Black Colleges
In the world we live in today a person can
almost choose any college or
university they want to to continue their
education upon graduation from high
school. It really doesn't matter if it is
a four year, two year, or technical
school, there is a school for any person
in any major. What draws a person to
attend one certain kind of school
compared to another? In this case why is there
an increase in Black students
attending Black colleges in the past decade? One
might say, "Well how can you
tell that more students are getting into these
colleges, rather than these
schools accepting an increased number of students
each year?" These are all
important questions to ask, and there are
numerous reasons and causes for
schools to increase the number of students they
allow and the number of
students wanting to attend these colleges. I have an
older brother and an
older sister who both attend a historically black college (HBCU),
Central
State University in Wlberforce, Ohio. I have always had a lifelong dream
of
attending an HBCU. In fact I was accepted to both Virginia Union in
Richmond
and North Carolina A&T in Greensboro before I was accepted into
Wright State
University. My main reason for wanting to attend these
schools was the history
that they have and the way they made me feel when I
went for visits. Those are
my personal reasons for wanting to attend these
schools, but there are more than
personal reasons people are starting to have
a higher interest in attending
these schools. Lowery 2 For the past three
years my church back home in Columbus
has held an annual Black College Tour.
It is designed to garner the interest of
the young people at my church and
all around Columbus in HBCU's. I was a student
the first year and a chaperone
the last two. In visiting these schools one can
find that the administration
at these colleges and universities do anything they
can to get you admitted
to these schools. Almost all of them are rated among the
best schools in the
nation, too. These are no small time schools. Some students
are finding it
easier to go to HBCU's because of the recent Supreme Court
rulings on
Affirmative Action. They feel that it will be harder for them to have
an
equal chance of being accepted to non Black colleges and universities.
Most
of those people don't want to put up with all the mess that goes on in
those
universities today, where even still, in 1997, people are admitted
because of
physical appearances and not mental capabilities ("Straight Talk"
122
123). Speaking in those terms people just do not want to deal with
downright
racism. Some HBCU's in areas with lots of non Black colleges
usually have
increased enrollment due to past histories and events that
happened at the
schools. An example was in Florida in 1988. Incidents of
racism on the major
White college campuses caused a 19 percent increase
at Florida A&M
University in Tallahassee, another HBCU. It was
recorded as the largest increase
in enrollment of any of the colleges in the
state. Of the 1,876 coeds in the
system, 1,327 were enrolled at Florida
A&M, while the other universities
enrolled the rest ("Racism" 22). Even
now Florida A&M has
increased enrollment at the school. They reported
about 100 more freshman in
this year's class than last year's (Geraghty A46).
There are some students who
are starting to attend HBCU's because of their
feeling of deprivation of black
culture in their lives. In an article in The
Lowery 3 Black Collegian last year,
a young man, only referring to himself as
"The Invisible Man" to
readers, wrote to the editor about attending an HBCU
after having gone to
predominantly White schools all of his life. He chose to
attend a Black school
because, "I felt very intimidated by my ignorance of
Black history,
culture, language, and everything else that I have missed in
my previous
education" (qtd. in Parker 21). After attending his first
semester in
school, "Invisible Man" found he was what he called a
"Cultural
Zombie." He chose to stay at the school to educate himself
about the
culture that he was left in the cold by his family. He says his
family is Black,
but never emphasized being black and the culture that comes
with it. One thing
he say's he has learned from his unnamed school is who he
is and his role as an
African American male (Parker 21). The one main
cause for increased enrollment
in HBCU"s is the attention students get from
people they feel understand
them. Most Black colleges have that "hospitality
factor" that a person
can"t get on a bigger campus. Even the bigger Black
universities recognize
this helps students achieve better. Black students are
beginning to realize that
the students who attend these colleges display
greater gains in academic
achievement, higher rates of Bachelor's Degree
attainment, greater social
integration, and higher occupational aspirations
than those Black students who
attend predominantly White institutions. Blacks
at HBCU"s report being
accepted, encouraged, and engaged in all aspects of
campus life, unlike Black
students on White campuses, who report often
feeling alienated and marginal
(McDonough 10). An example of the "hospitality
factor" I referred to
earlier is from a tiny Black school in east Texas
called Jarvis Christian
School. In an article in The Chronicle of Higher
Education, Pam Taylor, a senior
at the school said, "If Lowery 4 your
discouraged and you don't know if you
can keep going your teachers are there
to pick you up" (Managan A8).
