Oklahoma Senate Moves to Cut Langston Satellite Campus in Tulsa
Written by HBCU Digest, Posted in Breaking News, Langston University, Oklahoma
More than 30 years after committing to end racial inequality in its systems of higher education, Oklahoma has renewed its efforts to underfund and marginalize Langston University, the state’s only historically black college. Yesterday, legislators in the Oklahoma Senate passed two bills authorizing Oklahoma State University to duplicate an existing undergraduate accounting program at Langston’s satellite campus in Tulsa, and effectively ending a law requiring Langston have a campus in the city.
The arrogance of the vote is not surprising given today’s divided political climate and strained economic outlook for education. However, there are few contemporary instances of unchecked discrimination against HBCUs by state governments. In a few weeks, a decision will be issued in a federal lawsuit against Maryland for duplicating programs and underfunding its four historically black colleges, and could net the institutions more than $2 billion in back funding from the state.
That decision will likely fall in line with federal decisions in cases like US vs Fordice, and Knight and Sims vs. Alabama, recent cases that have yielded millions for black colleges, but have not nearly closed the disparity gap between the public HBCUs in Mississippi and Alabama, and their predominantly white peer institutions.
The Langston bills, authored by Republican Senator Brian Crain, are viewed as a direct act of defiance against the state’s federal agreement with the Office of Civil Rights, which outlines Oklahoma’s need to encourage diversity in its higher education system by funding and developing competitive programs at Langston. Oklahoma is current in negotiations with OCR to figure out ways in which it will affordably comply with the federal directive, an order which the state has yet to meet since its signing in June 2009.
It will be pretty hard to comply with a federal mandate to support Langston when half of its legislature has moved to copy one of its signature programs in the region at its flagship PWI, and to effectively end Langston’s run in Tulsa after 33 years of being the first university in the state to annex into the city.
Langston fills a unique role in Oklahoma as a university that meets the academic and cultural development needs of African-American students from the state’s rural and metropolitan areas. It is a national resource in goat research, and a valued federal partner in agricultural development in the state and beyond.
Geographically and culturally, Langston is an outlier as the most western-situated black college campus in the United States, and like black colleges in West Virginia and Ohio, is often forgotten in the national discussion on black colleges. These bills are a hot topic in Tulsa, but have yet to reach the national discussion on discrimination against public HBCUs. Given the problems with legislative assaults on HBCUs in Louisiana, Mississippi, Maryland, Florida and Georgia, Oklahoma now appears fit for adding to the HBCU watch list against HBCU threats.
In two weeks, the Oklahoma House will decide the fate of LU’s Tulsa campus. Some close to leadership at Langston believe that awareness of undermining attempts against the program in Tulsa will be enough to stave off any effort to cut Langston out of the area. It is harder for state governments to outslick HBCUs, but every attempt must be met with pressure from all HBCU supporters and campuses, because the Oklahoma legislature is betting that most supporters nationwide aren’t even aware that there was an HBCU in Oklahoma to kick around in the first place.
For 116 years Langston has stood alone in this red State as an institution whose mission is to educate students who would possibly not otherwise have an opportunity to go to college.” That mission is as strong now as it was in 1897. We are still relevant; we are still needed and we are still standing.
Not surprising to hear this type of news again concerning a hbcu and its problems to maintain itself.People want these hbcu’s to go away so blacks will have to go to the pwi’s if elgible to attend.Let’s face it racism still around this country.PWI’S need the blacks on their campus to increase the money,cause like us they can’t survive with just one race on campus,or on the playing field.This also shows blacks better get it together at these hbcu’s before we get blackballed into nonexistence.
Langston has provided opportunities for many who may not have gone to college and many more who saved money and achieved their goals. It is the lowest-priced four year school in the state and continues to have its students score well on exit/license exams (98% Phys. Ther…higher than OU), (100 percent on the nursing national license exam), 88 percent of chemistry majors go to grad school and these folks continue to try to underfund/shut down Langston.
I teach at a PWI in Oklahoma. Let me tell you, the racism here is the covert type. I have more respect for Klansman in many instances, because at least he is up front with his.
Part of the problem is that many of these Okies have had little to no contact with ethnic minorities and they think the media fueled and erroneous stereotypes are fact. AND alot of them think us Negroes need to stay in our place.
As an HBCU product I hope Langston keeps on trucking. If some folks have their way it would close alot of doors for Black Oklahoma residents to get an affordable education.