Scholars, sitting presidents, practitioners, and higher education leaders gathered virtually for the Black Leadership Across Campuses Summit, focusing on what organizers called the "health and well-being" of historically Black colleges and universities at a pivotal and politically turbulent moment for the sector.
The daylong convening, hosted by the Center for the Study of HBCUs at Virginia Union University and co-organized with the Center for Engaged Research and Collaborative Learning at Rice University, drew participants from across the country to examine funding disparities, presidential leadership, student mental health, institutional sustainability and the broader economic role HBCUs play in their communities.
Dr. Roderick L. Smothers Sr., executive director of the Center for the Study and Preservation of HBCUs, framed the gathering's urgency plainly.
"HBCUs remain among the most important educational institutions in America, and yet they continue to operate within a complex financial, political, and social environment," Smothers said in his opening remarks. "Too often, our stories are told by other people. Today, through the work of the center, we are committed to ensuring that the scholarship about HBCUs is produced by us, for us, and with us."
Keynote speaker Dr. Brian K. Bridges, former secretary of higher education for New Jersey and former vice president of research and member engagement at the United Negro College Fund, offered a sweeping assessment of the sector, arguing that despite persistent structural inequities, HBCUs have more momentum than at any point in their history.
"I would posit that HBCUs have more momentum now than ever," said Bridges. "My question is: how do we accelerate that forward motion further?"
Bridges also did not hold back about the obstacles facing the institutions, citing data showing that HBCUs received less than 1 percent of the approximately $60 billion in federal research and development spending distributed in fiscal year 2023. Of the 43 federal agencies that distributed R&D funds to institutions that year, 17 — nearly 40 percent — did not allocate a single dollar to an HBCU.
"The gains in federal funding in recent years do not ameliorate the historical trend," Bridges said, noting that federal research dollars as a percentage of overall higher education spending at HBCUs remain below levels from more than 15 years ago. He also cited a 2024 survey finding that the average deferred maintenance bill at colleges and universities stands at $96 million — a particular burden for chronically underfunded institutions.
The endowment gap between HBCUs and predominantly white institutions is another obstacle. Bridges noted that the five largest PWI endowments total approximately $190 billion, while the five largest HBCU endowments combined amount to just under $2 billion, a gap approaching 100 to one.
Despite the structural challenges, Bridges highlighted what he called "signals of upward movement," including post-COVID enrollment gains. HBCUs saw a 7 percent enrollment increase between 2020 and 2023, outpacing the national rate of roughly 1 to 2 percent during the same period. Unprecedented philanthropic investments, including unrestricted gifts from MacKenzie Scott to numerous HBCUs and new Carnegie research classification upgrades, rounded out what he described as a promising, if incomplete, picture.
He pointed to a recently published study in the Journal of the American Medical Association finding that the culturally affirming environments of HBCUs contribute to better cognitive health outcomes in later life for Black adults, including superior memory and verbal fluency compared to Black adults who attended PWIs.
"These institutions continue to have an outsized influence and impact," Bridges said. "This is just the tip of the iceberg."
A panel of HBCU administrators and scholars drilled down into institutional practice, identifying strong leadership, mission clarity, and diversified revenue as the hallmarks of the sector's most resilient institutions.
Dr. Verna Orr, executive vice president and chief of staff at Benedict College, argued that the financial challenges facing HBCUs are not the product of institutional mismanagement.
"The financial challenges that HBCUs face today are not the result of institutional mismanagement or lack of vision for the most part," Orr said. "They are the predictable consequence of a system that was never designed to fully resource us in the first place."
Dr. Patrick Martin, provost and chief academic and research officer at Johnson C. Smith University, cited a UNCF study estimating that HBCUs contribute more than $16 billion annually to the national economy and called on institutions to more assertively position themselves in state and regional economic development planning.
“We, as HBCUs, have to begin to galvanize that and understand that and make ourselves part of the investment that our states, our regions, and our country look at when they look at future leaders and the future workers of this world," Martin said.
Mental health consultant Xavier Woodson, founder of The Different Consulting, presented data showing a 45 percent increase in depression and a 170 percent increase in anxiety among Black college students between 2021 and 2023. He cited findings that 54 percent of HBCU students report unmet needs, compared to 41 percent nationally.
"In order for us to develop our students, in order for us to develop our campuses, we have to create systems and set systems in place for us to be successful," Woodson said, calling for proactive crisis response teams and trained support staff across campuses to supplement overburdened licensed counselors.
