Every president of an historically black college or university (HBCU) has heard the question: Are HBCUs still needed today?
It's a fair question. We are 150 years past slavery, 60 years past the U.S. Supreme Court's historic Brown v. Board of Education decision that began the tumbling of racial barriers in America's educational system.
The answer, simply put, is yes. The proof doesn't require a debate of American history.
As HBCUs field questions concerning relevancy, it seems that predominantly white institutions are also being faced with their own set of questions and issues. Race-related issues are increasing at campuses of several of the best-known campuses as students protest and advocate for change.
At Princeton, African American students have led efforts to strip Woodrow Wilson's name from a prestigious school. At Harvard, protests broke out after students discovered black strips of tape had been placed across photos of African American professors of the law school.
Across the nation students are rightly questioning the commitment of universities to diversity and black studies programs. They are correct because some major universities fail to see that the appointment of a chief diversity officer with little authority will only result in administrative impotency and ultimately the frustration and anger of students.
Meanwhile, historically black universities continue to provide a quality educational experience. In Arkansas, we have four HBCUs: Arkansas Baptist College, Shorter College in North Little Rock, the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff and Philander Smith College, which I serve as president.
It has always been my opinion, and there is compelling evidence to prove it, that HBCU graduates can compete against graduates from any other college or university in America. This is especially true when the barriers that impede success are removed. The HBCU experience removes those barriers by placing students in nurturing environments, with caring and compassionate faculty and staff who not only believe in them, but also hold them to high expectations.
I won't saddle up with the posse in pursuit of the majority institutions. I'm a product of one, having received three degrees from Louisiana State University. I know how earnestly many of them have worked to recruit African Americans.
As I see it, however, HBCUs will never lose relevancy. Since arriving in Arkansas, I have taken a special interest in two groups of students. One group is the 50 percent of African Americans who graduate from high school each year and do not go on to college. The second group is embedded in the 50 percent who do go to college, but who are not prepared for college-level work, thus requiring some form of remedial education. Several predominantly white institutions in Arkansas do not admit students who require remediation. HBCUs admit these students and specialize in creating a learning environment in which they can successfully address their remedial needs.
As long as those dynamics exist, the need for HBCUs will be affirmed. Our fundamental mission is to go after these two groups and to give them a chance to succeed in getting a quality competitive education.
We who teach and mentor students at majority-black institutions feel affirmed by what we see on our campuses. Arkansas and the nation benefit from a solid and continuing stream of black graduates who become teachers, engineers, business executives and religious leaders.
HBCUs are more relevant today because of five imperatives: success, economic, global competitiveness, access and diversity. A majority of our society's most successful African Americans--doctors, lawyers and judges--graduate from HBCUs. We need more of them. A growing percentage of African Americans are entering the middle class. We need HBCUs to serve this growing demographic and to allow our nation to capture the economic benefits it brings.
The global competitiveness imperative recognizes that many of the fastest-growing nations in the world are composed of college-educated Africans and our nation needs an educated African-American leadership to engage them.
We continue to open the doors of opportunity to African Americans regardless of their personal, social, economic or academic backgrounds. And, in a generous and progressive state like Arkansas, the value of diversity is shown in almost every aspect of rational endeavor, but especially in education where the diversity of not just race, but thoughts, perspectives and opinions is valued.
At Philander Smith, we recruit young people of all colors. Caucasians make up 2 percent of our student body, Hispanic/Latinos 3 percent. And we see a gradually increasing enrollment from Africa, Asia and elsewhere.
Just like a majority of higher-education institutions in America, HBCUs have challenges. We need more students, new and renovated buildings, better pay for faculty and more diverse educational programs.
Most of all, we need the good people of Arkansas--corporations, foundations, taxpayers and legislators--to see the value that HBCUs bring to communities, our state and our nation. And, most of all, we hope they see the value that we bring to students of color seeking to be a positive part of society.
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Dr. Roderick L. Smothers became president of Philander Smith College in Little Rock on Jan. 1, 2015.
Editorial on 12/31/2015