Historically Black Colleges

I speak of the institutional mission. The primary mission of HBCUs is to serve the African-American community. They do not necessarily exclude or neglect others who may benefit from their programs, but the primary mission is directed toward serving African-American students.


I agree that your comparison to religious universities is accurate. I received my BA from a religiously-affiliated school, and I am working on my MA from another religiously-affiliated school.

Although I do not agree with every aspect of the religious affiliation of my respective schools, the programs meet my needs.

 

I hope this is no longer the case; their undertaking should be to serve all students. If I opened a school to oblige predominantly white pupils then I would get murdered in the press. But of course Target can’t even give money to a conservative without getting cooked by the media because they did not give the money to a gay rights group.

On a side note, I have no problem with homosexuality. I don’t think many Americans really care or ever did. What I am getting tired of is the forcing their view points on everyone. Only they can be right and if you disagree you are evil. I read an article about some of the bigger groups, they have people working for them that get paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to do what they do, why would they stop? The civil rights groups have turned into huge political machines which take in millions of dollars, there like bull dozers that don’t run out of gas. No longer are they trying to inform the public and win people over, they are making the public hate them and fight back, which I feel is what they want.

Sorry for the rant, I was watching Keith Olberman(?) And he was saying that if anyone had a problem with what the LGBT rights movement was doing they were more than likely homophobic……I was like what?
Liberal groups push to exploit Target backlash - Yahoo! Finance

 

The difference is intention. A white-focused institution would be inherently discriminatory because it would give preference to a majority race that already has sufficient access.

An HBCU serves a minority community with a historical lack of access to higher education. It is not designed to exclude but to include.

 

The mission is directed toward the community, not the students. The distinction is important. For example,most Catholic education institutions, from elementary schools to elite universities have, as there primary mission, educating Catholics and serving the Catholic community. This DOES NOT mean that non-Catholic students at these schools are treated unfairly or given less service.

 

Religion and race are two different beast.

 

I think one of the problems is making a distinction between the black race, verses an African-American ethnicity. As an African-American, I have don't much in common culturally with a Black Haitian, or Black African, or Black Colombian, certainly less than I do with the average white person in America. IMHO, being African-American as an ethnicity is no different from being Irish-American or being Italian-American. These schools have a focus toward the African-American community. I suppose that it would be more accurate to call them HAACUs.

The distinction is important. African-Americans, like Irish-Americans and Italian-Americans, have a shared culture. If someone where to start a school with a focus on Irish-American or Italian-American culture, it probably wouldn't garner much attention. As long as students are not being treated unfairly, I have no issue with it.

 

Many HBCUs have large African/West Indian student populations. Several also have large Latino and white populations.

 

HBCUs for a while have been trying to reach out to all races. I went to high school in a city that also has an HBCU, Bethune-Cookman College (now University.)

My senior year when colleges start mailing information to graduating seniors, I received one from BCC. It was a pamphlet with a crowd of African-Americans on the front, with one white guy in the middle. The bottom caption read, "Never get lost in the crowd."

 

The percentage varies widely. Some HBCUs are still ~90% black (Hampton Univeristy, for example) while others are now minority black. West Virginia State is <20% black now.

 

At NCCU, 43 percent of the law school is white and I think it is over 50 percent in the library school. NCCU has expanded over its original intent (before integration) and serves a wide variety of folks.

Campus Echo Online

Sharing diversity
White students at NCCU discuss their HBCU experiences

Campus Echo Online - Sharing diversity

I, for one, loved my years at NCCU. NCWC is a totally different animal than NCCU. NCCU was enriching, loving and, as far as graduate school is concerned, quite engaging. Oh yeah, not that it matters, I am white. LOL