Dr. Terrell L. Strayhorn, professor of education and psychology and director of the Center for the Study of HBCUs at Virginia Union University, broadened the mental health discussion to include faculty and staff, noting that institutional wellbeing cannot be reduced to student outcomes alone.
"Our students, our faculty, our staff, our contract staff, our alumni are carrying enormous weight," Strayhorn said. "I was doing some consulting work with a president recently who said the challenge of her leadership is this: she is leading exhausted people."
A panel of sitting HBCU presidents brought the discussion from research to lived institutional practice, offering candid assessments of what it takes to lead in the current environment. The session, moderated by Smothers, featured Dr. Rosalyn Clark Artis, president of Benedict College; Dr. Glennell Lee-Pruitt, president of Jarvis Christian University; Dr. Maurice Gipson, president of Philander Smith University; and Dr. Herman Felton, president of Wiley University.
Asked what qualities they most seek in the people who comprise their leadership teams, the presidents converged on a common thread: mission alignment, work ethic, and genuine commitment to students.
"I hire for three things: smart, kind, hardworking," said Artis, who has led one of the most widely cited institutional turnarounds in the HBCU sector. "This is serious work, and our students deserve our very best efforts."
Gipson, in his first year as a president, said he has already seen what happens when that commitment is absent.
"You have to be dedicated, you have to be committed, because this road will not be easy," he said. "We need people who are really going to stay. Stability only comes when people stay."
Lee-Pruitt framed the work in explicitly moral terms.
"This is freedom fighting," she said. "Education is social justice. And so you have to have some understanding that what we're doing is not just impacting the lives of these young people, but it's impacting the lives of families and communities."
Felton offered what he called "context, conviction, and commitment" as the essential framework. "The conviction is being clear that your purpose and passion has aligned you here," he said. "If you are looking to create an impact, then that conviction will drive you."
On the question of what institutional health indicators matter most, the presidents again coalesced around human capital — particularly faculty — as the foundational variable. Felton argued that the talent already exists within HBCUs and that the greater need is sustained investment in developing it. Gibson pushed back, contending that HBCUs must also actively recruit world-class faculty to remain competitive and expand their research capacity.
"If we're really going to train students for tomorrow's world, we need more, not less," Gipson said.
On presidential leadership qualities for the current moment, Artis said that courage tops the list, including the courage to push back against boards, resist institutional mission drift and acknowledge personal limits.
"It requires wisdom and bravery to say, 'I need a minute,' for me to be thoughtful, healthy, and whole, for me to make good decisions for this institution," she said. "That takes courage, for those of us — particularly Black women — who wear the cape."
In a fireside chat that drew some of the summit's most animated audience response, Dr. Charlie Nelms, the former chancellor of North Carolina Central University, offered a half-century of perspective on what ultimately determines whether an HBCU thrives or falters.
His answer was unequivocal: governance.
"You cannot have a strong, sustainable institution with a mediocre board," Nelms said. "And you will not have a weak institution with a strong, effective board."
Nelms, who has spent the last 12 years working in the governance space with the Association of Governing Boards, argued that most presidential instability at HBCUs, and across higher education, traces back to board failures, not candidate failures. Asked bluntly who bears responsibility for poor presidential fit and short tenures, he did not hesitate.
"The board," he said. "The most important role of a board is to recruit, retain and support an effective leader. If you can't get that one right, you're not going to be able to get the curricular thing right, the student success piece right, the finances right,” he said.
Nelms returned to themes that resonated throughout the day's sessions, saying purpose, integrity, communication, and courage are all traits that are crucial to the job of leadership. He cautioned that vision without focus is an illusion, and that presidents who wait to see which direction a crowd moves before leading are not leading at all.
"You have to want to do it for the right reason," he said. "If you're not purpose-driven, you shouldn't go near a university presidency."
Smothers said the summit is part of a broader effort to define a 10-year HBCU research agenda, with the center soliciting input from scholars, graduate students, and practitioners in attendance. Priority areas under consideration include HBCU leadership challenges, enrollment strategies, food security, climate justice, global relevance, and the long-term vitality of institutions in an increasingly hostile political environment.
"The future of HBCUs depends not only on the strength of our institutions," Smothers said, "but also on the strength of the ideas, the research, and the leadership that support them."
