Renowned HBCU researcher and policy expert Marybeth Gasman recently interviewed one of her summer research assistants for her regular Huffington Post blog. The assistant, a high-achieving African-American female from Philadelphia, revealed that culture and social expectations were major factors in her choice to attend predominantly white UPenn over an HBCU.

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There are many social and moral debates that people can have about the watching and making of pornography, but few can argue about the basic tenets of what makes the industry profitable and lasting.

It’s the selling of sex; a basic human need that everyone wants, everyone needs, and is socially taboo enough to push the average, well-intentioned person into a tug-of-war between passing curiosity and outright addiction.

Pornography grosses billions of dollars a year, despite having federal laws and advertising restrictions that limit its visibility to the masses. If they want to find it, people young and old can find a way to get to a store, website or channel that will deliver the goods.

On a far less morally questionable scale, so goes the way we approach HBCU social culture. Students and alums relish sports, homecoming, parties, Greek life and all the fun things that flavor the college experience. These elements attract students from around the country, and bring alumni back to campuses with carefully crafted engagement resources planted within events.

But a look at any common HBCU website or talking points from leadership conveys no connection to the parties and celebrations that enrich the black college culture.

Why shun the elements that make HBCUs culturally unique and appealing? Why present HBCU value and omit the long-standing social structure that, outside of the universal “do you have my major” and “can I afford this place” questions, is a top predictor of enrollment and retention?

Why do we pretend that HBCU “porn” doesn’t exist?

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[mpoverlay]Historically black colleges and universities have had a rough few weeks in the national media. Morgan State University finds itself on the heels of a five-day international coverage blitz of murder and cannibalism charges levied against a former student. Florida A&M University remains a national news fixture more than six months after the hazing death of Marching 100 drum major Robert Champion.

Both are legitimate, newsworthy stories that have been logged internationally with biased perspectives as a result of their local reporting. Regional papers frame these schools through the physical placement of the stories online and in print, misrepresenting images, unbalanced use of quotes and statistics, stinging editorials and blog content with racist rhetoric in reader comments all to present an unbalanced idea of failing leadership, fed up students, and detached alumni of the schools and HBCUs in general.

Technology has strengthened the reach and appeal of both the city-wide daily and the 24-hour cable or Internet news machine. The evolving definition of media literacy, and the new danger of media influence against HBCUs and Black Americans demands increased advocacy for fair coverage, or at least a louder call to support responsible black media outlets with readership and financial support to better cover our institutions. Media leverage and representation must become a new focus of the modern civil rights movement, and must be driven by tech-savvy, media immersed black youth.

It’s reasonable to expect HBCU students to lead this charge for a new and respectable media agenda for Black America, but they must take their cues from the groups best equipped to lend resources and trusted voices to the media fight – tenured black advocacy organizations.

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[mpoverlay]There’s plenty wrong with Black America’s media agenda. Our most prominent figure in cinema and television rose to prominence through cross-dressing, Bible-thumping and gun-toting. The only thing shrinking faster than newsrooms across the nation are the number of African-Americans working within them.

Of the media outlets owned and operated by black people, a disparate percentage of them are dedicated to themes and images that largely degrade and devalue the African-American lifestyle and experience.

But in the midst of these issues that required immediate attention 25 years ago, the greatest threat to the black media agenda is the depiction of the HBCU student. Sex tapes, cafeteria brawls, drug use and hazing are the dominant, inaccurate themes representing black scholars from historically black colleges in new media and quickly creeping into mainstream themes.

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