National HBCU Commencement Lays Foundation for Black Celebrity Advocacy
Paul Quinn College President Michael Sorrell turned a timely idea into an international lightning rod for HBCU advocacy last week, as the National HBCU Commencement Celebration transformed from concept to captive national audience.
Thousands of viewers, dozens of corporate partners and celebrities, and even former U.S. President Barack Obama mobilized to encourage the class of 2020 to be happy, to be productive, and to be eager about the future ahead despite the lack of a traditional ceremony.
The program turned around almost as quickly as black colleges were able to transition from in-person to exclusive online learning modules. What many of thought they could not do without significant obstacles they did with guile and commitment. The machine that advanced this celebration acted upon the same will to honor students and their families in a way that showed that our community is thinking about them.
And now — those same companies and celebrities should have a permanent tie to our communities. Corporations like Chase, Essence, celebrities like Omari Hardwick and Kevin Hart, and even Obama — they all now have an obligation which goes beyond philanthropy and even promotion, but true advocacy.
If all of these people and entities found the commencement celebration to be important enough for their time and brand, they now have to speak with conviction on the issues which prohibit students from reaching commencement. We need these individuals and organizations to go full throttle in speaking to and against forces that are threatening HBCU existence all over the country.
Before the pandemic, legislative efforts have been underway for generations to marginalize HBCUs. While Georgia State University has exploded in black student enrollment, schools like Albany State University, Fort Valley State University, and Savannah State University have been scourged by enrollment loss and budget cuts.
It’s hard for those schools to have a potential homegrown advocate like Hardwick not speaking to these issues.
It is unimaginable that Cheyney University has been on the verge of closure for decades and Pennsylvania native Hart hasn’t publically called out state legislature for its lack of investment in the historic HBCU.
Several public and private HBCUs nationwide may be facing closure due to financial hardship, and that’s a fundraising effort that Chase bank could promote and match within the black community. Louisiana’s public HBCUs are facing almost guaranteed cuts which may gut Grambling State University and the Southern University System, and it’s hard to find celebrities with Louisiana roots advocating for how the system can stop the political onslaught.
Our best and brightest came together to celebrate our graduates at a time of great uncertainty. They needed it, and we all needed that moment. But Black America, and particularly its members with far-reaching platforms, have to take personal responsibility in addressing systems and policies which threaten HBCUs being around to host the graduations of the future.
Photo Credit: Maia A. Young
Mail Voting Outreach is an Area Where We’re Sorely Missing HBCU Student Activism
Maryland State Senator Charles Sydnor III is known as the state legislature’s unofficial HBCU advocate. He introduced a bill that became a historic $577 million piece of legislation seeking to settle a federal discrimination lawsuit between the state and graduates of Bowie State University, Coppin State University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore.
Now he’s taking a new fight to the halls of Annapolis – an effort to convince the state’s Board of Elections to reduce disparities in mail balloting for Maryland’s June 2 presidential primary elections.
From Maryland Matters:
The State Board of Elections released figures this week on mail-related issues for the 7th District race, which was the state’s first endeavor into widespread voting by mail. Voting by mail is being strongly encouraged in the June 2 election, as the COVID-19 virus continues to present public health hazards.
Almost 500,000 ballots were sent to voters in Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Howard County for the special election.
Of those:
More than 28,000 were returned by the post office as undeliverable. That includes more than 20,000 ballots in Baltimore City alone, or almost 9% of the total ballots sent to voters in the city.
152,316 vote-by-mail ballots were returned to local boards of elections. An additional 3,750 absentee ballots were cast.
5,135 ballots were rejected ― 4,151 of them for being untimely. An additional 660 ballots were rejected for lacking a signature, and four ballots from voters who attempted to cast more than one ballot were rejected, according to the state board.
In a letter, Sydnor cautioned the board against the impact that these numbers may have on future elections.
While we fully endorse efforts to keep residents safe and embrace alternative methods of voting to achieve that goal, these efforts must take special consideration to inform voters of what mail-in and absentee voting requires.These alternative measures may shape voter behaviors and election outcomes.
Many residents may not be aware that ballot submission requires a signature on the back of the actual ballot as an authentication measure which, if not done, makes the vote invalid. They may not be aware that there will be dozens of in-person polling locations throughout the state on June 2nd, which may or may not include an individual’s typical voting location.
Concerns like those held by Sydnor are being echoed all over the country, particularly in HBCU states. Florida, Louisiana, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania are just a few of the places where lawsuits are being filed to force changes to mail-in and absentee balloting, which is likely to increase to prevent coronavirus spread at polling locations.
In Texas, where Prairie View A&M University students have fought for generations to increase polling access to black residents throughout Waller County, a state Supreme Court decision to restrict mail-in ballots compromises that work, and the work that now needs to be done to build voter awareness and confidence.
These are just some of the states and this is an issue where we will miss the activism and energy of HBCU students. Prior to the pandemic, you could set your watch to HBCU undergraduate volunteers educating and registering voters in their communities to be prepared for upcoming municipal, state, and national elections. Their volunteerism and their own votes always led to increased voter turnout and sometimes, elections being decided in their favor and aligned with their interests.
Now that they aren’t on campus and likely won’t return in large numbers in the fall, the absence of the students’ in-your-face activism will be a significant blow to races throughout the south.
Those issues don’t trump the safety of our students, but this is one of the most powerful-yet-under-analyzed parts of how black communities throughout the south will be disadvantaged by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on black colleges and universities, and how the consequences of elections could shape cultural, social and human casualties for years to come.
South Carolina State Board Needs to Be More Transparent Around Leadership Extension
I wrote last week about the interesting statement released by South Carolina State University’s Board of Trustees to announce the contract extension for President James Clark.
It was less than enthusiastic and provided some very specific details about how the vote was comprised.
Board members went into a four-hour-long executive session to discuss the personnel matter before emerging to take a public vote. Nine members voted to extend Clark’s contract. Two members abstained and one member voted “No.”
But how exactly did they vote? The SCSU board is an eclectic mix of SCUS alumni, entrepreneurs, and former higher education officials from some of the state’s predominantly white institutions. Perhaps the individual members’ profiles don’t matter if the vote was an issue of Clark meeting clear objectives of institutional performance, but this is South Carolina that we’re talking about.
Four years ago, lawmakers recommended closing the university for two years to help manage its deficits. Months later, former Governor Nikki Haley fired the board and cleared the way for a handpicked new slate of trustees to manage the school, a pool to which Clark was named and eventually plucked as school president.
Several of those original legislative board picks remain today — Clark as president, former Clemson University Provost Doris Helms, former NFL player Donnie Shell, former University of South Carolina board member Jeff Vinzani, and former banking executive Milton Irvin who stepped down as chairman after just one year in the seat.
Those members were there for Clark’s introduction to the Bulldog community…
…and they now comprise 25 percent of a board that has extended a leader who is unanimously opposed by alumni and whose failings led to an announcement of total enrollment hovering around 1,000 students — weeks before the coronavirus pandemic.
If the board feels confident enough in Clark to give him two more years at the helm, then the least they can do is show the community who thought it was a good idea, and how they drew the shared conclusion.