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My colleague, Dr. Janelle L. Williams and I had the privilege of presenting at the Philadelphia College Prep Roundtable (PCPR) forum on August 22nd, on the campus of Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Our presentation focused on the current enrollment trends in historically Black college and universities (HBCUs). The purpose of PCPR Forum was to help practitioners in the Philadelphia area to develop and strengthen relationships through networking and professional development opportunities, share resources and connect with school district officials to enhance college access and provide best practices for college student success, and to advocate for stronger postsecondary access and completion for students in the Philadelphia region.

While a number of informative presenters spoke at the PCPR Forum, we excitedly presented on our national study about how the current political and social climate in America contributed to what many pundits have called an enrollment renaissance among Black college students and HBCUs. We reflected on recent trends, including, a wide array of anecdotal evidence claiming that the heightened racist climate in society coupled with the “Missouri Effect”—a rise in race-based harassment among Black students at predominantly White institutions— engendered an uptick of Black students applying and matriculating into HBCUs. Our study, involving approximately 80 freshmen and sophomores across four HBCUs, found this to be true. Thus, our eagerness about presenting at this forum came not from sharing the findings of our study with the attendees of PCPR, but from having the opportunity to speak with practitioners working with school districts to encourage collaborations, explicitly with the local HBCUs.

Given the mission of PCPR and its audience, we were thrilled to talk with the attendees about HBCUs to change the narrative, dispel myths and inform these educational gatekeepers about the continued success and validate the impact of these often-forgotten institutions. Repeatedly in the HBCU research literature and through anecdotal accounts, we have learned that school officials, specifically counselors but also teachers, are not aware of HBCUs and fail to present these schools as options for college-bound high school students. This theme was apparent among the in-depth, one-on-one interviews we conducted with the students in our national study. It is also a theme that resonated with us as we embarked upon our own individual college search process.

During the question and answer period of our presentation and after the conclusion of the session, while many attendees thanked us for our presentation, they shared sentiments that mirrored those found in the research literature about how school officials, mainly counselors, lacked an accurate knowledge of HBCUs. They even shared anecdotes of how some counselors looked down upon HBCUs and discouraged high-achieving or academically gifted Black students from attending these institutions. Because of such, one attendee, who worked at a school in the suburbs of Philadelphia, shared she was resolute in making sure her students had proper HBCU exposure and flew someone in from Spelman College, in Atlanta, Georgia, to speak with her students about the historic and present value of HBCUs.

The work that PCR is doing is phenomenal and it is a great way to break down barriers and build pipelines when it comes to that invisible boundary that exists between high school and college. PCPR’s goal of having higher education practitioners and researchers work with school districts is deeply admirable, especially its effort to educate those in K-12 positions, particularly counselors, about the many benefits HBCUs could provide to incoming students. In addition, the forum had representatives from the Malcolm Bernard Historically Black Colleges and Universities College Fair, who were able to add commentary regarding the value proposition of the HBCUs, particularly those in Pennsylvania. The two HBCUs located in Pennsylvania are Cheyney University founded in 1837 and Lincoln University founded in 1854.

We also shared highlights from the 2019 UNCF report HBCUs: Punching Above Their Weight,, which spoke to the significant contributions, enrollment figures and economic impact of the two institutions. Many attendees were shocked to learn that combined, these two schools enroll 6% of all Black undergraduates at public and private four-year institutions in Pennsylvania. Equally, as surprising to the participants was the economic impact of the graduates. According to the report, the 599 Pennsylvania HBCU graduates in 2014 can expect total earnings of $1.6 billion over their lifetimes.

Moving forward, PCPR has made a commitment to ensure that HBCUs continue to be intentionally included in the ongoing professional development and dialogue of its members. This commitment is important to not only recognize these great institutions but also to utilize the collective resources that may be beneficial to the populations they serve. We hope more communities will follow the example of PCPR and establish a similar organization in their cities. Their efforts to foster a relationship with the local school districts to not only promote college access and student success, but to also work with teachers and counselors to better inform them about the value of HBCUs, is noteworthy.

Robert T. Palmer and Janelle L. Williams, Diverse Education

Jelani M. Favors’ new book, Shelter in a Time of Storm: How Black Colleges Fostered Generations of Leadership and Activism, weaves together the narratives of seven Black institutions into a formidable narrative of the subversive, activist, and liberative underpinnings of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs).

Although 368 pages long, Favors’ erudite storytelling masterfully draws the reader into the realities of these institutions. Rather than writing an extended history of Black higher education, Favors provides windows into particularly salient times in the formation or reaffirmation of these seven institutions. Favors also does not focus on widely notable figures (e.g. W.E.B. DuBois, Booker T. Washington, Ida B. Wells, Stokely Carmichael), instead he places the narratives of intuitional and student activism within the broader movements of the eras in which they were operating. As a result, the stories of previously unsung students, professors, and administrators come to the fore in a powerful reminder of the expansive Black justice efforts.

While loosely chronological, starting from the establishment of the Institute for Colored Youth (now Cheyney University) in 1837 to an epilogue about the status of HBCUs, Shelter in a Time of Storm’s contribution is its ability to distill numerous historical accounts into three important cogent themes in the narrative of Black higher education in the U.S. — communitas, the second curriculum, and institutional leadership.

