HBCU Digest

Alcorn State University Institutional Officers

Dr. Samuel l. White

Executive Vice President and Provost

Dr. Carl Cunningham Jr.Vice President for Student Success and Enrollment Management

mS. Clara roSS StampS

Vice President for Media and University Relations

mr. C. rob Shorette

Presidential Ombudsman for Administrative Affairs

Dr. betty J. robertS

Senior Vice President for University Operations

mr. marCuS D. WarD

Vice President for Institutional Advancement

Dr. Derek greenfielD

Director of Educational Equity and Inclusion

mr. Jeremy maSon

Special Assistant for University Initiatives

mS. karen SheDriCk

Executive Assistant to the President

Dr. m. ChriStopher broWn ii18th President

Alcorn State University is a premier comprehensive land-grant university that develops diverse students into globally

competitive leaders, and applies scientific research through collaborative partnerships that benefit the surrounding

communities, state, nation, and world.

WWW.alCorn.eDu | 800.222.6790

Oakwood University: proud to represent HBCUs as:

The first HBCU with the ISO: 9001-certification;

The first and only vegetarian/vegan HBCU campus;Home of the Aeolians Choir – the 2011, 2012 and 2013

national HBCU choral champions, and the 2012 World Choir Games’ gold medalists

(the only HBCU represented); andThe 2013 Home Depot® “Retool Your School”

HBCU Campus Improvement Contest Champions!

Learn more about other Oakwood University kudos and OU news at www.oakwood.edu

Departments

6 20 Questions

7 Letter from the Editor

8 Publisher’s Note

11 Around the Hill

13 HBCU Digest Opinions Homecoming: A Missed Opportunity in HBCU Philanthropy by Dr. Crystal A. deGregory

28 Open Letter to New Initiative Leadership

Resources

30 Full Text of Executive Order 13532 - Promoting Excellence, Innovation, and Sustainability at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

32 List of HBCU Presidents

Features

14 STUDENT DIARYOne student’s struggles with the Parent PLUS Loan

program and his persistent fight to fund his educationBy Stanley Gates II

16 SOCIAL IGNORANCEHow the internet and social media help perpetuate stereotyoes and spread racist ideas among college

studentsBy Imani J. Jackson

18 ELITE ENROLLMENTTop HBCUs playing a shell game with enrollment

and recruitmentBy Cherise Lesesne

20 TAKING A STANDFor top HBCUs, music and culture remain a divisive issue

By Jared Loggins

24 MEET THE NEW LEADERSHIP OF THE WHITE HOUSE INITIATIVE ON HBCUS

Former South Carolina State President George Cooper, former Howard professor Ivory Toldson joined the office last week

By Autumn A. Arnett

26 OBAMA’S $350 MILLION WAR ON HBCUSAfter the president defaulted on a promise to support them,

many HBCU leaders feel a lawsuit may be the only way to goBy Jarrett L. Carter Sr.

13

26

20

HBCU Digest Fall 2013

www.hbcudigext.com 5

Oakwood University: proud to represent HBCUs as:

The first HBCU with the ISO: 9001-certification;

The first and only vegetarian/vegan HBCU campus;Home of the Aeolians Choir – the 2011, 2012 and 2013

national HBCU choral champions, and the 2012 World Choir Games’ gold medalists

(the only HBCU represented); andThe 2013 Home Depot® “Retool Your School”

HBCU Campus Improvement Contest Champions!

Learn more about other Oakwood University kudos and OU news at www.oakwood.edu

HBCU Digest hbcudigest.com

facebook.com/hbcu.digest | Twitter: @hbcudigest

PublisherJarrett L. Carter, Sr.

EditorAutumn A. Arnett

Assistant EditorKyle S. Yeldell

Graphic ArtistsLa Keita Carter

Brian Ham

ContributorsCrystal A. deGregory

Stanley Gates IIImani J. JacksonCherise Lesesne

Jared Loggins

HBCU Digest is published quarterly by Carter Media Enterprises, LLC.

Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. HBCU Digest and the HBCU Digest logo are protected through registered trademark. For advertising and subscription informa-tion, contact [email protected].

2 0 Questions

1. Does anyone know why Ernest McNealey was fired?2. Does your communications team understand that announcing a key hiring without acknowledging a firing leaves a lot of questions?3. Was your institution doing better 8 years ago than currently under your “partner”?4. How many HBCU presidents are here this year who were not HBCU presidents at this time last year?5. How many of you will be plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the Obama administration by this time next year?6. Do Black PWI graduates give to HBCUs?7. What is more important to HBCU football games: the talent on the field, the band or the tailgate?8. Who has the best HBCU Homecoming?9. Is the Marching 100 still the most prominent band in HBCU Land?10. America’s first Black president - better for HBCUs or PWI Ivies?11. Is there a Black Ivy League?12. How’s that STEM funding working out for you?13. Who wants to be president of Mississippi Valley State University?14. Will any presidents be fired this year over conflicts around parade cars?15. Are the sponsors of HBCU week giving money to your HBCU?16. If you can’t manage your board of trustees, why do you think you deserve to manage an institution?17. Is your PR team turning away media attention with its attitude?18. Have those EEOC complaints and civil suits against one president been resolved?19. Have you written a check to your institution this year?20. Will you be as excited about our next issue as you are this one?


6 www.hbcudigest.com

Letter from the Editor

Dear Reader,

I am excited to be a part of the tremendous HBCU Digest team and excited to announce the launch of the print edition of HBCU Digest. We have introduced a number of enhancements to hbcudigest.com, Digest Radio and now a new quarterly print publication to make sure you are continuously informed on issues impacting the HBCU community and to strengthen our standing as the publication of record for historically Black colleges and universities — and we aren’t finished yet!

We have worked hard to compile an inaugural publication that you will find useful and infor-mative as well as entertaining — from breaking news to personal accounts that put names and faces to the issues we are discussing here in Washington this week to resources that may make your jobs a little easier. Inside, you will find a profile of Dr. Ivory Toldson, the new executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. You will also read a first-hand account of trials with Parent PLUS Loan changes, and several other poignant stories of note.

As we come together this week to discuss policies, share our triumphs and setbacks over the past year and lay out a course of action that will carry us through the next year of HBCU greatness, I hope that you will find this inaugural publication to be as relevant this time next year as it is today.

I look forward to the opportunity to continue to serve as editor of this dynamic publication and to be a resource for the entire HBCU family.

Most sincerely,

Autumn A. ArnettEditor HBCU Digest


www.hbcudigest.com 7

Publisher’s Note

Dear Reader,

For more than three years, you have come to rely upon HBCU Digest’s unique brand of coverage and commentary of historically Black college culture. In appreciation for new changes to and vision for the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, we are pleased to bring a new resource that will provide analysis and information for HBCU supporters and advocates here at National HBCU Week.

