Newspaper Page Text
Page 11
The Wolverine Observer
May/)une 1985
Black College
Report
by D.F. Clover, Chairman
Since early spring 1983, there
has been a rapid increase in the
number of negative articles
written on black colleges and
desegregation. There are several
points that should be made
about these, oftentimes, racial
slurring and degrading articles.
The first point to be made is
that history reveals that the white
defenders of race subjugation
have always used the same
techniques (from slavery to the
present) to justify second class
status for black citizens.
Throughout history these
techniques have been physical
violence, threats of physical
violence, the big lie, half truths,
ridicule, degradation and glitter
ing generalities. They have
always used to their advantage,
the printed and electronic press.
The second point to be made is
that the writers of these articles
claim no expertise in education.
They simply verbalize their own
perception of black colleges and
desegragation, but insinuate
authoritative opinion. For exam
ple, in a syndicated article that
appeared in the Atlanta Journal-
Constitution July 17, 1983), Ray
Jenkins stated that..." It is not
being ungenerous but merely a
statement of fact to say that
Alabama State University today is
little more than a parody of a
university. The academic train
ing its students receive is
pathetically inadequate. And the
situation grows worse as the best
and brightest of black students
and professors find their way to
other schools. Is there any
wonder considering how hard
they fought for the right to go to
those schools?" Then he goes on
to quote, perhaps out of context,
a prominent black educator, Dr.
Kenneth Clark, in order to back
up this so-called statement of
“fact” Although the writer
pretends to make a statement of
fact, he states no facts. The fact is
he is expressing a white
southerner's perception of black
colleges — a view of what they
(segregationists) intended for
black colleges to be — not what
black colleges factually are. It
should be noted that he, like
others, tends to insinuate that
black colleges of today don’t
have the same quality they once
had. He evades the fact that this
charge is being leveled at all
colleges, including Jewish and
Catholics, and that it was just a
few years ago that his kind
contended that black citizens
were receiving an equal
educational opportunity.
The third point to be made is
that the contention that
strengthening and continuing
historically black colleges is a
perpetuation of segregation is
hypocritical. The segregation
that black citizens complain
about is the segregation that is
supported by law, evasive
schemes and/or recalcitrant
strategies - all designed to con
tinue discrimination. In other
words, at this point for black
citizens, segregation is not the
issue. Discrimination is the issue.
Closing traditionally black
colleges would penalize black
citizens and compensate
recalcitrant State Systems.
Then too, no one would
suggest that, because of integra
tion and mass transportation,
there is no longer any need for
Auburn University or Georgia
Tech. Common sense tells us that
there is a need for Auburn
University and Georgia Tech.
Likewise, there is a continuing
need for Alabama State Universi
ty, Fort Valley State,andallofthe
other historically black colleges.
Georgia Tech has a mission as
an engineering school.
However, it is well known that
Georgia Tech is not the top
engineering school in the coun
try. It is doubted, though that
anyone would dare suggest that
Georgia Tech should be closed
because its graduates earn
degrees that are perhaps worth
less than graduates of the Un
iversity of California,
Massachusetts Institute of
Technology and many others
that have stronger programs.
After all, Georgia Tech is ac
credited by the regional ac
crediting agency, the Southern
Association of Colleges and
Schools. It meets minimum re
quirements. In many instances,
however, some Tech graduates
excel some of the graduates of
institutions that have higher
ratings. In other words, just
because a person may have an
inferior opportunity to acquire
an education does not mean that
he will acquire an inferior educa
tion.
The traditional black colleges
also have missions. Their
historical missions have been to
serve the neglected, the poor,
and the victims of vicious
economics, educational, and
social injustices. And, unfor
tunately, their mission is the
same today. It is sad to say,
however, for them in this
endeavor, there just might not
be any peers. Therefore, to say
that they are no longer needed is
simply insane. And to say that
they award degrees less than
degrees by other colleges is
hypocritical.
These colleges are accredited
by the regional accrediting agen
cy, the Southern Association of
Colleges and Schools. Certainly,
in terms of curricular exposure,
they (black colleges) -ate- not
Harvards and Yales, but neither is
he University of Alabama or
Georgia Tech. There isn’t any
need to even mention the
others. Yet, all of them meet the
minimum standards required by
regional accrediting agencies.
Their degrees are indeed valid.
To lead the public to believe
otherwise is a cheap ploy design
ed to continue the denial of
equal educational opportunity.
The fourth point to be made is
that the fact that some of the
institutions have higher percen
tages of students than others that
pass so-called basic skills tests
and standardized tests is not
necessarily any indication of the
quality of instruction in those
institutions. It may suggest that
some institutions have more
selective students than others or
the test could be culturally
biased. The Office of Education
has asked that the Georgia
Regents' Test be checked for the
impact that is has on black
students. SCLC says that the
Georgia Test is a "crass racist
trap" because most educational
ly deprived black students fail
the test the first time they take it,
but more than 90% of them pass
the test after receiving suppor
tive instruction. It is a contention
that is the test is not designed to
trap and discourage black
students then the curriculum
should be structured to provide
the necessary instruction for
these students to master basic
skills in the four year program.