Throughout the book, Favors refers to the experience at these HBCUs as one of communitas. The explicit use of communitas over community should not overlooked. Community denotes a group of people who are simply within a social group. It is not necessary that a community have any innate purpose. However, communitas refers to a people who are living in liminality together and therefore are navigating through a struggle that defines who they are as a people. Favors argues that this collective activeness toward justice is what defined Black higher education in the U.S.

For example, at North Carolina A&T during the 1960s to 1970s, students were actively engaged in Black justice efforts. While they learned from a pro-Black curriculum in the classroom, students were also participating in pro-Black rallies, protest, and national organizations alongside their professors and Black freedom movement leaders. The experience of being a student transcended the classroom and campus.

Favors speaks to the curriculum that students were exposed to in the classroom and brings to the fore a legacy of the black professoriate and scholarship that is often forgotten. In addition, Favors makes clear that there was something about the milieu of these HCBUs that was more formative than the content of the courses alone — a second curriculum. Students developed Black consciousness within these institutions. Conversations amongst student leaders, in the student publications, and campus events were about their Blackness. This milieu then taught them pride and functioned as a counternarrative for the broader societal hatred and fear of Blackness and Black people.

An illuminating element of Favors’ research is his robust depiction of college and university presidents. Favors celebrates the intensity and fervor of leaders like Dr. David Dallas Jones, the former president of Bennett College, who intentionally galvanized the all-female study body toward radical activism and exposed students to leading Black intellectuals and activists. Active and shrewd leaders like Jones functioned as exemplars and inspiration for young Black students.

However, Favors notes that not all presidents lead with intrepidness. Dr. Felton Clark, formerly president at Southern University in Louisiana, essentially abdicated his responsibilities to communitas and the second curriculum by expelling student activists, eliminating avenues of students’ voice such as the newspaper, and stifling the influence of activist faculty members. Favors does not exonerate Clark’s actions, but highlights the despotic White supremacy in which he had to function. Favors understands that presidents like Clark were negotiating the risk of the expungement of their institution by White state legislatures that would defund them. Moreover, presidents also were conscious to the risk of their bodies and the bodies of their students becoming strange fruit on southern trees.

Ultimately, despite internal opposition from administrators and external opposition from White society, Black communitas was a force onto and of itself and became inherent to the milieu of Black colleges and universities throughout the U.S.

It is not only the civil rights movement that is indebted to Black higher education, for more than 150 years Black institutions of higher education have been animating Black leadership to seek justice amid White supremacy. Shelter in a Time of Storm functions as an historical anthropology that makes manifest this reality. Favors is not simply telling the reader what happened in these Black institutions, rather, he uses history to help the reader to understand the culture(s) at the core of these unapologetically Black colleges and universities.

In the current era of the criminalization of the Black body, commodification of Black culture(s) and persistent economic and social inequity for Black people in the U.S., Shelter in a Time of Storm renews an educational approach to Black liberation that should be seriously considered by those committed to racial justice.

Joshua Canada, Diverse Education

One of the most stunning reversals in higher education is happening right now in Pennsylvania. And it could be a blueprint for other struggling universities and colleges both here and across the nation.

Founded in 1837 as one of the nation’s first black colleges, Cheyney University was in serious trouble as recently as four years ago.

According to a story published by Inside Higher Ed in September of 2015, Cheyney was facing a deficit of $19 million. It reported that enrollment at the university had declined from 1,470 in 2008 to about 700 by 2015.

With many of Cheyney’s facilities reportedly outdated and in disrepair, its six-year graduation rate was 26 percent, far below the 55 percent average for historically black colleges as reported by the National Student Clearinghouse.

It was reported in the article, that Cheyney, which had no financial reserves and no endowment, may have to repay as much as $30 million in federal aid funds because it didn’t properly administer or track them. During one recent admissions cycle, scores of forgotten and unreviewed applications were reportedly lost and then rediscovered too late.

“There are lots and lots of factors at play that make Cheyney really messy,” Marybeth Gasman, director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Minority-Serving Institutions, told Inside Higher Ed at the time. “It really does look like a shadow of itself.”

There was even talk of closing Cheyney, which has been owned by Pennsylvania since 1922. Located about 30 miles west of Philadelphia, it was  a founding member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, which was created in 1983.

“There is widespread concern about where we are headed and how we’re going to progress through this period,” Norma George, who chaired the university’s English, Languages and Communication Arts Department, told the website HBCUForever in 2014.

Furthermore, despite going more than four years with interim presidents, there was no search underway for a new president.

However, all that changed with the November of 2017 hiring of Aaron Walton, a retired corporate executive, as the university’s permanent president. The turnaround  has been quick and stunning.

From that $19 million deficit back in 2015, Walton said the university had a surplus of $2.1 million this year, outperforming the planned surplus of $261,000, according to an Aug. 19 story by the Daily Local News, a Chester County newspaper.

