According to CBS News, after decades of HBCU’s not receiving proper funding, leaders of these institutions are now fighting for what they’re owed, and at least $1.1 billion will be funded to 50 HBCUs.
Historically Black colleges and universities in the U.S. have been underfunded for decades, and billions of dollars in state funding meant to be given to the schools was put to use by lawmakers for other purposes.
Anthony Jenkins, president of Coppin State University, an HBCU in Baltimore, said, “We’re going to use these dollars in a way that helps soften the financial burden that so many of our students are facing.”
“We know, through those efforts, we will see greater student success, greater retention, and greater graduation rates coming out of the institution.”
Coppin State and three other HBCUs in Maryland, Bowie State, University of Maryland Eastern Shore, and Morgan State are currently slated to receive $577 million from the state legislature starting in July 2022 are set to be disbursed across the next decade.
Presidents at said schools believe that introducing this funding will allow for upgrades in facilities and enrich curricula, including expanding the range of majors available to students.
“We’ll be taking those dollars, and we’ll be focusing on how we remain competitive, relevant, and sustainable for years to come,” he told CBS MoneyWatch. “We’re excited about what the future holds for Coppin.”
HBCU leaders say the denial of state funding to their colleges largely comes down to institutional racism.
Several HBCU officials believe that state legislators, who largely control financing for higher education, have viewed HBCU’s as inferior for decades. This is a fact that has hindered HBCU’s from offering more competitive salaries for faculty or scholarships for top students.
“Our institutions have not — and still are not — being treated the same,” Alabama A&M University President Andrew Hugine Jr. said.
As part of the effort to improve HBCUs and put them on an equal footing with other schools, a North Carolina congresswoman proposed federal legislation that would provide extra funding to 100 HBCUs.
Separately, Cisco Systems said in May that it would donate $100 million for tech upgrades at nearly a dozen HBCUs.
Terrell Strayhorn, director of the Center for the Study of HBCUs at Virginia Union University, said, “HBCUs are winning right now. I think because the narrative that’s being carried forward is one that says Black folk, students, people, belong here.”
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The effort to level the playing field for public HBCUs in Maryland and Tennessee is expected to rub off similar efforts in other states, including Alabama, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Virginia.
“States mimic each other,” he said. “The year 2021 will likely be one of those years that will be known as — among a lot of things — the year of the HBCU,” Strayhorn added.
