It is no secret that some people deem historically black colleges and universities as inferior to predominantly white institutions. This belief itself is not a problem because it is not true, but it is a problem because it is. The bigger issue, however, lies in the way people believe HBCUs are inferior. As a student who attended Howard University, one of the nation’s most sought out HBCUs, I am a witness that HBCUs do not come second to PWIs in the categories of education quality or academic standards like some people believe, but in categories like administration efficiency and funding. This is the problem. In an article, Nakia Williams, a student at Indiana University-Bloomington said, “…People only discredit HBCUs because of how people view blackness. So, when you speak of black institutions, people kind of turn their nose up. People automatically elevate PWIs because they’re white colleges and there’s this idea that a majority-white school is quality,” (USA Today: College). Although inadequate administration definitely plays a big role in what hurts HBCUs, low finances seems to hurt them the most causing a trickle-down effect. These things have become normalized and associated with HBCUs. This exampled all throughout Howard University, especially in the fine arts building, and points out the flaws in the culture of HBCUs that need to be changed.
The faults in historically black universities don’t necessarily fall solely on the university themselves. Without proper financing, HBCUs are doomed to eventually die out. Despite this knowledge, funding for higher education in the united states seems to be in trouble. In the recent years after the happenings of the recession that began in the late 2000s and ended in the early 2010s, tuition went up and aid went down (The Pew Charitable Trusts). Also, state funding for higher education went down while federal government funding for higher education went up (The Pew Charitable Trusts). Although one went down and the other went up, the amount of funding does not necessarily balance out. This is because the federal government gives financial assistance primarily to individual students (as well as some research projects), while the state funds mainly pay for the “general operations of public institutions” (The Pew Charitable Trusts). Although individual aid helps get black students to HBCUs, general operations of universities that are funded through the state, make the experience at these specific institutions what it is. Higher education programs only make up about 2 percent of the total federal budget, but make up a large portion of federal education investments (The Pew Charitable Trusts). For example, currently, about half of the U.S. Department of Education’s budget is dedicated to higher education (The Pew Charitable Trusts). Unfortunately, with the newly elected president, this is subject to change. President Trump has been talking about cutting down the education department of the government. In his book “Crippled America”, President Trump says, “A lot of people believe the Department of Education should just be eliminated. Get rid of it. If we don’t eliminate it completely, we certainly need to cut its power and reach. Education has to be run locally…What they are doing does not fit the American model of governance.” With this view on education, the department and funding could possibly be cut in no time. Consequently, cutting the education department down could prove to be bad for colleges across the country, but especially HBCUs in the name of funding.
While it seems that a drop in financing in education could be bad for all postsecondary institutions equally, HBCUs will get hit hard the most. HBCUs receive significantly less in funding than PWIs. In a report by William Casey Boland and Marybeth Gasmanat from the University of Pennsylvania, research showed that when the state governments make appropriations for schools, they tend to prioritize PWIs and “flagship institutions” (America’s Public HBCUs). It is not fair to favor certain institutions over any other, but it has been happening to HBCUs for years. HBCUs are more likely to be hit by economic downturns because a big amount of their funding comes from tuition, but when most HBCU students come from low-income households, they have fewer resources to cushion the impact of an “economic downturn” (UPenn). In result, HBCUs usually have smaller endowments than PWIs, also making them more vulnerable to “economic shocks” (UPenn). This has strengthened the gap between HBCUs and PWIs. In the fiscal year of 2013–2014, the total revenue for HBCUs was $8.1 billion (NCES). It’s pretty sad when 120 colleges and universities collectively only make $8.1 billion and that is the equivalent some universities endowment like the university of Michigan and Columbia university. Of course, those universities are in the top 10 list when it comes to amount of dollars in endowment (NCES). Still, a school like Georgetown that is in D.C. that is not in the top 20 of highest financial assets, has an endowment of $1.5 billion. Howard University, which is also located in D.C., only has an endowment of $659.6 million. Although Howard’s endowment goes up every year, so do most of the universities nationwide. This creates a never ending game of catch-up.
As a result of low/er funding, HBCUs have been forced to cope the best way they know how. Many of these institutions neglect to update facilities, dining hall selections, and the condition of dorms. Many institutions also tend to cut the number of staff. Howard University is not foreign to the idea of staff cuts. For years the University has cut staff by big numbers, sometimes by the hundreds (Washington Post). Lack of staff in the Fine Arts department doesn’t really come as a surprise for two reasons; HBCUs tend to have noticeably less staffing than that of predominantly white intuitions, and there seems to be low interest in the arts by important faculty at the university. The effect of these decisions can be felt by the students in the fine arts department. The Chairman of the Art Department at Howard, Tony McEachern, is often cancelling and rescheduling meetings with students who are a part of the art department. Students are not happy about seeming fairly unimportant, but when the art department is understaffed, it forces one person to do many jobs and in this condition, they can’t do them effectively. I, as a fine arts student, am not happy with the lack of space, equipment, and resources. Every day I go to my classes, I am learning in the same building that was built over 100 years ago with barely, if any, reparations made. It’s very disappointing. It’s even more sad when you bring up these issues to others and they say things like ‘that’s just how it is at an HBCU.”
Apart from funding problems and the stigma about the culture that come with attending an HBCU, I have witnessed the fine arts department deal with being looked over. The president of Howard, Frederick Wayne, makes it known that he comes from a STEM background. When asked about federal support, President Wayne responded “…students at H.B.C.U.’s account for approximately 3 percent of all students enrolled at colleges and universities in the United States, but account for 18 to 20 percent of African-American college graduates. So they represent a very important pipeline. Also, a large number of Ph.D.’s in STEM are coming from H.B.C.U.’s, of which Howard is the №1 producer. So it’s definitely in the national interest. No doubt about that.” (The New York Times). As it can be read, he only mentions STEM Ph.D.’s and no other subjects.
It seems that the arts are devalued at Howard even though it is a liberal arts university. It’s also ironic that the arts get less attention, but a lot of the notable alumni that Howard loves to brag about like Taraji P. Henson, Phylicia Rashad, and Ta-Nehisi Coates came from the liberal arts side of Howard, not STEM. This is not to take a shot at STEM, because those subjects are very important and key to the building up of this nation. It is obvious that if America wants to “keep up” with other countries South Korea and Germany, we must advance in the STEM subjects. Still, those subjects are not the only ones that matter. As the president of Howard, I believe that Dr. Wayne should be an advocate for every aspect of Howard, and not just the ones he identifies with.
The “America’s Public HBCUs” report states, “Underfunding HBCUs compromises their ability to attract students and to compete with more prestigious and well-resourced PWIs.” This statement has been proven to be true. Cutting staff and majors, being financially unstable, and lack of the ability to provide state-of-the-art facilities all seem to be what come with attending an HBCU, but these conditions force prospective students away from HBCUs. Because of this, these institutions are in trouble, Howard being one of them. Board Vice Chairwoman of Howard Renee Higginbotham-Brooks wrote in the April 24 letter to trustees in 2013 that Howard “will not be here in three years if we don’t make some crucial decisions now,” (The Washington Post). Although three years later Howard is still here, Brooks’s cry for action was not unsound. Based on my experience at Howard University and the imputation of HBCUs, if these institutions no longer want to be inferior, then the culture of HBCUs definitely has to be changed.