This special edition of HBCU Digest is the first in what will be a series of new initiatives to expand coverage of the Black college community. We hope that in these pages of interviews, features and commentary, you will find informative insights and perspectives on the successes and challenges of the HBCU community that will build awareness and affinity for the schools which mean so much to so many.

We thank you for your leadership, service and commitment to building historically Black colleges and universities. We here at HBCU Digest look forward to working with you and serving your campus commu-nities through news and information.

Yours in Advocacy,

Jarrett Carter Sr. Founding EditorHBCU Digest



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AROUND THE HILL

Congressional Budget Office Proposes Pell Grant Changes The Congressional Budget Office recently released a report suggesting possible changes to the Federal Pell grant program to help combat rising costs and trim the federal deficit. The report outlines options for changing the Pell Grant program, divided by options to reduce the number of grant recipients, reduce grant amounts and proposals that would combine the two.

Suggested alternatives to maintaining a federal Pell grant program at all include proposals that Congress could consider re-structuring the program as a lending program, in which loans could be forgiven once classes are success-fully completed or offering grants to fund college savings accounts for middle and high school students in low-income families. Supplementing state grant programs and allowing Pell grants for occupational training programs were also men-tioned in the report.

A round-up of federal actions impacting the HBCU community

Obama Proposes Financial Aid Reform President Obama recently announced a plan “to combat rising college costs and make college affordable for Ameri-can families,” which ties schools’ funding to a ranking deter-mined by a number of indicators, with the aim of allowing Congress to tie funding to performance. Under the plan, the Department of Education would develop a college scorecard based on tuition, graduation rates, debt and earnings of graduates, and the percentage of lower-income students who attend to determine how much students at a particular school should receive. It will also

factor in the number of students receiving Pell grants, and average tuition, scholarships and loan debt. The president also wants to award bonuses to schools based on the number of Pell grant-receiving students they graduate. Another proposed course of action would compel schools to disperse Pell grant funds on a rolling basis over the course of the semester, to combat Pell grant waste by students who drop out mid-semester. Students would be required to complete a certain percentage of classes before receiving any funds. The proposed plan would take effect in 2015, when the scorecard would be first applied, and expanded in 2018, when it would tie to federal funding.

Jim Shelton Named Deputy Secretary of the Department of Education

President Obama announced Morehouse College alumnus Jim Shelton as a nominee for Deputy Secretary of the US Department of Education. Shelton is the acting deputy secretary of the agency, and has served at the department since 2009. According to a DOE release, Shelton was a Partner for NewSchools Venture Fund from 2002 to 2003, President for the LearnNow Division of Edison Schools from 2001 to 2002, and the President and Co-Founder of Learn-Now, Inc. from 1999 to 2001.



Howard University, one of the nation’s leading research universities, is dedicated to educating students from diverse backgrounds at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels. Guided by our extraordinary cadre of faculty, students are immersed in cutting-edge scholarship

and innovation, including nanotechnology, human genome research and atmospheric science, as well as the social sciences, arts and humanities on four campuses.

Since its inception more than 145 years ago, Howard University has been at the forefront of preparing globally competent students for positions of leadership and social responsibility.

twitter.com/HowardUfacebook.com/howarduniversity

While the debate over which HBCU has the greatest homecoming ever rages on, anyone who has ever attended an HBCU homecoming knows the deal. Whether at schools public or private, co-ed or single-gender, small,

moderate or large in size, HBCU homecomings are…epic. HBCU homecomings also generate economies to the tune of hundreds of thousands or even hundreds of millions of dollars. So, why are so many HBCUs seemingly operating at best, on shoestring budgets, and at worse, teetering on the brink of financial ruin? Homecomings, like many other HBCU-related events that have the potential to economically empower our in-stitutions and the communities surrounding them, are lots of fun but don’t raise a lot of money. Let’s be clear, when you attend “official” homecoming events hosted by party promoters who don’t promise any of their proceeds to your HBCU, you’re not financially supporting your HBCU. We must begin to party with a purpose, transforming these events and others like them into fundraisers, not just fun-raisers. To be fair, HBCU leaders must do a better job managing their institution’s brands. Every bootleg t-shirt and independent party bearing an HBCU’s name is a missed fundraising opportunity and a neglected platform to tell an institution’s story. The path to responsible HBCU licensing and merchandising must be made clearer; it shouldn’t be easier for potential business partners go rogue than it is for them to give back. Similarly, we need to be more thoughtful about who headlines HBCU-related events. Why are we supporting entertainers who don’t support us and who don’t represent our values? Even so, the fundraising challenges facing HBCUs are bigger than poorly-leveraged homecomings. Ask any member of the HBCU community why more folks don’t give and I’m certain that for every single person asked, I’d get at least several different rationales, most of which may even be true. It’s easy to point out lack of ease navigating the contributors page when you’re an alumnus or alumna, or to point to the inefficiency of the registra-tion process when you’re a student as reasons you don’t give or aren’t going to give to your HBCU. And both alumni and students customarily point to HBCU presidents and/or administrations whose policies they dislike as justifica-tion for not supporting their alma maters. I don’t care how you rationalize it, not financially supporting your HBCU for any of these reasons (as well as any others like it) is unacceptable. I’m not suggesting that HBCU leaders don’t have a responsibility to right these wrongs; I’m asserting that their wrongs shouldn’t keep you from doing right. After all, thousands upon thousands of people who came before you, in many instances more than a century ago, sacrificed their time, talents and treasures, and even life and limb for your HBCU and for you. Now, current and future generations of HBCU-ers count on you. Let’s begin a culture of giving in which folks are less ashamed to give a little, than they are to give nothing at all. Redefining our economic power starts at the bottom. As students (yes, you too), staff and alumni, we must support HBCUs in word, thought and deed today, if we are going to have brighter tomorrows.

Homecoming: A Missed Opportunity in HBCU

Philanthropy

HBCU Digest Opinions

By Dr. Crystal A. deGregory

Howard University, one of the nation’s leading research universities, is dedicated to educating students from diverse backgrounds at the undergraduate, graduate and professional levels. Guided by our extraordinary cadre of faculty, students are immersed in cutting-edge scholarship

and innovation, including nanotechnology, human genome research and atmospheric science, as well as the social sciences, arts and humanities on four campuses.

Since its inception more than 145 years ago, Howard University has been at the forefront of preparing globally competent students for positions of leadership and social responsibility.

twitter.com/HowardUfacebook.com/howarduniversity



My maternal grandmother was a sharecropper on a plantation in Clarksdale, Miss. She was a single mom of seven children who made sure each of her children was able to go to college. My mother, being the youngest, got to see her mother instill the importance of education in each of her brothers and sisters.

