Within days after Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and his wife Patty Quillin pledged a total of $120 million to the United Negro College Fund and two of Atlanta’s historically Black colleges, another HBCU became an indirect beneficiary of that philanthropic gesture.
“We were so inspired by the recent gifts to Spelman and Morehouse — and that they each received $40 million — and we looked at that and said ‘well, we can do that too, we have the resources to do that,’” Bob Fockler, president of the Community Foundation of Greater Memphis, told Diverse after announcing the foundation’s $40 million gift to LeMoyne-Owen College in early July.
Following what Fockler called “quick approval” by the foundation’s board, he
called LeMoyne-Owen’s interim president, Dr. Carol Johnson-Dean, with the news.
“I was in tears,” she told Diverse several days after the announcement. The unexpected windfall came at a critical time for the 800-student college facing multiple setbacks due in part to the COVID-19 shutdown and in part to ongoing financial issues.
As an institution largely serving students from low-income and first-generation college families, Le Moyne-Owen was attempting to steady itself after a contentious leadership change a few months earlier that resulted in Johnson-Dean’s appointment.
“Like all historically Black colleges, we have struggled with financial challenges over the years,” Johnson-Dean said. “The persistent challenges that are faced in the African American community in this country also affect our students.”
