President Barack Obama Announces Federal Advisory Committee on HBCUs

Along with issuing an executive order last Friday pledging federal support for historically black colleges and universities, President Barack Obama also announced the membership of a federal advisory committee to manage the relationship between HBCUs and the government, along with developing strategies for growth and success of the institutions. The committee will be led by Hampton University President Dr. William Harvey.

(Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges John S. )Wilson has championed the idea that black colleges can improve their private fund raising efforts and corporate ties. And the members that Obama named Friday include administrators at both historically black and predominantly white institutions as well as business leaders. Besides Harvey, the members are:

• Lawrence S. Bacow, president of Tufts University.
• Evelynn M. Hammonds, dean of Harvard College and the Barbara Gutmann Rosenkrantz, professor of the history of science and of African and African-American studies at Harvard University.
• Beverly Wade Hogan, president of Tougaloo College.
• Edward Lewis, co-founder of Essence magazine and chairman and publisher emeritus of Essence Communications Inc.
• Ronald Mason, Jr., president of Jackson State University.
• Valerie Mosley, senior vice president, partner, and portfolio manager for Wellington Management Company.
• Willie Pearson Jr., professor of sociology at the Georgia Institute of Technology.
• Beverly Daniel Tatum, president of Spelman College.
• Kenneth Tolson, executive senior vice president and chief operating officer of the Emerging Technology Consortium, part of Technology Based Economic Development for the 21st Century.
• David Wilson, incoming president of Morgan State University.

Seems like a strong list – with the exception of Jackson State University President Ronald Mason Jr., whom most HBCU insiders have discovered believes in a merger ideal for struggling HBCUs instead of a philanthropy-based solution for success. I’m sure that President Obama isn’t intimately familiar with the behind-the-scenes positioning that has pushed Mason far out of favor on his own campus, but it would be wise for associates of this committee to beware Mason’s approach and its potential example for opponents of autonomy for HBCUs.

Short URL: http://www.hbcudigest.com/?p=7044