So education has been important to my entire family for years, and each of us has always been expected to continue our education past high school. Both of my parents graduated from Mississippi Valley State University. In 2004, they founded a nonprofit organization that sponsored tours of historically Black colleges and universities, and at an early age I was exposed to a new culture. Although I was accepted into my dream school seven years later, I quickly realized there is a difference in being accepted and being able to attend a school. Attending Howard University would approximately cost $40,000 each year I would be in school. I assumed applying for scholarships and getting money wouldn't be hard at all for a high school honor student. By the time my high school graduation rolled around, I discovered I was wrong. I had no aid for school. Before I graduated high school, I was blessed to have received an $800 scholarship from a local fire station I hadn't even applied for and a $500 scholarship from an organization called Youth for a Positive Image, Inc. Even with the two small scholarships I had a lot more money to drum up. At this point, I did not want to use a bulk of loans to go to school, but my family and I decided to try to apply for the Parent PLUS Loan that would give me $25,000 that I could use to pay for school. My mom was denied, then my dad was denied. My parents do not have the best credit, but not the worst either, and they did not understand why they could not get a loan to send me to school. All through the summer, we tried using all of our family members as co-signers on the loan and still could not get accepted for the Parent PLUS Loan. Even at my lowest point in realizing I may not be able to afford school, I still persisted, even when everyone told me to give up and apply to Columbus (Ohio) State Community College. Officials from my church and the university worked to develop a payment plan where my parents would pay approximately $1,700 each month. My parents took out of their retirement savings, cashed in sick days and everything else they could think of to make sure I was at Howard University on August 7, 2012. Seeing how fortunate I was to be able to be at school through all the adversity I faced, I knew that if I did my

Student DiaryOne student’s stuggles with the Parent PLUS Loan program and his persistent fight to fund his education

By Stanley Gates II


14 hbcudigest.com

best and took advantage of my education, I wouldn't have to worry about whether or not I would be at school again the following year. I ended my freshman year at Howard University with a 3.6 GPA and a new member of the Howard University Honors Program. My parents were approved for a federal loan to move into a new house May 17, 2013. My family and I knew that if the federal government accepted them for a home loan that obtaining a Parent PLUS loan would be much easier. When we applied this year for the loan, we were again denied. Because of my GPA, Howard gave me approximately $10,000 this year. A PLUS loan would have been able to pay the entire remaining balance of my education and my parents would not have to worry about making a monthly payment again, which they could not afford to do again. This year, my parents are paying $1,500 a month for me to continue my education, in addition to the subsidized and unsubsidized loans I have taken out. Members of my family are chipping in to help them meet that amount, but I am accutely aware of the tremendous burden this is placing on my family. In the beginning of August, we learned that the PLUS loan had a clause in it to deny any applicants who had any charge offs in the past five years. Thus, it would be better to have little or no credit than to have credit when trying to be accepted for this loan. There is not even an income requirement to determine if the applicant will be able to pay back the loan. Students are missing out on educational opportunities and schools are losing funding from tuition revenue in addition to revenue drops as a result of state and federal budget slashing.

Me, mom, da

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I GOT INTO HOWARD!!



From metadata to micro-aggressions to social me-dia, old ideas often project in new ways. As tech-nology and multi-culturalism reach wider audienc-

es, we no longer have to guess who’s coming to dinner. We already Instagrammed, Vined, Tweeted, Face-booked, blogged, Tumblrd, and Pinned it—while listen-ing to a publicized playlist, that permits inquiring minds to delve into our soundtracks of choice. Having fancy phones, iPads, tablets and gadgets while resourcefully using social media helps ceilings disappear. Social media furthers resistance. It helps topple dictatorships. Galva-nizes voters. Disseminates news. Gets gunmen charged in killings. Challenges norms and privileges. Supports diverse families. Reinvigorates relationships. Shines light on indiscretion. It reminds us of racism. Actually, social media loves racism. The fickle social construct is perpet-uated and discussed by varied lots in cyberspace often. Paula Deen. Riley Cooper. Sheryl Underwood. Debo-rah Brown Community School. Then there’s a seasonal component. Since it’s almost October, folks are a few weeks from adorning themselves in costumes for Halloween. Unfortunately, the holiday is often accompanied by buzz-kill ignorance that is photo-graphed and makes its way into the collective conscious-

ness through social media. For some, it is not about collegiate creativity or look-ing fly for cheap. It’s about getting drunk enough to wear racist attire and reenact the suppressed stereotypes in their minds. Blackface, brownface and redface are some campus favorites, although class-based parties also oc-cur. It’s not about banning or policing costumes as much as it is unpacking the ideas and identities associated with presenting certain ways. “One of the reasons is a lack of foreseeable conse-quences. Younger generations are not learning about on-line impression management early enough,” says Prairie View A&M University communications professor Dr. Amber Johnson. “Another issue is that you can’t directly see the body that you affect. If you cant see the pain, its easier to continue bullying.” Sometimes people are under-exposed and ignorant. And sometimes, college kids— straddling pseudo-adult identities—face repercussions for their public choices. A Florida State University student and others at the institution were reminded of this last month when a Vine post on Mandy Thurston’s (now deactivated) account went viral because it included this caption: “Welcome to FAMU...I mean FSU #monkeyseverywhere

Soci@l Ignor@nceHow the internet and social media help perpetuate stereotypes and spread racist ideas among college students

By Imani J. Jackson



#FSU #MarketWednesday.” Thurston said that her account was hacked. Univer-sity officials lambasted “racist speech.” Some believed that the post highlighted some across-the-tracks tension between FAMU and FSU, a historically Black universi-ty and predominantly white institution both housed in Florida’s capital. Graduates highlighted the nuances of different experiences within the city. “Amongst the students, I personally didn’t feel any overt tension. I didn’t particularly frequent their campus much neither,” Jaren Walker, a full-time musician and FAMU jazz studies graduate said. “I have heard a few stories about the FSU campus security’s racially profiling from a few of my classmates though,” he said before sharing a par-ty-proximity ratio based on race. Calling it an “an open secret that a good number of FSU’s black students party with Rattlers,” Walker said “typi-cally the closer the parties were to either school, the less racially diverse they tend-ed to be.” He added that a nightclub closed after being boycotted for “for unfairly raising admission prices at the door for FAMU students.” ““I think all of us are biased, we all have prejudices against other kinds of people, it’s just that digital media created a space for us to act upon those biases in a new way. Our society is just as racist as it has been,” Johnson says. “Before, I didn’t have access to as many people as I now have online. The odds of racist interactions are greater, and you get to see a wide variety of those perspectives on a daily basis.” Florida State biological sciences graduate Shanita Shack, who is preparing for graduate school, said she couldn’t recall a racial incident at FSU. “I felt like it was a diverse campus and people were friendly,” Shack said. “Those were actually some of the main reasons why I decided to go to FSU…. I think the race relations between FSU and FAMU are good.” She added that she had “never heard of any tension” or experienced anything of the sort while she was in un-dergrad. Shack said that the universities often did com-munity service, performed and did ministries together. Inter-collegiate cooperation enriches participants. For some, a friendly competitive edge is rejuvenating and unifying. However, biases and manifestation thereof remain problematic. Sometimes the Black-school-ver-

