Re-post from BlackVoices.com
By Kirsten West Savali on Oct 8th 2010 8:00AM
I remember going on a campus tour of Spelman College in Atlanta, Georgia, as a bright eyed, inquisitive 18-year-old girl in 1998. As I listened to the tour guide extol the virtues of attending the prestigious institution, the calls of young men and women cheering excitedly caught my attention.
Gazing past beautiful trees and outstanding architectural structures, I saw the young men of Clark-Atlanta University's Omega Psi Phi chapter stepping passionately, while throngs of students – many with dreadlocks, some wearing African dashikis, all smiling and grooving – looked on with pride and a palpable sense of community.
It was then I realized that I was giving up my childhood dream of the Ivy League for the Ebony League. I was home.
However, based on a 2009 report by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund – an organization that provides scholarships and resources to almost half of the nation's 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities – the proportion of Asian, Hispanic, and multi-ethnic students enrolled in HBCUs has jumped from 6% to 8% from 1986 to 2006.
In short: 'Home' is undergoing a drastic renovation.
Gazing past beautiful trees and outstanding architectural structures, I saw the young men of Clark-Atlanta University's Omega Psi Phi chapter stepping passionately, while throngs of students – many with dreadlocks, some wearing African dashikis, all smiling and grooving – looked on with pride and a palpable sense of community.
It was then I realized that I was giving up my childhood dream of the Ivy League for the Ebony League. I was home.
However, based on a 2009 report by the Thurgood Marshall College Fund – an organization that provides scholarships and resources to almost half of the nation's 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities – the proportion of Asian, Hispanic, and multi-ethnic students enrolled in HBCUs has jumped from 6% to 8% from 1986 to 2006.
In short: 'Home' is undergoing a drastic renovation.
While many white and multi-ethnic students have a wide array of reasons for enrolling in an HBCU – ranging from more career opportunities upon graduation to a desire to experience a more diverse, holistic, educational experience – there is still an innate, often justified, hesitation felt by many members of the African-American community to embrace this trend.
A study done by Dr. Ivory A. Toldson and Aviella Snitman revealed that problems related to discrepancies between education and attainment depend on two key factors: (a) higher paying occupations are more commonly held among White people, even when controlling for education; and (b) the lack of education increases the chances that a Black person will be unemployed or live in poverty.
As a result, an African-American person with some college has a greater chance of living in poverty than a White person who did not complete high school. Similarly, White people with master's degrees are more likely to live above middle class than Black people with doctorate degrees.
With Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964- which clearly states that any institution that receives federal aid may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed or sex, dictating that certain HBCUs recruit non-Black students, it has become a topic of debate among scholars and laymen alike.
Why should HBCUs provide scholarships to white students – defined as minorities on Black campuses, when so many in our own communities are still being discriminated against with or without an education? Shouldn't we still be taking care of our own first?
According to Theodore West, an entrepreneur who was a young boy in the violent trenches of segregated Mississippi and a 1971 graduate of Alcorn State University – the first institution created explicitly as a Black land-grant college, affirmative action should be "across the board" if Blacks want to utilize it.
"However, I believe that non-Black students wishing to attend an HBCU be required to attend an orientation on the rich culture and history of the Black College Experience. Unfortunately, I attended an ASU graduation where the majority of white students did not stand for the singing of the Black National Anthem, and that is unacceptable. An understanding of the important role these institutions have played in our communities must be a pre-requisite for anyone, of any color, to attend."
Trish Williams, dean of the W.E.B. Du Bois College House at the University of Pennsylvania, believes any fears that the HBCU experience will be compromised are unfounded.
"No group of institutions that has the rich historical legacy of our Black schools should be defined by its number of whites," Williams said. "It is up to the administrators and student leaders on campus to ensure that the culture remains intact."
That HBCU culture encompasses a more comprehensive focus on social justice than its white counterparts do.
A study done by Dr. Ivory A. Toldson and Aviella Snitman revealed that problems related to discrepancies between education and attainment depend on two key factors: (a) higher paying occupations are more commonly held among White people, even when controlling for education; and (b) the lack of education increases the chances that a Black person will be unemployed or live in poverty.
As a result, an African-American person with some college has a greater chance of living in poverty than a White person who did not complete high school. Similarly, White people with master's degrees are more likely to live above middle class than Black people with doctorate degrees.
With Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964- which clearly states that any institution that receives federal aid may not discriminate on the basis of race, color, creed or sex, dictating that certain HBCUs recruit non-Black students, it has become a topic of debate among scholars and laymen alike.
Why should HBCUs provide scholarships to white students – defined as minorities on Black campuses, when so many in our own communities are still being discriminated against with or without an education? Shouldn't we still be taking care of our own first?
According to Theodore West, an entrepreneur who was a young boy in the violent trenches of segregated Mississippi and a 1971 graduate of Alcorn State University – the first institution created explicitly as a Black land-grant college, affirmative action should be "across the board" if Blacks want to utilize it.
"However, I believe that non-Black students wishing to attend an HBCU be required to attend an orientation on the rich culture and history of the Black College Experience. Unfortunately, I attended an ASU graduation where the majority of white students did not stand for the singing of the Black National Anthem, and that is unacceptable. An understanding of the important role these institutions have played in our communities must be a pre-requisite for anyone, of any color, to attend."
Trish Williams, dean of the W.E.B. Du Bois College House at the University of Pennsylvania, believes any fears that the HBCU experience will be compromised are unfounded.
"No group of institutions that has the rich historical legacy of our Black schools should be defined by its number of whites," Williams said. "It is up to the administrators and student leaders on campus to ensure that the culture remains intact."
That HBCU culture encompasses a more comprehensive focus on social justice than its white counterparts do.
More than just a college education, it was about mobilizing a generation of Black youth who believed in fighting on behalf of the marginalized, stereotyped, and the exploited. A generation who understood what their white brothers and sisters did not – that racism was so deeply interwoven into the fabric of the American conscious that it would take a movement of behemoth proportions, armed with knowledge and purpose to combat its ramifications.
My favorite quote from Audre Lorde states, "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." We cannot fall into the trap of exhibiting racist behavior because of residual bitterness due to racism. As long as we continue to embolden our young people with a sense of pride and community, no change in the ethnic make-up of a student population can change the historical and current importance of our HBCUs.
My favorite quote from Audre Lorde states, "The master's tools will never dismantle the master's house." We cannot fall into the trap of exhibiting racist behavior because of residual bitterness due to racism. As long as we continue to embolden our young people with a sense of pride and community, no change in the ethnic make-up of a student population can change the historical and current importance of our HBCUs.
To learn more about this article, click here.
