Black colleges often fail their students
At three of the five HBCUs in Virginia, more than 70 percent of the entering freshmen do not graduate.
By B. DAVID PECK
THE U.S. NEWS and World Report’s ranking last month of the nation’s best Historically Black Colleges and Universities is a depressing reminder of how poorly Virginia’s African-American students are served by these anachronistic schools.
At three of the five HBCUs in Virginia, more than 70 percent of the entering freshmen do not graduate. Only Hampton and Virginia State did better. Because the ranking and the criteria used to compile the list were determined by the presidents and administrators of the black colleges, there is no way to compare the education received by these graduates with all the other colleges.
In the September/October issue of the NAACP magazine, Crisis, black educators comprehensively critique the HBCUs. Considering that they describe many problems that threaten the survival of these colleges, their suggestions for reviving them are sophomoric. “The to-do list is fairly clear,” the academic leaders say. “Schools need to learn how to market and recruit in this highly competitive post segregation era.”
The presumption is that HBCUs can improve their chances of survival if they better communicate their socalled unique ability to educate African Americans. But the applicants need reassurance that if they attend those universities, they will be able to compete in our ever more technologically advanced society; they will be able to contend for the best jobs; and after receiving a diploma, they will be equipped to build and sustain a middle-class standard of living. Until most of the HBCUs can demonstrate that they can provide a competitive educational product, better marketing will not enable them to defend their abysmal record.
The implication is that prospective applicants can be enticed by the empathetic environment found at these black universities, a renowned athletic program or testimonials from famous alumni. An anecdote in the same Crisis article should dispel this notion. It reports that when 3,576 scholarships, averaging $10,000, were awarded to black students, less than 25 percent of them chose to attend an HBCU.
If the students’ decisions were influenced by their African-American parents or guidance counselors, why did three-quarters of them not choose an HBCU? These intelligent consumers were dismissive of banal mission statements and could care less whether or not these hoary institutions survive. They were prepared to commit their time and resources, but only if the colleges could prove that the students’ education is their top priority.
During my six years on the Board of Visitors at Norfolk State University, considered one of the “best” HBCUs by U.S. News and World Report, it was clear the students’ education was not the top priority. The needs for more effective teachers, for resources dedicated to remedial education and for better management of the financial resources were apparent.
At my last meeting with then-President Harrison Wilson in the late 1970s, he did not deny that other priorities were, to him, at least as important as the individual student’s education. He emphasized the significance of non-academic programs to the alumni and for the prestige of the college. As for the replacement of ineffectual teachers, department heads who continued to fail to achieve accreditation, and dismissal of incompetent administrators, he told me, “If we did not employ these folks, they could not get similar jobs at other state colleges.”
When my resignation was reported in the newspaper, then-Gov. Dalton asked me for an explanation. I told him that the president was primarily responsible and should be held accountable, and that the State Council of Higher Education provided no oversight. Continually underperforming colleges should be closed; and the funds earmarked for those schools should be used instead to subsidize students who wish to attend a successful HBCU or a nearby statesupported college. The governor told me that no one from any other college — neither alumni, teachers nor administrators — had such complaints or would support my suggestions.
In the 1970s, I failed to make a difference for the students at one HBCU. Thirty years later, according to the U.S. News report, the best HBCUs continue to lose many thousands of aspiring menandwomen before they have completed their studies.
It is time to learn why so many African-American freshmen who sought to continue their educations did not get what the colleges and the state promised to provide, and to decide what we intend to do about it.
B. David Peck, of Richmond, was appointed to the Board of Visitors of Norfolk State University by Gov. Linwood Holton and reappointed by Gov. John Dalton in the 1970s. He served on the committee that selected President Harrison Wilson. In 2004, Peck endowed a scholarship at NSU in honor of Dr. Hugo Owens.
Posted By: Jehan Bunch
Monday, November 12th 2007 at 3:06PM
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