"I've got spring fever bad right now, and I can
call my teacher and
she"ll talk me into getting to class. I can talk to her
about anything
schoolwork, men, anything," she continued (Managan A8). It
does not happen
just when you get there either. Administrators at Tennessee
State and Florida
A&M say that an important technique in keeping
their enrollment numbers up
has been to call students who have been admitted
and talk to them about what the
university has to offer (Geraghty A46). Even
though HBCU's represent less than 4
percent of all U.S. colleges, they enroll
20 percent of all Black undergraduates
and present about 33 percent of all
African American Baccalaureate degrees. All
of this despite predictions in
the 1960's that improved access at predominantly
White schools would
indicate the end of HBCU's. Enrollments at these schools has
been
consistently up since 1976, and in the period between 1987 1991
alone,
Black college enrollment rose about 10,000 students per year
(McDonough 10 11).
All of this goes to show that because of social,
political, and economic causes
in the world today, these figures are tiny
compared to what's projected to
happen. And as more and more Black students
become aware of what these colleges
have to offer them, whether it be
personal or financial, some of these
predominantly White schools will be
aching for Black students, from which we
might see the beginning of a new
trend, the plan to terminate or try to totally
segregate Historically Black
Colleges and Universities. Lowery 5 Brian Lowery
Lowery 1 May 7, 1997
Kennedy Eng. 102 05 The Increase in Enrollment in
Historically Black
Colleges and Universities In the world we live in today a
person can almost
choose any college or university they want to to continue
their education
upon graduation from high school. It really doesn't matter if it
is a four
year, two year, or technical school, there is a school for any person
in any
major. What draws a person to attend one certain kind of school compared
to
another? In this case why is there an increase in Black students
attending
Black colleges in the past decade? One might say, "Well how can
you tell
that more students are getting into these colleges, rather than
these schools
accepting an increased number of students each year?" These are
all
important questions to ask, and there are numerous reasons and causes
for
schools to increase the number of students they allow and the number of
students
wanting to attend these colleges. I have an older brother and an
older sister
who both attend a historically black college (HBCU), Central
State University in
Wlberforce, Ohio. I have always had a lifelong dream
of attending an HBCU. In
fact I was accepted to both Virginia Union in
Richmond and North Carolina
A&T in Greensboro before I was accepted
into Wright State University. My
main reason for wanting to attend these
schools was the history that they have
and the way they made me feel when I
went for visits. Those are my personal
reasons for wanting to attend these
schools, but there are more than personal
reasons people are starting to have
a higher interest in attending these
schools. Lowery 2 For the past three
years my church back home in Columbus has
held an annual Black College Tour.
It is designed to garner the interest of the
young people at my church and
all around Columbus in HBCU's. I was a student the
first year and a chaperone
the last two. In visiting these schools one can find
that the administration
at these colleges and universities do anything they can
to get you admitted
to these schools. Almost all of them are rated among the
best schools in the
nation, too. These are no small time schools. Some students
are finding it
easier to go to HBCU's because of the recent Supreme Court
rulings on
Affirmative Action. They feel that it will be harder for them to have
an
equal chance of being accepted to non Black colleges and universities.
Most
of those people don't want to put up with all the mess that goes on in
those
universities today, where even still, in 1997, people are admitted
because of
physical appearances and not mental capabilities ("Straight Talk"
122
123). Speaking in those terms people just do not want to deal with
downright
racism. Some HBCU's in areas with lots of non Black colleges
usually have
increased enrollment due to past histories and events that
happened at the
schools. An example was in Florida in 1988. Incidents of
racism on the major
White college campuses caused a 19 percent increase
at Florida A&M
University in Tallahassee, another HBCU. It was
recorded as the largest increase
in enrollment of any of the colleges in the
state. Of the 1,876 coeds in the
system, 1,327 were enrolled at Florida
A&M, while the other universities
enrolled the rest ("Racism" 22). Even
now Florida A&M has
increased enrollment at the school. They reported
about 100 more freshman in
this year's class than last year's (Geraghty A46).