sus-whiteschool drama of nearby institutions makes way for faulty policies. As Walker alluded to with a Tallahassee nightclub, a Ruston, Louisiana apartment complex was known to charge Grambling State students a higher rate than Louisiana Tech students. But the rate adjustment didn’t

enrage ev-eryone. Some Black resi-dents of the complex attended Grambling and didn’t care about

leasing from a complex that treated substantially simi-lar customers differently. They felt false superiority for not living by other Blacks and from convincing leasing agents to charge them a “Tech rate.” Today’s consumers, students and users don’t have to take disparate treatment, hate speech or uninspiring commentary without pushback. The world is an audi-ence, available in seconds. We always have a platform. So, while time will tell if folks can tweet through their stressors or blog away the blues, archaic ignorance and animus face persistent present fighters. Says Johnson, ““I think there’s going to be a rise in racist rhetoric, but we’ll also see a swell against racist rhetoric. For every racially-charged blogger, there are several blogging against that kind of rhetoric. And its not just about race, but its also about gender, class, sexuality, geography, education - all of those things matter.”

Social media has given rise to the spread of racist and insensitive speech among millenials. Af-ter social media was responsible for bringing charges against accused killer George Zimmerman, some posted #Trayvoning pictures portraying the victim, such as the one above.



Elite EnrollmentTop HBCUs playing shell game with enrollment and recruitment

By Cherise Lesesne

To provide easier access to lower-income Black students, HBCUs have increased efforts to recruit more students each year from lower-incomes families. However, the contrast in low-income student enrollment at the nation’s top five HBCUs (Spelman Col-

lege, Morehouse College, Howard University, Hampton University, and Fisk University) compared to remaining HBCUs suggests that family income levels are significantly impacting recruitment and enrollment at the most prestigious HBCUs. At Spelman College, 49 percent of students were eligible for the Pell grant in 2010-2011, an indicator that a student’s family income levels are under $40,000. Yet, at Florida A&M University, the number-nine ranked HBCU, students were almost three times as likely to be eligible for the Pell grant. Dr. Beverly Tatum, Spelman College president, attributes the difference in need-based aid at Spelman and other schools directly to federal aid programs such as the Pell Grant and the Parent PLUS loan program, which heightened regulations for accessing the loans. “The October 2011 changes to the Parent PLUS Loan program disregard these trends by creating a new and unnecessary barrier to higher education. These changes devastated many families at Spelman and all over the country. And I know that my institution suffered because of this influx of denials and I know that our nation suffered as well,” Tatum said. Within the last five years, Spelman has maintained an average family contribution from alumni and students of $10,451, a figure commonly used to indicate the financial status of majority of an institution’s students. Florida A&M’s, on the other hand, has re-mained half that average in the same time frame. Not only are there differences in the percentage of low-income students at these two schools, but there are also wide disparities among recruitment. Spelman College recruits heavily from locations and regions that have the highest socio-economic Black families such as the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, Atlanta, and New York. Florida A&M has higher local recruitment efforts including



the state of Florida itself and surrounding states like North and South Carolina. Howard University President Sidney Ribeau says, “The grad-uation rate for students at any institution who have a socio-eco-nomic challenge is lower. They don’t have the resources; they have to work more hours. They have to stop out more.” “Another factor to consider is the pipeline issue. If you look at Detroit, for example, where there is a large population of blacks, you’re looking at probably about 30 to 35 percent of students completing high schools; they’re not getting through the pipe-line. The basic skills such as quantitative reasoning and writing, which are predictors of success in college, are being reduced by 30 to 35 percent,” Ribeau says. However, at most elite HBCUs, the large “African-American share in less and non-competitive colleges” has been displaced from higher-ranking to lower-ranking HBCUs. Top HBCUs differ significantly in how they seek out students from poorer families, how financial aid is distributed, and how to determine which students need aid. Spelman offers a limited amount of scholarships that average $4000 for an academic year, and approximately five pres-idential scholarships, which pay a student’s entire tuition for their entire college trajectory. Major arguments from HBCU leaderships have indicated that they lack resources to provide financial aid to a large amount of need-based students and are unable to contribute as much as Ivy League schools like Harvard University whose endowments amount to well over $1 billion. Yet, even the most elite HBCUs whose endowments sometimes equal close to $500,000,000, have an unconvincing correlation between the school’s financial standing and the amount of students who receive Pell Grants. Addison Barry Rand, Howard University’s Chairman of the Board of Trustees, justified his own HBCU’s re-organization as a mere effort to survive the economic downturn. “Like most institutions of higher education, our university is addressing complex organizational challenges and has made some difficult and sometimes unpopular decisions that are necessary to enhance the institution’s viability and growth,” Rand wrote to the Howard community. Similar to Howard University’s Rand, Morehouse College President John Wilson admitted to restructuring the school’s

enrollment and recruitment plans as an effort to stay financially healthy. President Wilson wrote, “My administration will implement an aggressive enrollment management plan to attract more stu-dents who can afford to pay for a Morehouse education. And we will use our scholarships more strategically to ensure that we are focusing support on students who have the highest potential to benefit from being at Morehouse.” Wilson also admitted that Morehouse strives to retain top Black talent before it is lost to top competition, which is often top PWIs. The shift in enrollment management for Morehouse and fellow elite HBCUs, for some, is contradictory to their initial mis-sion which served to educate as many disenfranchised students as possible. President Walter Kimbrough of Dillard University

is a strong advo-cate that the large amount of Pell Grant recipients at HBCUs is not an excuse to disre-gard such students even in the time of financial instability. “Too many HB-CUs accept that we have many low-in-come students so our graduation rates won’t be high,” Kimbrough says.

My school had rates in the teens the past two decades, but our latest six-year graduation rate is 32%. The legacy of HBCUs has always been to provide opportunities for poor students and not abandon them to improve rankings. This is much bigger than race. This is an issue of wealth, and opportunity,” said Dr. Kimbrough However, others like Wall Street journalist Jason Riley are heavily convinced that a Black institution’s initial mission is be-coming irrelevant and unprofitable in today’s economy. “Black colleges are at a crossroads. At one time black colleges were an essential response to racism. They trained a generation of civil rights lawyers and activists who helped end segregation. Their place in U.S. history is secure. Today, however, dwindling enrollments and endowments indicate that fewer and fewer Blacks believe that these schools, as currently constituted, repre-sent the best available academic choice,” Riley wrote. Among top HBCUs, the shift away from Pell-dependent stu-dents stands, to some, in stark contrast to the mission to educate all Black students, as schools instead emphasize the bottom line.



