Wrought out of the persistent question, “Are HBCUs still relevant in the 21st century?” the panelist laid out solutions for the way ahead for these storied institutions.
Dr. Ivory Toldson, director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs, recalled a story from HBCU patriarch Dr. Norman Francis, who recently retired after 47 years at the helm of Xavier University. Francis was asked when he took over Xavier shortly after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed whether HBCUs were relevant then — in 1968.
“We cannot realize any of our goals as a nation without HBCUs thriving. HBCUs matter more today than they ever have,” said Lezli Baskerville, president and CEO of the National Alliance for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education.
“There’s no question around whether HBCUs are relevant. The question is why don’t you know that HBCUs matter,” asked Sekou Biddle, vice president of advocacy for the United Negro College Fund.
Dr. Earl S. Richardson, president emeritus of Morgan State University, said that HBCUs must be able to attract the top talent among African-American students, as well as continue to support those who may not be given an opportunity to receive an education elsewhere.
“We need to attract our share of the best and the brightest, which enables support for marginal students,” Richardson said, acknowledging that HBCU populations are often “now skewed towards the marginal student, which is not the history of HBCUs.”
