The Future(s) of Higher Education
The Importance of HBCUs
Cheyney University of Pennsylvania Science Building
Though many predominantly white institutions (PWIs) were making efforts to recruit Black students by the late 1960s, several other colleges and universities had been doing so since their inception. These higher education institutions, known as Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), were created with the goal of educating Black Americans. These institutions existed long before PWIs began to admit Black students.
Though Wesley Pugh went to Dartmouth, a PWI, he participated in an undergraduate exchange program with an HBCU in Alabama, Talladega College. Many of his peers from high school also went to Morgan State University, an HBCU in Baltimore. He also spent much of his career in education as a professor at Cheyney University of Pennsylvania, the oldest HBCU in the United States. Like Pugh and his classmates, many Black students (and educators) in the United States were able to find a strong, academically robust Black community at an HBCU. They were subject to much less discrimination by peers and professors.
As a source of Black Pride and Power, these institutions are vital to understanding the history and future of equitable higher education. However, today’s HBCUs face considerable challenges. Though the gradual recruitment of Black students to PWIs was a momentous achievement for the Civil Rights Movement, the shift caused a decline in demand for admission to historically Black institutions. Another hardship for these schools is funding. According to the American Council on Education, private HBCUs lost 42 percent of federal funding between 2003 and 2015. In spite of these challenges, HBCUs are still vital to the education of Black Americans. According to The Hechinger Report, “although HBCUs make up only 3 percent of four-year colleges in the country, they have produced 80 percent of the nation’s black judges and 50 percent of its black doctors.” Though these institutions face considerable challenges to achieving the same success as PWIs, they are central cultural and educational centers for Black communities.
Where do Ivy Leagues Fit?
Yale Cheerleaders Giving Black Power Salute (1968)
PWIs are often viewed as competitors to HBCUs. Funding, admissions, and other forms of development are often achieved at PWIs at the expense of HBCUs. Still, the inclusion of Black students at PWIs is an important first step to achieving equity in higher education and reforming educational access. So, where do PWIs like the Ivy Leagues fit?
As Stefan Bradley points out, Black students at elite PWIs “improved and enriched the American leadership class by adding talent to the homogenous pool of traditional leaders” (374). The ability to gain entry to an institution that was the “gatekeeper” to high-ranking jobs in finance, politics, and most other sectors was an important step in the empowerment of the Black community. PWIs also benefitted from this trend as they were able to claim a higher standard of diversity and social awareness.
Still, as Wesley Pugh writes in his article “To Understand Black Colleges,” “HBCUs continue to provide an opportunity, and access to the American dream of realizing one’s potential through education in a nurturing environment.” He notes that “The Ivy League does not have a lock on excellence,” and that Black students thrive and achieve at HBCUs despite their decreasing numbers in admissions and funding.
Black students have proposed reform, found community, and excelled at all types of higher education institutions. The issue of supporting HBCUs remains extremely important. Still, Black students are also changemakers and important parts of elite institutions like Dartmouth. For many educators and advocates, the future question lies not in which type of institution is “better” for Black students. The challenge is helping Black students to find the school that best aligns with their values and academic/professional goals:
“While African Americans’ participation in higher education has been replete with both struggles and triumphs, there is still much that researchers do not know about these students' decision-making processes as they consider whether to participate in higher education and select an institution.”
Kassie Freeman, "HBCs or PWIs? African American High School Students’ Consideration of Higher Education Institution Types"
George C. Riley III ’73 (second from left) and Derek J. Rice ’73 (second from right) speak to classmates (1969)