ATLANTA — It’s noon and Dr. Kevin E. James has already done two interviews and is gearing up for a third. James — the newly appointed interim president of Morris Brown College — is on a mission to restore the historically Black college to its glory days.
Those were the days when the private Atlanta-based institution founded by the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church churned out civil rights leaders like Hosea Williams and Pulitzer Prize-winning writer James Alan McPherson.
Today, the 138-year old college has been struggling to stay alive, seventeen years after it lost its accreditation due to a financial mismanagement scandal.
But James, who started in March, has taken on a herculean task of reconnecting the college back to its central mission, where social justice was at the heart of the institution.
In the process, he is working hard to get the school accredited again, grow the student population and raise the necessary funds to keep the lights on and the doors open.
“It’s been my goal to be a college president of an HBCU for many, many years,” says James, who was sitting at home watching the news when he learned that Dr. Stanley Pritchett had announced his resignation. He immediately got in touch with the AME church to see how he could apply.
“Just knowing the history of all the ups and downs of Morris Brown, I felt that the school needed some youth and some energy,” says James, who has used social media to chronicle his efforts.
