Obama Signals Increased Support For HBCUs (AFRO) 2/28/10

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By Zenitha Prince

President Barack Obama signed the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities on February 26, acknowledging the importance of those institutions and the obstacles they currently face.

"HBCUs face tough challenges today," Obama said to a room including about 60 HBCU presidents, Black lawmakers, students and media. "Endowments and state budgets are shrinking, too many facilities are deteriorating, enrollment is falling--and the cost of education keeps going up. And these schools feel the pain more acutely--they do more with less, and they enroll higher proportions of low- and middle-income students."

Obama said the government will increase its funding for the nation's HBCUs by $100 million in the fiscal year 2011 budget. He also pointed to the nearly $400 million in federal Pell Grants, many of which go to students attending Black institutions.

The survival of HBCUs is vital, the president said, to the goal of making America the world leader in college graduates by 2020.

"We're not only doing this because these schools are a gateway to a better future for African-Americans; we're doing it because their success is vital to a better future for all Americans," he said.

Rep. Barbara Lee, (D-Calif.) chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, praised the president for his support.

"Many of our members are products of and represent HBCUs throughout this country and we appreciate the value of investing resources in these historic institutions," Lee said in a statement. "This initiative will allow HBCUs to compete effectively for funding, identify and increase their participation in Federal programs and initiatives and encourage greater partnerships between public-sector and private-sector entities as well as increased community involvement."

As part of the White House initiative, Obama named Hampton University President William Harvey as the chairman of the President's Board of Advisors on HBCUs.

The president also recognized Earl Richardson, president of Morgan State University in Baltimore, Md., who is leaving the position in June after 25 years at the helm.

"I didn't expect it [the recognition], of course," Richardson told the AFRO. "[But]…it was wonderful."

Richardson said he supported the president's championing of HBCUs.

"When you have the president of the United States using his bully pulpit to highlight the great accomplishments of our Black colleges and universities, there is no other public relations forum that is more powerful, and that is extraordinary," Richardson said.

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