TakingFor top HBCUs, music

By Jared Loggins

Hip-hop, for decades, has stirred de-bate across the country over its role in misogyny, homophobia, racism

and sexism. This debate has come again to the Atlanta University Center with the emergence of a “Please Don’t Stop the Music” petition spon-sored by the Morehouse Student Government Association to counter a move by the admin-istration to censor lyrics that are offensive to women. At a recent town hall meeting, Morehouse President John Wilson said that he believes all misogynistic music should be banned from public spaces on campus because it mis-represents Morehouse’s institutional values and sends the wrong message to potential donors. “If people are degraded by the music that is played on campus, then that is institutional complicity,” Wilson said. “I’m not for that.” However, rather than impose his opinion, he urged students to draw a line on what is acceptable music on campus. “We have to have intelligent debate and conversation around this issue,” Wilson said. “And frankly, it has not happened yet. We have to draw a line here on what is accept-able.” The question among students, during and in the aftermath of the town hall, has centered on where, if any, a line should be drawn. When polled by Wilson during the meeting on how many students opposed a ban on music, most students affirmed a sentiment that echoed across social media through a Maroon Tiger live tweet session: no ban.



a Standand culture remain a divisive issue

Blurred Lines

Morehouse College junior English major Jebar King does not support a ban and says, like many students at Morehouse and Spelman colleges, it is an infringement on black cultural expression. “It shouldn’t be banned at all because hip-hop is a part of Black culture and expression – no matter how ignorant it can be at times – and we are at an HBCU and need to em-brace our culture instead of attempt to get rid of it.” Other students disagree with a complete ban but believe a line should be drawn somewhere regard-ing the issue. Sophomore English major Aaron Jones believes censor-ship would allow students to reflect on Morehouse’s mission. “I don’t believe it should be banned altogether but I do believe that we can’t be an HBCU uplifting black men and women if the image we’re projecting signifies men sag-ging pants, rapping about nothing more than money, designer clothes, and women or disrespecting women by portraying them provocatively in every video,” Jones said. “I believe there is a need for a censor, maybe a clean version [of a song] at the least, although I think a complete ban is overdoing it.” Still, many students fear that a ban may set a precedent regarding how much power a president can exercise. Amid the discussion, some believe that censorship in any form would undercut the artistic expression that

a liberal arts institution promotes.Sophomore Business Accounting major Justin McKnight believes that the music is already censored at public events and the lyrics do not determine students’ conduct. “I feel that there is a place and time for everything and events like Hump Wednesday and Homecom-ing where the music is played is a chance for students to come together and enjoy themselves,” McKnight wrote. “The music that we play today is what our generation enjoys listen-ing to.” Spelman junior Adeerya Johnson firmly believes that there should be ban. “The type of music Morehouse plays will represent how Morehouse is. Meaning, the whole school’s per-sona in general will be looked at as a contradiction. If you are a school fo-cusing on black male excellence, you, as an institution, need to find a style of music or artist that represents your mission.”

Music Debate Nothing New

The debate began nearly a year ago when students in a Back psy-chology class at Spelman drafted a petition urging students and admin-istrators to be conscious of the deg-radation of women in certain lyrics played during Market Friday. Last October, Spelman President Beverly Daniel Tatum responded to student backlash to the petition in a letter that echoed college policy that bans misogynistic music on Spelman’s

campus. The letter garnered mixed reac-tions from students. “Spelman College is a community where the educational empower-ment of women is central, and the expectation is that everyone will be treated as worthy of dignity and respect,” Tatum wrote. “Our policies are designed to support and pre-serve those values. When you see a situation where those community values are being jeopardized, you can reasonably assume that College policy is being violated, and it is time to report it to someone.” Tatum’s letter seemed to under-gird a growing sentiment among administrators at both schools about a pervasive trend that seems to un-dermine institutional values. In 2004, Nelly had planned a visit to Spelman to do work for a bone marrow registry but cancelled his visit in the wake of protests around misogyny and sexism in his lyrics. “We need to organize and say no to this stuff, this nasty, disgusting stuff,” Beverly Guy-Sheftall, a profes-sor of Women’s Studies at Spelman, said in an interview with the Associ-ated Press at the time. In January, a group of Morehouse students drafted their own petition standing in solidarity with their Spelman sisters. “We fuel popular culture on our campus and do not have to abide by the social narratives provided to us,” Junior and signatory on the petition Nelson Graves said in a January. “On a campus filled with future doc-



tors, lawyers, accountants, professors and renaissance men, to say we cannot do without the misogyny on a Hump Wednesday is simply untrue. We need to give ourselves more credit than that, as we are more than capable of break-ing away and seeking a more positive alternative, an alternative that does not morally compromise ourselves or come at the expense of our sisters.” The Morehouse petition aimed “to have disallowed, through the implementation/enforcement of school-wide policy, the public play of all misogynistic music on the Morehouse College Campus. This would include, but not be limited to, Hump Wednesday and concerts held on the Morehouse College campus endorsed by the institution or via student organization[s].”

Students remain vocal

Nearly a decade since the 2004 protests, grassroots action remains a site of agency and expression for students on both campuses to deal with a culture that many say extends far beyond music. While music has been at the forefront, recent sexual assaults have renewed a discussion about other factors that might contribute to such a culture. Last Spring, a group of Morehouse and Spelman students came together to voice their concerns about rape cul-ture amid a number of national headlines centered on controversial remarks related to rape and sexual assaults. The group of male students and female students clad in racy attire flocked onto Morehouse’s campus holding bull-horns and wielding signs that disavowed controversial language surrounding rape. “My clothes do not equal consent,” one Spelman student’s sign read. “Rape is rape is rape is rape,” another More-house student’s sign said. Those protests came only weeks after allegations of sexual assaults surfaced on the campus. Though it had not been the first time that such an event had occurred – nearly 150 students protested an alleged cover-up by adminis-trators in 2006 –Morehouse administrators pledged to do more to change the culture in the wake of the incident. “Violence is the very antithesis of the Morehouse ethos and the values of a Morehouse Man,” a statement released by the Morehouse Office of Communications said at the time. Weeks later, the college hosted a Violence Against Women panel to get proactive about changing what many see as a culture that invites violence, misogyny and sex-ism. As for the direction the institution will take in the coming years, President Wilson promised a continued commit-ment to character preeminence.



