President of Hampton University Blasts Feds for Gutting HBCUs

Dr. William Harvey, Hampton University president.  Photo courtesy of www.blackamericaweb.com
Dr. William Harvey, Hampton University president.
Photo courtesy of www.blackamericaweb.com

District of Columbia – The president of Hampton University was happy to be a part of the annual White House Initiative on HBCUs Conference, and didn’t hold his tongue during the event.

Dr. William R. Harvey, who is also Chairman of the White House Advisory Board on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), called out the Feds for drastically reducing financial support for HBCUs.

In opening the annual conference, Harvey said:

“Despite this assertion, these are difficult times for our institutions, our students and their families. Federal support for HBCUs is showing an alarming downward trend, and our friends in Washington need to know that we are watching and counting.”

Harvey methodically outlined just how the Feds are gutting HBCUs on every level.

Additionally, information compiled by the White House Initiative on HBCUs for FY 2011 showed that out of the total contracts and grants awarded to all institutions of higher education, those to HBCUs from 16 federal agencies totaled less than 5% and 12 agencies totaled less than 3%. When one looks at the awards by categories such as scholarships, tuition assistance, research and development, administrative infrastructure, and training, eight out of 12 categories were funded at less than 3%.

Part of the problem, says Harvey, is that “too many people who are not affiliated with, nor have ever attended or worked at an HBCU, are trying to tell our stories.” He noted that other majority institutions were being funded to the tune of millions of dollars to develop best practices for HBCUs.

Millions are being designated to develop best practices to serve the students who have traditionally been served by HBCUs. For example, at the end of September it was announced that eleven public universities have formed an alliance to identify and share best practices in degree attainment programs for low-income, minority, and first-generation students.

The grant funding, totaling $5.7 million, has been designated for programs at Arizona State University, Georgia State, Iowa State, Michigan State, Oregon State, Purdue, Ohio State, University of California-Riverside, University of Central Florida, University of Kansas, and the University of Texas-Austin. Other funding recipients include the Ford Foundation, The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Lumina Foundation, Kresge Foundation, USA Funds, and Markle Foundation.

More than two years after filing in federal bankruptcy court in 2012, Morris Brown College in Atlanta, GA, was given the go-ahead to sell the school’s property for $14.6 million to Invest Atlanta, the city’s economic development authority, and Friendship Baptist Church. The school had no other alternative since it faced debts amounting to over $30 million.

However, although the sale of the property was authorized by the courts in June this year and the deal was finalized in August, Clark Atlanta University (CAU) has filed a lawsuit against the city because they believe the land should have reverted back to them.

The university filed the lawsuit on September 5 in Fulton County Superior Court, claiming that the sale of the school’s property violates an old agreement with Morris Brown, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution (AJC). The suit claims that the property should have been returned to the university in the event that it was no longer used for educational purposes.

Clark Atlanta will continue to support the use of the property as an educational institution, according to AJC. It has invited the city to discuss with them the possibility of ensuring that it provides an educational opportunity to those who were historically denied that opportunity, namely the African American community.

If CAU fails to come to an agreement with the Mayor of Atlanta, Kaseem Reid, they have been given the permission by the bankruptcy judge to pursue litigation in state court to determine its interests in the land previously occupied by Morris Brown College.

There has been no comment from Mayor Reid’s office on the pending litigation or their plans for the land in the foreseeable future.

However, according to the Atlanta Business Chronicle, Friendship Baptist Church recently announced their plans to develop about 22 acres near the new Atlanta Falcons stadium, including land that was formerly owned by Morris Brown College.