The problem is not the black
college. The problem is the State
System. It is the responsibility of
the State System to provide
necessary money and the proper
administration to achieve the
desire goals.
The argument that historically
black colleges constitute the
continuation of overt and/or
covert segregation is far from the
truth. The truth is that the
barrage of slurring press reports
makes it impossible for black
colleges to recruit sizable
numbers of white students
without doing severe damage to
their efforts to fulfill their mis
sion.
Anyway, the real issue is
discrimination. The problem
with overt segregation was that it
served as a vehicle for dis
crimination. But segregation that
comes about because of an
orchestrated boycott does not
necessarily act as a conduit for
discrimination.
However the victims of
orchestrated boycotts (the
historically black colleges) do
require intensive monitoring in
order to assure that equal oppor
tunities, in terms of facilities,
instruction, etc., are in fact a
reality.
Are Black Colleges Dying
A "Quiet Death"
by David Gaede
(CPS) — “It’s clear things
aren’t working out for black
colleges,” understates Keith Jen
nings, who monitors black stu
dent issues for the United States
students Association (USSA) in
Washington, D.C.
Indeed, the black colleges —
choked by a withering money
base, federal aid cuts, muddled
communications, black student
apathy and desegregation efforts
that are pushing black students
into historically-white campuses
— are having their worst season
in years.
Enrollments at black colleges,
after increasing steadily for the
past 25 years, have dropped five
percent in just the last year.
And amid cries of racism and
even bureaucratic “genocide,"
black education leaders ap
parently aren’t sure what to do
about it.
It’s serious enough, moreover,
that inside observers are labeling
it "the quiet death of black
colleges," Jennings reports.
Some colleges aren’t going
quietly:
Cheyney University in Penn
sylvania, for instance, recently
lost its accreditation by the
Middle States Association of
Colleges and Schools because it
lacked "coherent and pur
poseful direction, mission, and
leadership."
President C.T. Enus Wright
resigned the next week, and
soon after that two ad
ministrative vice presidents were
fired.
"It’s nothing more than
cultural genocide to get rid of
and destroy black colleges,”
claims former Cheyney student
government leader Cynthia
Jefferson.
Most of the reasons for the
accreditation denial "could be
applied to any college if you
looked hard enough," Jefferson
claims, adding President Wright
was merely a "sacrificial lamb" to
appease the accrediting associa
tion.
Historically-black Knoxville
University in Tennessee and
Lincoln College in Nebraska also
have lost accreditation this year
on similar grounds, Jennings
notes.
Three financially-strapped
black Texas colleges — Wiley,
Huston-Tillotson and Texas
College — may merge to pool
their resources and enrollments.
Tennessee State University,
meanwhile, is under perssure to
integrate its predominantly-
black student body and have a 50
percent white enrollment by
1992.
The crises follow last year’s
financial failure of 119-year-old
Fisk University, long regarded as
the flagship of black colleges.
“Black colleges are facing a
problem which has two con
tradictory ends,” laments
Samuel Myers, president of the
National Association for Equal
Opportunity in Higher Educa
tion (NAFEO).
■ Myere says that-while black
students need black colleges
more than ever now, there’s a
"new threat to black schools that
their funding, enrollment, and
support will decline. The image
of black schools is hurt by
problems at some black in
stitutions, which adds to the
problem even more.”
Only 20 percent of all black
students attend predomianatly-
black colleges, but nearly half of
all black students who complete
their degrees do so at a black
school.
"Students in black colleges
seem to have a virtual corner on
intellectual satisfactions and out
comes during the college years,"
chiefly because of the sense of
belonging, support and un
derstanding they receive, claims
psychologist Jacqueline Fleming,
author of the newly-released
book "Blacks in College."
On white campuses, black
students often "fall prey to the
feelings of alienation and es
trangement, and are less likely to
develop motivating relationships
with faculty or to feel a part of
campus life.”
More black students head for
predominantly-white campuses
anyway.
"Ironically,” points out
Harriott Schimel, spokeswoman
for the United Negro College
Fund, "the traditional informa
tion systems among blacks for
passing along the advantages of
black schools — parents,
teachers, and ministers who
were themselves educated at
black schools — have become
more diffused, so many blacks go
off to white colleges not know
ing the value they could get from
a black college."
Many of today’s black students
seem more interested in
assimilating faster into white
society, some sources add.
Even on historically-white
campuses, enrollment in black
studies courses and membership
in campus black student unions
have plummeted in recent years.
And the nation’s only national
black student lobby group — the
National Organization of Black
University and College Students
— has locked the doors of its
Washington offices and all but
ceased operating because of
'disinterest and internal con
flicts.” sources report.
Many black colleges today are
run by administrators who
graduated from white, not black,
schools, "and are completely
unfamiliar with the history and
purpose of black institutions,"
Jennings says.
And as blacks themselves
forsake black colleges, the
politicians who finance them
now question the need forthem.
"The Brown decision (the
hallmark court case which forc
ed integration of public schools)
is being reinterpreted in an
upside-down manner now, in
effect saying that we should
close black schools so those
students can go to white
schools,” says Jennings.
Continued on pg. 13