Campus Contrasts in Black and White

0 Comments | Insight on the News, August 30, 1999 | by Sean Paige

The nation's 103 black colleges enroll 280,000 students, up 26 percent since 1976. But critics question whether such schools have a purpose in multicultural America.

Competition among universities for the best and brightest students is dog-eat-dog -- or is it dean-eat-don? The choices for young men and women lucky enough to have them are many: small or large, public or private, Big 10 or PAC 10. But for some, the issue is black and white -- skin color, that is, as they

weigh whether to attend one of the nation's historically black colleges and universities, known as HBCUs.

About 16 percent of black college students are enrolled at HBCUs, which award 27 percent of bachelor's degrees earned by African-Americans. Thirty-five percent of the nation's black lawyers, 50 percent of its black engineers and 65 percent of its black physicians hold degrees from HBCUs. A number of African-American icons attended black schools: Martin Luther King Jr. went to Morehouse College; Booker T. Washington to Hampton University; W.E.B DuBois to Fisk.

Many credit that record of achievement, in spite of the fact that HBCUs enroll some of the most disadvantaged youth in the country, to the supportive culture and history-conscious environment they foster. Black professors and administrators serve as role models, living affirmations of students' aspirations. Racial tensions on campus are minimized -- black students build confidence in settings where they are, for once, a majority.

"We know now that learning occurs in an environment where people feel safe and comfortable," says Margaret Miller, head of the American Association of Higher Education. "To be in the majority leads to a level of comfort where you can take your own qualities for granted."

Most HBCUs were founded in the wake of the Civil War, aided by the National Land-Grant Colleges Act of 1862, but the nation's first black school, Philadelphia's Institute for Colored Youth (later to be called Cheyney University), opened its doors in 1837. (Quaker Richard Humphreys started the institute to train black teachers.) By the beginning of the 20th century, there were 85 black colleges, most established by states, churches or philanthropists.

These schools were virtually the only option available to many blacks before the Supreme Court swept aside the "separate but equal" ruling with its Brown vs. Board of Education decision in 1954. Desegregation brought as many changes to traditionally black colleges as it did to newly integrated white schools. A "brain drain" occurred at many HBCUs as predominantly white schools siphoned off many of black academia's most talented students and faculty. Formerly elite black schools found themselves accepting less-stellar students.

Most observers concede that the quality of education at HBCUs suffered during the 1970s and early 1980s, but black colleges have rebounded, partly in response to the renewed interest among African-Americans to connect with their heritage. "You've got black colleges now, many of them competing for the best and brightest against traditionally white institutions," says William Gray, president of the United Negro College Fund, or UNCF, pointing to 14 black colleges listed in one recent ranking of the nation's top schools. To make the same point, Howard University President H. Patrick Swygert reports that the school recruited 59 national merit scholars this year, while Harvard enrolled 62, showing that "we can go head-to-head with one of the best in this country."

Not everyone sees it that way. "I've long held the opinion that black schools served a purpose very well back at a time when blacks were denied the chance to go elsewhere," says Walter Williams, an economist at George Mason University. "One of the problems with black universities is that, in general, they don't have the academic standing and rigors of predominantly white schools."

But Williams recognizes, even appreciates, the services HBCUs provide black youth who have been cheated by "rotten" primary and secondary schools. "So maybe they do have a role, because they're not as rigorous," Williams tells Insight. "It's probably better for a black student to graduate from Spelman than to flunk out of Berkeley."

Questioning the continuing value of HBCUs in a desegregated America rankles some educators, who interpret such assertions as a lingering symptom of the very prejudice that makes black schools necessary. Gray, a former congressman, dismisses such criticisms as reflecting a "shadow of the plantation" mentality and discounts the not/on that mainstream colleges better prepare blacks for life in the wider, whiter world. "Did Martin Luther King, who attended a black college, have a problem dealing with white people?" asks Gray. "I don't think so." Adds Swygert, "I don't know of any empirical evidence that our kids are not adapting and competing."

Other educators point to the popularity of Catholic universities and other specialized institutions. "No one ever asks if we need Notre Dame or Brandeis," says Henry Ponder, president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education. He continues, "No one ever asks if we need white schools or Native American schools, VMI or The Citadel. It is a racist question out of a racist society."