Many HBCUs are actively recruiting non-Black students to increase diversity awareness and promote a multicultural learning environment. Do you think that this will help or harm the educational / social landscape of HBCUs, or will it not really make much of a difference?
In think even within just the realm of Black people, HU is still VERY diverse. There are students from all over the Caribbean, Africa, Latin countries, and from various parts of the US. Just because the majority of us are Black, doesn't mean we all share the same "culture" per se. So I think even without recruiting outside of the race, there is still the ability to have a diverse atmosphere.
Granted, we do have a population of non-Black students...and i'm not saying I am against them in any way. If they feel comfortable here and they believe that this is where they belong...I'm down with it. Being at an HBCU is all about understanding the Black experience and who we are as a people. If a non-Black person is interested in educating themself in that area, I think that is a beautiful thing...and i'm quite flattered that they would take advantage of that opportunity.
When posing this question, it is imperative that you understand that (at least from what I've seen at HBCUs I've attended or visited) many HBCUs aren't just simply taking in more students that aren't black, but they're taking in more minorities in general. Even at North Carolina A&T, there are numerous That's not to say that white people are being turned away, but given that HBCUs are generally smaller than most predominantly white institutions, even if they have the same numbers in minorities (raw, not percentages) as those institutions, they make up a greater percentage of the student population. Hence, at a Historically Black College or University, your chances of having a largely multicultural student interaction are greater. Given that a number of students at any given HBCU have had very little interaction with people of other races and/or cultures, and that their chances of having a truly multicultural experience (and not just dumped in a school with a bunch of white folks) are greater, it means that their college career is ultimately a better one. That's not to say that someone couldn't have the same experience at a PWI. In many cases, the minority populations at many of those schools are very close knit. However, would you rather have an expeirence where you're a small niche at a larger school, or have a whole school made up of a rich cultural population? It seems to me like a population that is overall rich in culture would be the best choice across the races and not just for black students.
It'll help create an environment more similar to the real world.Its not just black and white anymore. We are competing with Chinese, Russians, Nigerians, Indians, Spanish....we need to see this. I am totally for it. We need to learn how to appreciate education again, because lord knows we don't value it as much anymore.