There are some students who
are starting to attend HBCU's because of their
feeling of deprivation of black
culture in their lives. In an article in The
Lowery 3 Black Collegian last year,
a young man, only referring to himself as
"The Invisible Man" to
readers, wrote to the editor about attending an HBCU
after having gone to
predominantly White schools all of his life. He chose to
attend a Black school
because, "I felt very intimidated by my ignorance of
Black history,
culture, language, and everything else that I have missed in
my previous
education" (qtd. in Parker 21). After attending his first
semester in
school, "Invisible Man" found he was what he called a
"Cultural
Zombie." He chose to stay at the school to educate himself
about the
culture that he was left in the cold by his family. He says his
family is Black,
but never emphasized being black and the culture that comes
with it. One thing
he say's he has learned from his unnamed school is who he
is and his role as an
African American male (Parker 21). The one main
cause for increased enrollment
in HBCU"s is the attention students get from
people they feel understand
them. Most Black colleges have that "hospitality
factor" that a person
can"t get on a bigger campus. Even the bigger Black
universities recognize
this helps students achieve better. Black students are
beginning to realize that
the students who attend these colleges display
greater gains in academic
achievement, higher rates of Bachelor's Degree
attainment, greater social
integration, and higher occupational aspirations
than those Black students who
attend predominantly White institutions. Blacks
at HBCU"s report being
accepted, encouraged, and engaged in all aspects of
campus life, unlike Black
students on White campuses, who report often
feeling alienated and marginal
(McDonough 10). An example of the "hospitality
factor" I referred to
earlier is from a tiny Black school in east Texas
called Jarvis Christian
School. In an article in The Chronicle of Higher
Education, Pam Taylor, a senior
at the school said, "If Lowery 4 your
discouraged and you don't know if you
can keep going your teachers are there
to pick you up" (Managan A8).
"I've got spring fever bad right now, and I can
call my teacher and
she"ll talk me into getting to class. I can talk to her
about anything
schoolwork, men, anything," she continued (Managan A8). It
does not happen
just when you get there either. Administrators at Tennessee
State and Florida
A&M say that an important technique in keeping
their enrollment numbers up
has been to call students who have been admitted
and talk to them about what the
university has to offer (Geraghty A46). Even
though HBCU's represent less than 4
percent of all U.S. colleges, they enroll
20 percent of all Black undergraduates
and present about 33 percent of all
African American Baccalaureate degrees. All
of this despite predictions in
the 1960's that improved access at predominantly
White schools would
indicate the end of HBCU's. Enrollments at these schools has
been
consistently up since 1976, and in the period between 1987 1991
alone,
Black college enrollment rose about 10,000 students per year
(McDonough 10 11).
All of this goes to show that because of social,
political, and economic causes
in the world today, these figures are tiny
compared to what's projected to
happen. And as more and more Black students
become aware of what these colleges
have to offer them, whether it be
personal or financial, some of these
predominantly White schools will be
aching for Black students, from which we
might see the beginning of a new
trend, the plan to terminate or try to totally
segregate Historically Black
Colleges and Universities. Lowery 5 Works Cited
McDonough, Patricia M.,
Anthony Lising Antonio, James W. Trent. "Black
Students, Black Colleges:
An African American College." Journal For a Just
& Caring Education.
January 1997: 9 36 Geraghty, Mary. "On Campuses
Coast to Coast, Trends In
Freshman Enrollment Vary Widely This Fall." The
Chronicle of Higher
Education. 20 October 1996: A46 Mangan, Katherine S.
"Turnabout at a College
In East Texas." The Chronicle of Higher
Education. 6 February 1996: A8
Parker, Linda Bates. "Campus Advisor Helps
Invisible Man." Black
Collegian. October 1996: 21 22 "Straight Talk
From the Top: Presidential
Candidates Answer Tough Questions...." Black
Collegian. October 1996: 128
"Racism on White Campuses Boosts Enrollment
at
FAMU."
Bibliography
McDonough, Patricia M., Anthony
Lising Antonio, James W. Trent. "Black
Students, Black Colleges: An
African American College." Journal For a Just
& Caring Education. January
1997: 9 36 Geraghty, Mary. "On Campuses
Coast to Coast, Trends In
Freshman Enrollment Vary Widely This Fall." The
Chronicle of Higher
Education. 20 October 1996: A46 Mangan, Katherine S.
"Turnabout at a College
In East Texas." The Chronicle of Higher
Education. 6 February 1996: A8
Parker, Linda Bates. "Campus Advisor Helps
Invisible Man." Black
Collegian. October 1996: 21 22 "Straight Talk
From the Top: Presidential
Candidates Answer Tough Questions...." Black
Collegian. October 1996: 128
"Racism on White Campuses Boosts Enrollment at
FAMU." Jet. 21 November
1988: 22