ATLANTA, Ga. — First, the bad news: Amid the nation’s ongoing recession, Historically Black Colleges and Universities, or HBCUs, continue to battle budgetary restrictions, diminishing resources and crippling education policy changes. Now, the good news: They can employ creative strategies to overcome them. That was the overarching message conveyed at a United Negro College Fund, or UNCF, town hall meeting held in Atlanta last week.
Presidents Dr. Julianne Malveaux of Bennett College and Dr. Carlton Brown of Clark Atlanta University, or CAU, respectively joined Dr. Forrest Moore, executive VP, Knowledge, Management and Education Liaison for America’s Promise, Etienne LeGrand president of the W.E.B. DuBois Society and independent researcher Dr. Jacqueline Fleming, in the panel discussion at the Omni Hotel.
Panelists offered an array of solutions — from beefing up community and corporate partnerships to seeking diversified funding sources — as ways to tackle the problems that show no sign of subsiding.
“For the first time in U.S. history we’ve reached a point where the younger generation is worse off than the generation before it [in regards to educational outcomes],” Moore said. “That’s not acceptable. We need to get back to the idea that we are willing to fight for our children to be educated. Expectation for our [African-American] children is at an all-time low in our community.”
The forum was part of the November 9-11 UNCF Institute for Capacity Building conference, which brought together representatives and supporters of “special-mission institutions” to explore ways to sustain, grow and even thrive in a rough economy.
Malveaux opened with commentary about the impact that a decline in federal and state school funding is having on higher education.
“When K-12 is not adequately funded we [at HBCUs] have to deal with remediation with our students,” she said. “It’s all connected.”
