Future of Morris Brown College, The

Crisis, The, Sep/Oct 2006 by Rhone, Nedra

One week after the class of 2006 graduated, the campus of Morris Brown College was deserted. Not an unusual sight for a college campus as the summer months approach, but those familiar with the struggles of the ailing historically Black institution know that each time the doors close, there is a chance it may be for good.

"Every time I go back home, I always drive over there," says Amber Baker, 31, referring to the campus near downtown Atlanta. "I can't even look that way. I would probably start crying."

Baker, a 2000 graduate from Columbus, Ga., has memories of Brownites swarming the yard, but today the student body at Morris Brown amounts to less than 2 percent of what it was when she attended.

"I'm disappointed because Morris Brown has such a legacy," says Baker, who now lives in Oak Park, Ill., with her husband and two children. "As a student who went there and now as a parent, I would not think about sending my child to Morris Brown."

For much of the last 15 years, Morris Brown College, founded in 1881 by members of the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) church, has been riding a roller coaster of survival. In the early '90s, the school was $10 million in debt. Corporate and alumni donations fueled a recovery, but 10 years later, when financial troubles resurfaced, the college wasn't so lucky. Its accreditation was revoked in 2002 and with it went the federal funding that had accounted for nearly 70 percent of the school's revenue.

Since then, Morris Brown has operated as a skeleton of its former self. Students have only two options for degree programs instead of 48; there are only seven full-time faculty, compared to more than 100 four years ago; enrollment declined from a high of 2,700 students in 2002 to a mere 66 by the end of the 2005-06 school year, and some of the buildings, sitting on prime city property, remain unused, and in disrepair.

The Story Unfolded with a soap opera-Uke plotline starring two former administrators who were indicted in December 2004 on charges of bilking the U.S. Department of Education out of $5 million. First came denials and dismissals, then in April and May of this year, the guilty pleas. By then, the school was $27 million in debt and battling lawsuits from students and corporations seeking compensation.

Critics called for the school to shut its doors and stop the slow, painful, limp toward solvency. Supporters championed the college's relevance and donated money to help cover the $3.7 million in yearly operating expenses. Administrators seem convinced the school will survive. This summer, a management team was created to oversee the school until the board of trustees appoints a new president. The team includes Leroy Frazier, who is dean of faculty and responsible for readying the school for reaccreditation; Stanley Pritchett, chair of the management team; and Getchel Caldwell II, vice president of institutional advancement.

"Even though we have these external threats, we are not sitting idly by," says Caldwell. "There are some students who adamantly want their degrees from Morris Brown College, and we are encouraged by them."

Michael Jenkins, for example, is sticking with Morris Brown. The Oakland, Calif., native had initially planned to go to Morehouse, but enrolled in Morris Brown in 2004 because, he says, "there was something in me that felt kind of good about it."

Jenkins admits, however, that many of the students who decided to stay at Morris Brown struggled financially because they could not get federal assistance after the school lost its accreditation.

"It was tough for everyone," says Jenkins, whose major is business management and music technology.

But Jenkins says older students and alumni talked to them about the history of the school, instilling a sense of pride.

The school is hoping that like Jenkins, other students will give Morris Brown a chance. However, a major hurdle to survival remains: accreditation. A plan to apply for accreditation in July faltered. That, says some, could be the school's downfall. With less than 50 students enrolled, the primary challenge is attracting prospective candidates and the lack of accreditation is a major barrier to that.

"I wouldn't want to throw cold water on their dreams and aspirations," says Michael Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, "but I think this is a very huge hurdle they have to get over, and the longer they don't have a clear working plan that they can demonstrate progress against, the less likely it is that the institution will reopen on an accredited basis."

Morris Brown isn't the first of the nation's 104 historically Black colleges to operate without accreditation. While a dozen Black colleges have closed in the last 25 years, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education, at least two others have remained open despite not having accreditation. Knoxville College in Tennessee lost accreditation in 1997 and North Carolina's BarberScotia College lost accreditation in 2004. So far, only Texas College in Hopkins, was able to regain accreditation, Lomax says.