Pandemic rule #3 – Don’t make statements that are best for the community all about you.
Life rule #1 – Don’t believe everything you read.
— JCS
Morgan State President Chases Clout With Commencement Cancellation Teaser
Morgan State University President David Wilson put a question to his Facebook followers this morning. Should he cancel this May’s commencement exercises in light of the coronavirus pandemic?
The question and logistical concerns are legitimate. The format of a Facebook “Question of the Day” is totally inappropriate and tone-deaf for the moment.
Leaders don’t use social media for important questions with answers that can divide communities. Some people will say yes and some people will say no, but it is Wilson’s job to make the call that keeps the greatest number of people safe from a viral infection that is spread by human proximity.
Wilson likes the energy and affirmation of social media. He likes being supported, cheered on and publicly lifted as a good leader, which happens by the nature of his office and not necessarily his skill level or the actions he takes within it.
This isn’t the time and this isn’t the topic for that kind of clout chasing. While he’s “emotional” about it, graduates and families are even more so. While he loves to see the reaction, we hate to see it about as much as we’ll hate when he inevitably announces that commencement will not be held this spring.
But we’ll accept it because it’s simply not a time to think about ourselves when lives are at stake all over the world.
Maryland HBCU Legislation Falls Short of Help, History
The unanimous passage of a historic HBCU funding bill in Maryland fell short by just two votes combined in the House of Delegates and Senate, but the numbers in the bill will put two of the state’s four historically black institutions in significant danger for years to come.
Bowie State University, Coppin State University, Morgan State University and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore seek to receive more than $580 million in additional funding over the next decade. The bill is a legislative remedy to a decades-long lawsuit in which Maryland was found guilty of operating a dual-system of higher education for black and white students that in program development and support, was worse than systems implemented at the height of Jim Crow policy in Mississippi.
Looking at the big picture number gives a lot of optimism to the average HBCU advocate. But a closer look at the numbers and the details show a much bleaker picture of how little help it will actually provide to the HBCUs, and specifically the most vulnerable black college campuses in the state.
Originally, the campuses were scheduled to receive between $10 million and $27 million in additional appropriations every year for 10 years.
$23,100,000 FOR MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
$12,200,000 FOR BOWIE STATE UNIVERSITY
$10,000,000 FOR COPPIN STATE UNIVERSITY
$12,400,000 FOR UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE
Here’s what the schools will get in the bill passed last week.
$24,003,200 FOR MORGAN STATE UNIVERSITY
$16,790,700 FOR BOWIE STATE UNIVERSITY
$7,212,500 FOR COPPIN STATE UNIVERSITY
$9,693,600 FOR UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND EASTERN SHORE
The total amount still hovers around $57 million, but there are sizable increases for Bowie State and substantial decreases for Coppin and UMES.
And then there’s this language from the bill’s appropriations mandates.
“In fiscal 2023 through 2031, the $57.7 million is distributed to HBCUs based on the share of students enrolled during the immediately preceding academic year at each HBCU compared to the total number of students enrolled at all HBCUs. The fiscal 2022 allocation in the bill is based on FTE enrollment, which includes full-time and part-time students…The actual distributions will be based on actual annual enrollment at HBCUs.”
A lawsuit that combined the interests of four HBCUs has now been turned into a competition for who can enroll the most students. Some may ask “why is it bad to enroll more students for the sake of more funds?” The answer isn’t as easy as the question may frame it to be.
First, the funding doesn’t match the need and mission of Coppin and UMES in a way that ensures true comparability and competitiveness for these schools. Coppin is an economic anchor for one of the Baltimore-Metropolitan area’s most underdeveloped commercial and residential sections. Quietly, UMES is one of the state’s most unique universities. It is a public land-grant institution and a research-level university thanks to its advanced degree offerings in physical therapy and pharmacy.
These amounts will no doubt be helpful, but they will not materially change the plight faced by Coppin and UMES; primarily because of the blatant disparities in distributions and nature by which the allocations are proposed. There’s no way for them to regain footing or to take bold steps in growing their campuses’ academic or economic profiles.
Bowie and Morgan would grow under this plan, and that growth would be at the detriment of Coppin and UMES.
Most notably in this funding is that the two institutions which lost millions in between the first and last version of the bill are the two schools which have been frequently included in talks of merger and consolidation — Coppin with the University of Baltimore and UMES with Salisbury University. Pitting these schools against Morgan State and Bowie State with all eyes on enrollment does not bode well for their chances among legislative efforts to combine them with other institutions.
The fact that no fixed funds are guaranteed after 2021, that all schools will be in dire straits to attract students in exchange for these mystery funds, and that none of this really meets the mark of making the HBCUs more attractive in the eyes of potential students, donors and corporate partners, means that a bill with the potential to change the future of American higher education actually does more to maintain Maryland’s status quo.
And that’s not something we should be so quick to celebrate. Or quick to settle for in court.