FAMU Accolades AD 8.5x11 Color.indd 1 9/13/13 4:00 PM

Meet the New Leadership of the Former South Carolina State President George Cooper, former Howard

By Autumn A. Arnett

Dr. George E. Cooper is not a stranger to turmoil, a truth that will fare the former South Carolina State University president well as he transitions to heading an office that has been marked by turmoil and controversy over the

last few years. When he took the reins at S.C. State, he prioritized financial transparency and accountability — priorities that many are hopeful he will carry with him to the U.S. Department of Education, as the HBCU community looks to the office to publish financial reports on their behalf and not only advocate for additional funding but be accountable in his efforts to secure those funds. “Dr. Cooper is a very good man. In my judgement, the chief duty for the executive director of the White House Initiative is to be an aggressive advocate for HBCUs. With his experiences at Tuskegee and South Carolina State he should fulfill this role in a very good fashion.,” says Dr. William Harvey, president of Hampton University and chair of the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Prior to joining the Department of Education, Cooper was a senior fellow with the American Association of State Colleges and Universities. He is also a past chair of the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities, Council of 1890 Universities (2010-2012). National Association For Equal Opportunities in Higher Education president Lezli Baskerville is optimistic that Cooper’s previous experiences will serve as a basis to “strengthen our voice as we … work with the federal government to incentivize and use the full range of its powers to prod states into investing in HBCUs... such that they are ‘comparable and competitive’ with their historically white counterparts.” According to an official statement, Cooper plans to concentrate his efforts around “promoting excellence, innovation and sustainability of HBCUs.” Dr. Leonard Haynes, who served as the Initiative’s first executive director under President Jimmy Carter, has one piece of advice for Cooper: implement the executive order as it was written. “The challenge and the opportunity is that you are doing this on behalf of the president,” Haynes says, adding “do everything within [your] power to implement the executive order.” Haynes warns that the job is not an easy one. “It’s a lot of work that has to go into it. Everyone had to be on the same page.” He also advises that the authority of the executive order will allow Cooper to “speak with forcefulness” to get HBCU leaders and advocates to act, and says that any personal agenda should be discarded when taking the office; the executive director’s sole purpose is to implement the president’s agenda. Cooper wanted “to be different and to do things differently,” when he took over the leadership at S.C. State. He cited his competitive nature as the reason why S.C. State was to be the best university in the nation. By all accounts, the way the Initiative is led will need to be different this time around, and Cooper has his work cut out for him.



White House Initiative on HBCUsprofessor Ivory Toldson joined the office last week

Dr. Ivory A. Toldson is no stranger to the spotlight. The former associate professor of psychology at Howard Uni-versity is a renowned researcher on Black male achievement, a noted author and speaker and now the Deputy

Executive Director of the White House Initiative on historically Black colleges and universities. “What a lot of people don’t understand is that being at an HBCU didn’t hinder my creativity ,” Toldson says of his response when people were shocked to find he taught at Howard. In fact he says, because of his desire to research solutions that would help African-Americans and dedicate much of his work to helping the community, his professional success is directly attributed to the time he spent on the faculties of Howard and Morehouse College, two very different universities who share some similarities, especially in the way they relate to students, according to Toldson. Toldson says it is “not in spite of HBCUs [that he has achieved such success], but because of them. Only an HBCU was in a position to cultivate that” desire to research and find real solutions to some of the problems the Afri-can-American community is facing. It is that perspective, that of a nationally-recognized HBCU scholar, that Toldson believes prepares him well for his new role within the Department of Education. One of his top priorities will be to “help people understand why a career at HBCUs — whether as a student, faculty or administration — is a very advantageous thing to do,” he says. “A lot of people talk about the disadvantages of HBCUs,” Toldson says, acknowledging the challenges the institutions face, “but there’s very little talk of the advantages.” The senior researcher for the Congressional Black Caucus and editor of The Journal of Negro Education intends to apply the same dedication to researchand publication in his capacity as Deputy Executive Director of the Initiative as he has applied to everything he has touched throughout his career. He wants to see the White House Initiative on HBCUs “be a very prolific office that is constantly putting out information to the public in a variety of formats.” Whether HBCU excellence reports, literature to high schools explaining the benefits of HBCUs and the application and acceptance process, and yes, even the executive order-mandated annual reports, Toldson is committed to keeping HBCU stakeholders informed every step of the way. Toldson plans to survey the HBCU landscape to determine whichschools are the most successful in recruitment and cultivating K-12 students to be productive members of the collegiate community, which are doing the best jobs fundraising — reaching out to alumni and cultivating faculty to go after funding, which retain and graduate the most students and which are most adept at working with students with financial issues to ensure the students are still able to complete their educations. And though his agenda may seem lofty, especially when compared to the office’s recent output, Toldson is certain it will be met. “One of the reasons I think they selected me is because I produce, and I don’t see any barriers to producing,” he says.



In 2010, President Obama pledged support for Black colleges, acknowledging the tough road ahead, but stressing the neces-

sity for HBCUs to be a part of the nation’s broad goal of outpac-ing all countries in capacity for industrial innovation. Three years later, the Obama administration has overseen one of the worst stretches of legislative support for HBCUs in modern history. Couched within a growing unease about direct concern and compassion from the White House for problems disparately affecting the African-American community, public and private HBCUs now face greater potential for closure, unbal-anced comparability against traditionally white peer institutions, and a stark lack of appeal to a growing pool of African-American

high school graduates. The disconnect between the White House and HBCUs came to a grinding apex in the summer of 2013. After years of steady increases in enrollment, graduation rates and research capacity for many institutions, a new danger set back many of the hard-earned advancements for these campuses. Change to Parent PLUS Loan requirements, combined with ongoing drastic cuts in state HBCU appropriations to make a legitimate case of an outright assault on Black colleges, in the eyes of many HBCU leaders and advocates. The summer swoon for HBCUs came on the tail end of a questionable transition of leadership in the White House

Obama’s $350 Million War on HBCUs

After the president defaulted on a promise to support them, HBCU leaders feel a lawsuit may be the only way

By Jarrett L. Carter, Sr.



