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— JCS
Goodbye Charlotte, On to Baltimore for the CIAA
The Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association’s annual men’s and women’s basketball tournaments drew to a close yesterday in Charlotte, with Winston-Salem State University and Fayetteville State University capturing respective championships.
It is the end of title week festivities in the Queen City, which let the CIAA take its tournament and walk out of the door with little challenge to Baltimore City, which will begin its turn at hosting next February.
The Charlotte legacy for the CIAA will be a mixed one. It attracted some of the world’s biggest celebrities. It was a flashpoint for black businesses of all sizes and drove a significant part of the CLT’s tourism profile. But media always covered the event like a massive riot always on the verge of exploding in the middle of Tryon St.
Crime and violence were always exaggerated, and the apathy and lack of support for the actual CIAA basketball product was always a major headline every year; much to the detriment of the conference’s efforts to attract sponsorships tied to in-arena promotions.
The tournament was known for far less than basketball; for most of its time in the city, it was a swirling cauldron of the urban black elite, suburban angst, supercharged commercialism occasionally tinged by racism, and shifting political allegiances.
Numbers are likely to go down in the tournament’s first year in Maryland because most North Carolina alumni faithful in the CIAA’s geographic footprint won’t want any part of the mileage or perceived lack of amenities in a Charm City-Queen City side-by-side comparison.
Baltimore’s tourism arm, Visit Baltimore has been waiting on this moment for months and will work hard to attract the few hard-headed CIAA stalwarts who will brave colder climates and far-less-than country miles to make it to next year’s tournament. And if they’re smart, they’ll invest heavily in attracting lukewarm Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference fans from Richmond to New York who are more excited about Charlotte-like nightlife in a much closer and far more expansive Baltimore-Washington metropolitan corridor.
Baltimore’s effort shouldn’t be to duplicate the Charlotte experience but to cultivate an HBCU sports and culture destination that only today exists in the region through Howard University’s homecoming. There is a pressing need for HBCU alumni in some of the richest black cities in the country to have a go-to party for an entire week, and to feel good about prices on hotels, dining, and entertainment without the pesky and obligatory Southwest Airlines travel booking required for Charlotte.
Baltimore will be ready, and the CIAA community should be hyped about the possibilities. But its members shouldn’t be mourning the final days in Charlotte for too long; after all, it will probably wind up back there as soon as leadership in the city changes over and makes the price right.
Should HBCU Communities Be Concerned About Coronavirus?
Higher education is scrambling to deal with the settling reality that the coronavirus, a virus that causes flu-like symptoms with deadly impact on carriers with health vulnerabilities, could sweep through campuses and cities with great ease.
The points of emphasis here in the United States are New York and Washington state, at least, as of this writing. But any campus with persons engaging in regular travel should be concerned about community spread in the next few weeks and months.
Who does that mostly impact? Presidents and chancellors who stay on the road for conferences and business meetings, faculty who travel domestically and abroad for research and presentations, and students during high-traffic travel times like spring break.
For those leaders or HBCU advocates who may be thinking this isn’t a big deal, consider that a college campus is the ideal setting for a viral outbreak to occur. Elevators, dormitories, cafeterias, arenas, classrooms – all confined spaces where the simple act of breathing poses a threat to entire communities.
Quarantine protocols for known infections require weeks of monitoring and treatment. Entire school systems and workplaces around the world are considering shutting down usual on-site operations and implementing telecommuting systems.
And six of the 25 busiest domestic airports in 2019 —located in HBCU cities.
In other words — don’t f*ck around with this thing like black folks can’t catch it.
Florida A&M Student Criticized for Defending Trump HBCU Policy
Florida A&M University student Chrichanni Watson has gone viral for reasons she probably wishes she hadn’t, following a Breitbart interview in which she championed the policies of President Donald Trump on HBCUs.
Watson added that she feels the president has done a lot for the black community, but that if someone mentions the president on campus, “all ears are shut off.”
“They’re not receptive to it,” said Watson. “They’re really open to the idea of learning more about whatever you have to say. If you’re trying to get their attention, the last thing you want to mention is the president.”
Some narratives paint HBCU communities as masters of the hate trifecta of LGBTQ community members, republicans and non-Christians. Some are doing an exceptional job of building bridges and reducing stereotype threats in campus policy, culture and practice.
But some black college campuses do struggle with embracing those communities — actually, a lot of them.
HBCUs will never claw their way out of financial strain and questions of relevance among black communities, and will never bully their way into boardrooms and legislative chambers if they don’t learn to be loudly inclusive. The more that our campuses are painted with the broad brush of intolerance, the wider the chasm becomes between them and socially-progressive black people who can donate, send students to and advocate for HBCUs.
That disdain, much like the coronavirus, can spread to other progressive minorities and white folks; audiences we need as advocates and allies in finance, politics, media. We’ll need all of the friends we can get in those areas in the months to come as more presidents retire suddenly or are fired, and as accreditation loss becomes more of a threat for more HBCUs.
Students can choose to hate or to love Trump, or Bernie Sanders, or any other divisive politician or political ideology. And the reception they get from fellow students should be encouraged on a college campus so long as the debate doesn’t devolve into disrespect or danger. But campuses have to set the standard for free speech and tolerance beyond policies raced over in freshman orientation or a tri-fold brochure in the counseling office too few people actually visit.
Tolerance starts at the top, and whether its Trump or an HBCU president or chancellor, the campus conversation begins with their last word on the subject.
