The HBCU Debate: Are Black Colleges & Universities Still Needed?
Critics have called them a race-based anachronism. Others have said worse: They’re inferior, they’re in need of a new mission, or should be managed by for-profit entities. Yet, the data show that historically black colleges and universities contribute significantly to the black middle class and the nation’s economy, and with fewer resources graduate impressive numbers of majors in education and in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Although most have a majority black student body, the faculty at many HBCUs is strikingly diverse, sometimes more than 50% nonblack. Moreover, these institutions have never discriminated on the basis of race. But, in an age of increasing racial and ethnic diversity in the U.S., do we still need HBCUs?
