Black College Presidents Want In on Completion Agenda
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Posted By: Stacie Coulter on June 24, 2011 By Inside Higher Ed: The nation’s historically black colleges and universities need to assume a far more active role in the national push to get more students to complete their degrees, a group of HBCU presidents said Thursday. "We need to be much more aggressive in taking the lead in setting the agenda," Walter Kimbrough, president of Arkansas' Philander Smith College, said at a news conference in Atlanta during a seminar organized by the Southern Education Foundation. "We are going to have to make a break from some of our historical ideology and looking at ourselves in a defensive posture." Greater participation of HBCUs in the larger public debate will become only more urgent, many speakers noted, because of the shifting demographics of the student body. Kimbrough cited preliminary 2010 U.S. Census data showing that the majority of babies born in the U.S. over the past two years were not white. "By 2019 there’s not going to be one racial majority in this country," said Kimbrough. And, several speakers said, with nearly one in five black college students attending an HBCU, these institutions have a lot to contribute to conversations about how these students can succeed in higher education. But, even amid consensus that HBCUs need to increase their expectations of students and welcome the push for accountability, several speakers lamented the funding environment. "You have these two trains running," said David Wilson, president of Morgan State University, in Maryland. "You have the college completion goal, and we’re not investing in the students we need to achieve that goal." More: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2011/06... If you enjoyed this article, Join HBCU CONNECT today for similar content and opportunities via email! |
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Stacie Coulter
Executive Assistant , Member Since September 2005 |
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