Initiative on HBCUs. After the departure of controversial executive director John Sil-vanus Wilson, current Morehouse College president, angst grew among Black college presidents and chancellors for more stable leadership in the primary office of the liai-son between President Obama and HBCUs. In the more than 11 months that followed Wilson’s departure, two interim directors were installed to lead the initiative, signaling to HBCU leaders that their interests and needs were of little consequence in the national higher ed agenda. As fall drew near, President Obama proposed sweeping reforms for higher education, calling for financial aid to be tied to metrics of graduation rates, alumni income, student debt, and other factors which fly in the face of the HBCU mission and purpose. For many, it was the beginning of the divorce of many HBCU leaders from the optimism for Black colleges under the nation’s first Black president. With the Congressional Budget Office proposing cuts to the increased funding in President Obama’s Pell Grant revisions, looming higher ed reforms and continuing harm from the PLUS Loan changes, a growing rift between Capitol Hill and HBCUs appears beyond repair. For some HBCU leaders, litigation against the Obama administration may be an option to recoup lost revenues and opportunities for hundreds of students. Officials with Thurgood Marshall College Fund Inc. say that some presidents have begun to assem-ble details on stunted programmatic development and capacity building due to PLUS changes, but are careful to say that no formal plans for a lawsuit are currently in action. But such a movement would be consistent with comments made by leadership from the advocacy organizations. In March, TMCF President and CEO Johnny Taylor was quoted in clear support of litigation against the Obama administration. “We’re going to continue to pursue the legislative process to find a better solution,” Taylor told The Washington Times. “[But] if at some point we determine that there is no agreement, then we may have to consider going to the courts. Similar sentiments were echoed by Lezli Baskerville, President and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, in a recent interview on HBCU Digest Radio. “We’ll be at the table and note that any proposal that will result in institutions being disadvantaged would be one that we would reject outright and one that we would indi-cate to Congress as an odious policy.” HBCU presidents and chancellors have waited for more than five years for the pow-er of the executive office to reflect attention and respect for Black colleges. There has been no usage of the bully pulpit to champion HBCUs or the role they play in America’s capacity to outpace other nations in intellectual output. This week, we meet the new per-manent executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs, and still questions linger on whether he will be empowered by the attentive ear of leadership within the Department of Ed and the White House on HBCU matters. The last five years have revealed that a Black president elected does not equal Black interests championed. This reality has proven particularly stinging for HBCU students, alumni and surrounding communities who are chiefly responsible for propelling Obama to victory in two national elections. Litigation is the last desirable measure for response from the first Black president, but it may be the most responsible measure HBCU lead-ers can take to ensure adequate, due support from an administration which has strug-gled to pair words with actions on HBCU support.

President Obama and former Executive Director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs John Wilson, now president of Morehouse College (left), did not advocate for HBCUs as leaders hoped they would, leaving some HBCU advocates to contemplate suing the administration to recoup damages.

By the NumbersThe state of HBCUs

during Obama’s presidency

$193 MillionLost revenue due to Parent PLUS Loan changes. be-

tween Oct. 2011-Oct. 2013

$140 MillionCuts in grants and research appropriations from federal

agencies.

28,000Approximate number of

students sent home due to a lack of funding.

$29 BillionFY14 Budget Request for Pell gr.ants, a $5 Billion decrease

from FY13.

71Percentage of HBCU students

nationwide receiving Pell grants.

3The number of executive directors the White House

Initiative on HBCUs has seen since January 2013.

1The number of HBCUs to

close during Obama’s tenure (Staint Paul’s College in

Lawrenceville, Va.).





Open Letter to New Initiative Leadership

Dear Drs. Cooper and Toldson,The list of challenges facing historically Black

colleges and universities is long and winds around many elements of financial, cultural and social com-plexities. But now that the Obama administration has appointed new permanent leadership in the office charged as the go-between for historically Black colleges and the White House, there are a few short-term actions leadership can take to produce long term benefits for HBCUs.

Outlining a New Capacity-Building Strategy

Previous leadership of the White House Initiative seemed to be frustrated by the lack of innovation and capacity from HBCU leadership to define programs and industries in which they can compete for money and attention. In place of frustration, WHI-HBCU leadership should find the programmatic strengths of every HBCU, and the people responsible for develop-ing those strengths. Private donors and agencies are more likely to sup-port presidents and faculty doing engaging work, and not asks along racial or social lines planes constructed upon cultural guilt. The office must have a keen eye for schools and people working in hot industrial areas of the day - agribusiness, homeland security, charter school education, new media, venture capital, public health, and more. Where the previous WHI-HBCU admin-

istration sought to receive information from schools about their strengths, new leadership should make a standing mission to actively assist schools in strate-gically marketing institutional and individuals suc-cesses to alumni and civic groups, making the case for grassroots investment from graduates, local business and industry leaders, and support in local and nation-al Black media. After all, what school would earn the financing of Oprah Winfrey or Bill Gates which hasn’t yet earned the support of its own graduates and surrounding neighbors?

Competing for Federal Grants and Research Appropriations

If the nation is to be healthier, smarter, more inno-vative and less driven by socio-political agenda, than the effort to to begin the process doesn’t begin at the federal level - it begins at the state legislative level. Too many HBCUs are exemplary in urban and rural development, specifically in areas of secondary educa-tion, agriculture and small business creation. For too long, White House Initiative leadership has focused on prizes and dollars directly from federal agency out-reach, while avoiding interface with state legislators and advocates. Meeting with state governors, senators and rep-resentatives is the necessary and logical first step in securing funding for research, cooperative extension



and outreach programming that leads to support from federal agencies in future funding cycles. Particular areas of note where HBCUs have demonstrated state success that can translate into federal appropriations are continuing education for working adults, reentry programming and social work oversight for individ-uals recovering from addiction, abuse, incarceration and homelessness, and community organizing and promotion around sexual health, nutrition, and pre-ventative care. It’s one thing to know where the federal govern-ment is willing to spend money, and another to make the strongest case for it to do so. The fight is not on Capitol Hill; it is in the respective HBCU state capi-tals. When HBCUs can meet the needs of cities and states, federal dollars will soon follow.

Accessibility to Share the HBCU Story

The new rules for communication are simple; be available all of the time, and almost to a fault. Given that African-Americans are the most active consum-ers of social media in the United States, there is no reasonable explanation for the WHI-HBCU lead-ership to be without vibrant and active presence on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and all other venues. Government communications officially died and

was reborn with the inauguration of Barack Obama, who created new rules for public engagement by way of social media and web development. The same ap-proach must be taken by White House Initiative lead-ership, which must use words, sounds and updates to make the Initiative narrative as tangible to students and alumni as it is to HBCU presidents, legislators and financial stakeholders. The miracle of historically Black higher education was not designed to last in excess of 150 years. But it has, and HBCUs have made wonderful and unex-pected advancements along the way to achieve over-whelmingly positive gains for Black Americans na-tionwide. The next step in the journey is figuring out how to work within the evolving spectrum of desegre-gation to converge support, awareness and financing to ensure another 150 years of miracles for the United States. A tall order for a small office with a minimal bud-get and thousands of people watching, but certainly, a manageable one with the right approach from its new leadership.

Signed,Jarrett L. Carter, Sr.

Founding EditorHBCU Digest

Full Text of Executive Order 13532 -- Promoting Excellence, Innovation, and Sustainability at Historically Black Colleges and Universities

By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, in order to advance the devel-opment of the Nation’s full human potential and to advance equal opportunity in higher education, strengthen the capacity of historically black colleges and universities to provide the highest quality education, increase opportunities for these institutions to participate in and benefit from Federal programs, and ensure that our Nation has the highest proportion of college graduates in the world by the year 2020, it is hereby ordered as follows:

Section 1. Policy.

Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have made historic and ongoing contributions to the general welfare and prosperi-ty of our country. Established by visionary leaders, America’s HBCUs, for over 150 years, have produced many of the Nation’s leaders in business, government, academia, and the military and have provided generations of American men and women with hope and educational opportunity. The Nation’s 105 HBCUs are located in 20 States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands and serve more than 300,000 undergraduate and graduate students. These institutions continue to be important engines of economic growth and community service, and they are proven ladders of intergenerational advancement for men and women of all ethnic, racial, and economic backgrounds, especially African Americans. These institutions also produce a high number of baccalaureate recipients who go on to assume leadership and service roles in their communities and who successfully complete graduate and professional degree programs.

Sec. 2. White House Initiative on HBCUs.

(a) Establishment. There is established the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (Initiative), to be housed in the Department of Education (Department).

(b) Mission and Functions. The Initiative shall work with executive departments, agencies, and offices, the private sector, educational as-sociations, philanthropic organizations, and other partners to increase the capacity of HBCUs to provide the highest-quality education to a greater number of students, and to take advantage of these institutions’ capabilities in serving the Nation’s needs through five core tasks: (i) strengthening the capacity of HBCUs to participate in Federal programs; (ii) fostering enduring private-sector initiatives and public-private partnerships while promoting specific areas and centers of academic research and programmatic excellence throughout all HBCUs; (iii) improving the availability, dissemination, and quality of information concerning HBCUs to inform public policy and practice; (iv) sharing administrative and programmatic practices within the HBCU community for the benefit of all; and (v) exploring new ways of improving the relationship between the Federal Government and HBCUs.

(c) Administration. There shall be an Executive Director of the Initiative. The Department shall provide the staff, resources, and assistance for the Initiative, and shall assist the Initiative in fulfilling its mission and responsibilities under this order.

(d) Federal Agency Plans.

(1) Each executive department and agency designated by the Secretary of Education (Secretary) shall prepare an annual plan (agency plan) of its efforts to strengthen the capacity of HBCUs through increased participation in appropriate Federal programs and initiatives. Where appropriate, each agency plan shall address, among other things, the agency’s proposed efforts to: (i) establish how the department or agency intends to increase the capacity of HBCUs to compete effectively for grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements and to encourage HBCUs to participate in Federal programs; (ii) identify Federal programs and initiatives in which HBCUs may be either underserved or underused as national resources, and improve HBCUs’ participation therein; and (iii) encourage public-sector, private-sector, and community involvement in improving the overall capacity of HBCUs.

(2) Each department and agency, in its agency plan, shall provide appropriate measurable objectives and, after the first year, shall annually assess that department’s or agency’s performance on the goals set in the previous year’s agency plan.

(3) The Secretary shall establish a date by which agency plans shall be submitted to the Secretary. The Secretary and the Executive Director shall review the agency plans in consultation with the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs, established in section 3 of this order, and shall submit to the President an annual plan to strengthen the overall capacity of HBCUs.

(4) To help fulfill the objectives of these plans, the head of each department and agency identified by the Secretary shall provide, as appro-priate, technical assistance and information to the Executive Director for purposes of communicating with HBCUs concerning program



activities of the department or agency and the preparation of applications or proposals for grants, contracts, or cooperative agreements.(5) To help fulfill the goals of this order, each executive department and agency identified by the Secretary shall appoint a senior official to report directly to the department or agency head with respect to that department’s or agency’s activities under this order, and to serve as liaison to the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs and to the Initiative.

(e) Interagency Working Group. There is established the Interagency Working Group, which shall be convened by the Executive Director and that shall consist of representatives from agencies designated by the Secretary, to help advance and coordinate the work of Federal agen-cies pursuant to this order, where appropriate.

Sec. 3. President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs.

(a) Establishment. There is established in the Department the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (the Board). The Board shall consist of not more than 25 members appointed by the President. The President shall designate one member of the Board to serve as Chair, who shall coordinate with the Executive Director to convene meetings and help direct the work of the Board. The Board shall include representatives of a variety of sectors, including philanthropy, education, business, finance, entrepreneurship, inno-vation, and private foundations, as well as sitting HBCU presidents.(b) Mission and Functions. Through the Initiative, the Board shall advise the President and the Secretary on all matters pertaining to strengthening the educational capacity of HBCUs. In particular, the Board shall advise the President and the Secretary in the following areas:

(i) improving the identity, visibility, and distinctive capabilities and overall competitiveness of HBCUs; (ii) engaging the philanthropic, business, government, military, homeland-security, and education communities in a national dialogue regarding new HBCU programs and initiatives; (iii) improving the ability of HBCUs to remain fiscally secure institutions that can assist the Nation in reaching its goal of having the highest proportion of college graduates by 2020; (iv) elevating the public awareness of HBCUs; and (v) encouraging public-private investments in HBCUs.

(c) Administration. The Executive Director of the Initiative shall also serve as the Executive Director of the Board. The Department shall provide funding and administrative support for the Board to the extent permitted by law and within existing appropriations. Members of the Board shall serve without compensation, but shall be reimbursed for travel expenses, including per diem in lieu of subsistence, as au-thorized by law. Insofar as the Federal Advisory Committee Act, as amended (5 U.S.C. App.), may apply to the Board, any functions of the President under that Act, except for those of reporting to the Congress, shall be performed by the Secretary, in accordance with guidelines issued by the Administrator of General Services.

(d) Report. As part of the annual report of the Initiative, the Board shall report to the President and the Secretary on their progress in carrying out its duties under this section.

Sec. 4. General Provisions. (a) For the purposes of this order, “historically black colleges and universities” shall mean those institutions listed in 34 C.F.R. 602.8.

(b) This order shall apply to executive departments and agencies designated by the Secretary. Those departments and agencies shall pro-vide timely reports and such information as is required to effectively carry out the objectives of this order.

(c) The heads of executive departments and agencies shall assist and provide information through the White House Initiative to the Board, consistent with applicable law, as may be necessary to carry out the functions of the Board. Each executive department and agency shall bear its own expenses of participating in the Initiative.

(d) Nothing in this order shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:

(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the head thereof; or (ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.

(e) This order shall be implemented consistent with applicable law and subject to the availability of appropriations.

(f) This order is not intended to, and does not, create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural, enforceable at law or in equity by any party against the United States, its departments, agencies, or entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any other person

(g) Executive Order 13256 of February 12, 2002, is hereby revoked.

BARACK OBAMA





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Our tradition.

Our tradition of excellence in teaching, research and

service is nothing new. For more than 135 years, we’ve

provided students with a strong academic foundation,

personal attention, a unique college experience and the

opportunity to make their mark on the world.

249

610Houston

PRAI R IE VI EW A&M UNIVERSITY

NORTHWEST HOUSTON CENTER290

8

I-10

COLLEGE OF NURSING

I-45

Youropportunity.

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