Biden said that HBCUs were having financial problems.
That’s true but the implication that it was due to racism is wrong. In fact, the problem is due to a lack of racism.
Enrollment at HBCUs is down because black students are choosing to go to non-HBCU colleges and are taking their tuition money with them.
The lack of racism and discrimination has ended the HBCU monopoly on black students.
The biggest loss in enrollment is from legacy students.
HBCUs are the preferred colleges for first generation to go to college black students from black communities, especially working class black communities. The culture shock is less. Among middle class black kids who grew up in middle class homes with parents who attended college, they are more used to diversity and choose to go to non-HBCUs.
If your parents went to Florida or Alabama A&M, it’s more likely you will go to UF or Alabama Tuscaloosa.
This has been the trend for the last 10 years.
It’s worth supporting HBCUs because of their role in upward mobility for first generation to go to college black students, but don’t blame the HBCU financial problems on racism.
What do you mean “don’t blame racism”? That doesn’t even compute. If you can’t blame racism, what are you supposed to blame? Everything is racism’s fault.
Of course, the obvious solution if HBCU’s want to survive, is to be more open and welcoming of non-“Black” students.
Notre Dame, Loyola University, and Boston College stopped limiting their enrollment to Roman Catholics over a century ago… Heck, the last time anyone thought of Harvard as a Congregationalist school was probably in the late 17th Century.
In 2015, students who were either White, Hispanic, Asian or Pacific Islander, or Native American made up 22% of total enrollment at HBCUs; The student body at Notre Dame is merely two-thirds Roman Catholic…
Racism is the problem for HBCU’s, but not in the way they will ever be willing to accept.