Minority-Serving Institutions Find New Technology Advocates
Tech funding is one of several higher ed bills before Congress.
By Charles Dervarics
When the new U.S. Senate opened for business in January, it didn’t take long for minority-serving colleges to find a new sponsor for a
$250 million technology bill for historically Black colleges, Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges.
The bill to help address the digital divide at minority-serving institutions won new life in the chamber thanks to Sens. Gordon Smith, R-Ore., and John Kerry, D-Mass., who stepped in as the new sponsors of the measure. U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., will also champion the measure with U.S. Sen. John Warner, R-Va.
For several years, the bill’s main advocate was Sen. George Allen, R-Va., who lost a close re-election bid to Webb in November. A few African-American leaders had supported Allen for re-election, citing
his support for this bill, even after the senator faced criticisms of racial insensitivity after remarks made to one of Webb’s campaign workers.
The Minority Serving Institution Digital and Wireless Technology Opportunity Act has had a complicated history, occasionally winning support from the full Senate but never reaching the White House. In the last Congress, the plan again cleared the Senate but never made it past a committee vote in the House.
