Washington — When a small group of spirited clergy, Black-college presidents, deans and community leaders came together for an early morning session at the national conference of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) on a recent Saturday morning, they did more than pray and render hearty amens.
The leaders of the nation’s Black churches and church-related colleges and universities concluded that what’s been ailing Black churches and Black colleges is the divorce that has shattered their longstanding union.
“The Black Church and the Black college together constitute the real, authentic, affective difference. Not one or the other, but the two combined,” said Dr. Clarence G. Newsome, dean of the Howard University School of Divinity.
But somewhere around the “mid-20th century,” said Newsome, “a sad thing happened. We began to see a move toward a divorcing of the church from the college and the college from the church. With catastrophic results.”
