in library science and become a librarian. My point was twofold. First, there is little that one could do with only a liberal arts degree in 2013 anyway. Second, most black studies programs have a broader liberal arts curriculum than other liberal arts degrees. Another issue is that we do not value our own African-centered scholars, many of whom have had outstanding careers at predominantly white schools, but would not be welcomed at many of our HBCUs. We have major issues with our athletic programs that take away from the ability for us to adequately finance the academic programs and to pay our faculty a reasonable salary. Ironically, while these programs take away from our academic programs, they, too, are grossly underfunded. The only reason other HBCU athletes have not protested more (as the Grambling football team did recently) is because we convinced students after the 1970s that they do not have collective power. (Boy, were they fooled!) We are also guilty of wide scale nepotism. I am not talking about adequately qualified people being hired because they know someone; I am talking about TOTALLY UNQUALIFIED people being hired because they know someone. I can imagine some readers arguing that the things that I have described happen on all campuses. First, that may be true; in fact, it is true. But as your mother told you (or as your grandmother told your mother) you have to be better than white folks in order to have any level of success. We are still in an environment wherein people are discriminated against in part because of the color of their skin. We dont have any wiggle room where we can play around; we have to be at our best ALL THE TIME. Second, the discussion is with regard to HBCUs; what does it matter that other folks do the same things on their campuses? I am also conscious of the fact that some of my FB friends will be critical of my washing our dirty laundry in public. Trust me, people in other communities know more about what is happening on our campuses than many of us do--and theyre laughing at us. Kofi Lomotey AN HONORABLE ELDER! Blessings!
Posted on: Wed, 23 Oct 2013 23:50:03 +0000