Norfolk State University offers childcare supports, not just for their students but for their surrounding community. Delaware State University used its Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF) to be one of the first institutions to pay off student debt.
These are just some of the ways that historic Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) continue to address inequity, mentioned by panelists gathered by The Hope
Dr. Donna Patterson Center for College, Community and Justice at Temple University in Philadelphia.
Together, scholars, researchers, and journalists spoke about the importance of higher education as a way to address inequity, the weight of racial justice work, how the pandemic clarified or exacerbated inequities, and the solutions HBCUs were able to find thanks to the funding support provided by the CARES Act and HEERF.
“We need to internally and externally building up the foundation, level the playing field. HBCUs are so important in terms of who goes to them, who they educate, and helping lift educationally and economically," said Dr. Donna Patterson, professor and chair of the department of history, political science and philosophy at Delaware State University. "Such an impact is felt on not just the student but the student’s family.”
Journalist Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, national higher education reporter at The Washington Post, discussed the disparity between the collective endowment of HBCUs and the worth of a single endowment at a private, Primarily White Institution (PWI). At the end of fiscal year 2020, the collective endowment of every HBCU was $3.9 billion, far less than the endowment at New York University, Douglas-Gabriel’s alma mater, which is worth $5.8 billion in 2021.
Schools with ambitions to become R1 research institutions, said Douglas-Gabriel, were initially barred from applying for grants to help them build the facilities necessary for top tier research.
“While there’s progress being made, there’s a long legacy to disentangle what is owed to these school,” said Douglas-Gabriel. “It’s time to atone for putting our segment of schools at a disadvantage intentionally.”
