In March, the Thurgood Marshall College Fund held a conference for HBCU leadership and stakeholders to address mounting media pressure against HBCUs. The call was for members of the HBCU reservoir of influence and affluence to find defense against conservative attacks on HBCUs, with editorial voices questioning the value, merit and sustained necessity of these minority-serving institutions.

John Silvanus Wilson Jr., executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs, delivered keynote remarks on this “attack,” calling for HBCUs to define their value proposition within the thrust of “undignified publicity.” Dr. Wilson collected the title of his remarks from a 1917 study on the condition of HBCUs, and surprisingly, offered an equally antiquated and mismatched approach to stemming the tide of negative press against black colleges.

Dr. Wilson pinpointed components responsible for painting the HBCU experience in negative pop cultural hues. High drop out rates, academically unprepared enrollment, crumbling physical infrastructure and scarce financial aid were all identified as timbre for anti-HBCU rhetoric. He trumpeted President Obama’s challenge for America to again lead the world in the production of college graduates, and the requirement for HBCUs to be empowered partners in the attainment of this goal.

He touted academic and cultural justifications to help HBCU leadership spur philanthropy and mainstream interest in their schools, challenging them to stop seeking pity for historic mistreatment, and to start shouting out stories of excellence in spite of.

His remarks, coupled with the Initiative’s unremarkable response to critical issues of merger, funding disparities and program duplication indicate a woeful federal outlook on HBCU preservation and development missing its greatest challenge and opportunity.

Reconnection with the African-American community.
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