“Beginning two years ago under the leadership of Walton ― a retired and highly experienced corporate executive ― Cheyney University undertook a broad range of efforts to ensure the long-term financial stability of the university and to ensure the university’s resources were prioritized and sufficient to provide robust academic programs and student support,” Cheyney University Council of Trustees Chairman, Robert Bogle, told the newspaper. “We are well on our way to restoring Cheyney to its rightful position among elite Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs).”

The story reported that In addition to cutting $9 million in expenditures, Walton also started a successful fund-raising campaign led by university alumni. It raised over $4.4 million as of June 30, which exceeded its goal by $400,000. A second campaign hopes to raise another $5.6 million by June of 2020.

Best of all, after enrollment plummeted to 498 it rebounded to 722 this fall. The university anticipates retaining 72 percent of its fall 2018 freshman class ― Cheyney’s highest rate of retention for a freshman class in over 25 years.

Cheyney’s turnaround offers hope for other struggling schools, especially for those in the state system, which includes Bloomsburg, California, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester universities.

Many of them have experienced enrollment declines and financial problems over the past decade.

The system’s enrollment peaked at 112,000 in 2011 but has dropped by 18 percent since then.

The fact is that state system faces some daunting challenges in its bid to increase enrollment.

According to a study by the RAND Corp. released last year, most of the state-system universities serve students in surrounding counties. But it pointed out that 55 of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties will experience declines in traditional college-age students over the next 10 years, ranging from 3 percent to 45 percent.

The report urged state system officials to consider closing some universities or merging them. They also recommended affiliations with state-related universities such Penn State, Pittsburgh or Temple.

State system officials are firmly against closing or merging any of the state-system universities, contending they would hurt students in poorer and rural communities.

They maintained that an increase in state funding was necessary for the universities to survive.

However, the turnaround at Cheyney disproves that theory. Instead of waiting around for a state bailout, Cheyney officials acted on their own to cut waste and start programs that can attract new students.

That’s the path that other state system schools should follow instead of waiting for the state to bail them out.

The fact of the matter is that if Cheyney can turn its fortunes around, so can other universities across the nation, including those in the state university system.

Mark O’keefe, PennCapital Star

 

 

It looks like Cheyney University has turned a corner.

The historically Black institution that was once rumored to be on the brink of possibly shutting down amid concerns about the future of its accreditation recently announced that it ended the fiscal year with not only a balanced budget, but a surplus of $2.1 million.

According to university officials at the nation’s first HBCU, the school brought in $4.4 million as a result of its alumni “Resurgence” campaign. Additionally, the Pennsylvania Department of Education provided the university with a $2.5-million unrestricted grant.

In the past, the state-affiliated institution faced mounting debt to the sum of $43 million.

Back in April, Cheyney requested additional state funding to meet payroll through the remainder of the year.

Pennsylvania’s governor, Tom Wolf, approved the request.

“Gov. Wolf has long supported ensuring a strong future for Cheyney,” said J.J. Abbott, a spokesperson for Wolf.

News of Cheyney’s improved finances comes at the right time. The Middle States Commission on Higher Education will decide in November whether the university can keep its accreditation. The school has already received two one-year extensions from the commission to address its finances.

Cheyney president Dr. Aaron A. Walton, who was unavailable for an interview, had told the Philadelphia Inquirer: “We are trying to dig ourselves out of years of negative performance, and we don’t do that overnight. We are certainly pleased with the progress that has been made in the last two years. But we have much to do to make sure the university is on a firm financial academic footing for years to come.”

Like many HBCUs, Cheyney has faced its share of challenges, including declining student enrollment and low graduation rates. It’s plight is not all that unusual. Five HBCUs have shut their doors within the last five years.

Dr. Janelle L. Williams, a visiting scholar at the Center for Minority Serving Institutions at Rutgers University’s Graduate School of Education, said she is elated by the encouraging news out of her alma mater.

“As an alumna of Cheyney, I am excited to see the institution making incremental, but significant, strides toward repositioning themselves for future growth,” said Williams. “Yes, there is still a lot more to do, but with the right strategy and leadership, which I believe Cheyney has, the future is looking brighter.”

This week, Cheyney received a $200,000 grant from the National Science Foundation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities Undergraduate Program (HBCU-UP).

The award will fund 13 Cheyney students from multiple disciplines to research audiovisual activity detection of people for a variety of applications, according to Dr. David G. Cooper, assistant professor of computer science.

Dr. Larry Walker, assistant professor in the Department of Educational Leadership at University of Central Florida and an expert on HBCUs, said Cheyney’s resurgence is promising.

“The recent news regarding Cheyney’s balanced budget and fundraising highlights the great work of president Walton, National Alumni Association and the Cheyney university foundation,” said Walker. “Further, the improved retention rate proves the university is trending in the right direction. The collaboration between internal and external stakeholders has been critical to Cheyney’s success.”

At a recent forum at Delaware State University that included HBCU leaders, U.S. Rep. Dr. Alma Adams sounded the alarm on the importance of effective fundraising.

“Times are critical right now,” said Adams, who previously served on the faculty at Bennett College, an HBCU in Greensboro, N.C. that also has faced re-accreditation obstacles. “Fundraising and getting the equitable funding that we need has been a problem.”