Cover Story Successful HBCU Forum Gathering Focuses the World’S Attention on America’S Definition of Democ- Includes Night at the Museum Racy

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CHAPTER 4 Cover Story Successful HBCU Forum Gathering focuses the world’s attention on America’s definition of democ- Includes Night at the Museum racy. An equally important dialogue, not receiving the attention it deserves, is taking place in America’s higher-education By Archon James A. Welch, arena and is focused on historically black colleges and univer- Grapter, Southeast Region sities (HBCUs). The Trump Administration recently was forced to postpone its conference on HBCUs because HBCU leadership is dismayed by the delay in appointing the prom- ised direct-report person to focus on HBCU issues. Such de- lays and unfulfilled promises are familiar themes with this as well as previous administrations.

One may recall that shortly after the passage of the 1965 Civil Rights Act these same HBCUs were labeled “developing institutions.” This labeling was coined during the Nixon Ad- ministration and coincided with creation of the ethnic catch- all descriptor “minority.” The “developing” and “minority” la- bels were, by all appearances, an attempt to place a “scarlet let- ter” name stamp to differentiate white Americans and their The current national dialogue surrounding the signifi- academic institutions from nonwhite Americans and their in- cance of confederate monuments in America and their symbol- stitutions. Today the world is focused on the violence erupting ism to African Americans, while long overdue will likely con- in America as it once again struggles to portray its version of tinue for the foreseeable future. Not surprising to most of us is democracy. The intent of this article is to provide some con- the timing. History teaches us that we should not expect a text for why America still needs HBCUs and to give a recount quick positive result. One may easily be persuaded that the of the events of this summer’s historic Boulé HBCU Forum. guilty conscience of white Americans demonstrated by a leg- The HBCUs were created for the purpose of providing an acy of systemic racism surfaces each time violence erupts and educational opportunity for African Americans who, by rule of law, were excluded from attending and receiving an education

10 in publicly supported institutions attended by white Ameri- Negro child one step, the white child must be advanced cans. Since their establishment dating back to the 1860’s, two steps. HBCUs time and again have been frequently called upon to Desegregation, won through court decision, congressional justify their existence. Below I provide an excerpt from the legislation, and demonstrations, has not changed this ba- commencement address of Archon Benjamin E. Mays, the for- sic philosophy of inequality. So, to use a good Methodist mer president of Morehouse College, to the one-hundredth phrase, Negro colleges have been by design kept on short graduating class in 1967. Even though the address focused on grass! For the health of Morehouse and other colleges Morehouse, his description of the issues facing Morehouse similarly circumstanced the philosophy must be accepted then is relevant to the plight of HBCUs today: by philanthropic America and governments that a good Without a doubt, the years ahead will be tough years, but college, whether it is predominantly Negro or predomi- perhaps no tougher than the first hundred years. All of nantly white, deserves equal consideration in bidding for our years have been precarious years, but like England we the tax and philanthropic dollar. If this philosophy cannot have muddled through. The first hundred years were be developed, there will exist under the guise of desegrega- years of rigid segregation supported by law and religion. tion and liberalism a form of discrimination as rancid and During the first one hundred years Morehouse competed foul as anything that existed under legal and de facto seg- mainly with Negro colleges, similarly segregated. No one regation. questioned their survival for, after all, Negroes had to Discrimination in the future will not be administered by have schools. The power structure in politics, economics, poor whites and the people who believe in segregation but and education, whether the school was private or public, by the “liberals” who believe in a desegregated society but never intended to make schools for Negroes first-rate. The not an integrated society. If this battle can be won, More- racial attitude in America, whether in slavery or in segrega- house will have an equal chance to develop like any other tion, has consistently been that what is meant for Negroes good college in America. If discrimination against Ne- has to be inferior to that which is designed for whites. It groes is directed now against the predominantly Negro in- was expected and deliberately planned that segregated stitutions rather than against the individual, the future schools for Negroes would be inferior. For almost a hun- will be difficult indeed. dred years no one even questioned this philosophy. A great leader in the Commission on Interracial Coopera- Archon Mays’s words of fifty years ago remain prophetic. tion once said in my hearing that in order to advance the The HBCUs are valuable partners in Sigma Pi Phi’s programs

11 and structure. A review of our early history chronicles that tant committee that organized this event further emphasizes nine Grand Boulés were convened on HBCU campuses. The Grand Sire Archon Coleman’s commitment to elevating our first held at an HBCU was in 1935 – our fourteenth. It was on HBCUs. A continuation of the forum format is intended to be the campus of LeMoyne College in Memphis and hosted by a prominent part of the regional conferences. Each region will Delta Boulé. The last, our twenty-eighth, was hosted by Chi accommodate a mini version of the forum to further empha- Boulé in 1966 on the campus of Fisk University in Nashville. size the exchange of ideas for HBCU growth and expansion. Many of the scholarships provided by our member boulés and The HBCU Committee developed an interactive forum through The Boulé Foundation are awarded to young people for the purpose of providing a blueprint for the roles of boards attending HBCUs. Given this background as its backdrop, The and presidents, budgetary issues, campus leadership, brand Boulé HBCU Forum and Night at the Museum was conceived. development, alumni relations, and marketing and fundrais- The Forum was held in conjunction with a night at the ing best practices. The specific topics included: National Museum of African American History and Culture in • Effective strategies for enhancing fundraising and alumni Washington, D.C., during the weekend of May 19–20, 2017. participation. The attendance exceeded 630 Archons, Archousai and guests from across the United States. The opening activities included • The impending impact of the 2018 federal budget fiscal year on three panel discussions and a luncheon held at the historic student aid programs at HBCUs. Mayflower Hotel downtown. The culminating event on Satur- • Elevating HBCU status among higher-education institutions by day was a private opening at the museum for members of increasing enrollment. Sigma Pi Phi Fraternity only, affording full access to its exhibi- tions and a lavish reception offering live music, cocktails and hors d’oeuvres. Archons, family and friends were treated to an The Three Panels evening of information, inspiration and congenial camarade- The initial panel, moderated by Southeast Regional Grap- rie. ter James A. Welch, featured two accomplished HBCU presi- We applaud Grand Sire Archon Wesley Coleman’s vision dents and an institutional advancement consultant: Archons in calling to the Fraternity’s attention the HBCUs, which have William Harvey, president of Hampton University; Norman been consistent in their contributions to America’s educa- Francis, former president of Xavier University of Louisiana; tional landscape. His appointment of Archon Dwayne Murray, and Richard Ammons, senior consultant with Martz & Lundy. an outstanding jurist and educator, to chair the very impor- Each offered insights into what makes for successful fundrais-

12 developing a culture of giving by those most affected by the institution. The resultant impact is an increase in donations, which contributes to the expansion of scholarships, improved curriculum development and, by extension, educational oppor- tunities leading to successful graduate careers. Like Archon Harvey, Archon Francis reiterated the importance of board of trustee involvement in donor cultivation.

Archon Ammons supported both presidents’ approaches to institutional advancement by emphasizing these main points:

• Early donor engagement of students and parents.

• Thinking outside the box in developing nontraditional ing in the higher-education environment. Their collective in- fundraising strategies. sights drew from seventy-plus years of institutional leadership. Archon Harvey’s entrepreneurial approach focused on • Deliberate board of trustee involvement in developing strategies and methodologies for enhancing gifts for current fund use and his institution’s successes in initiating and participating in growing the endowment. business ventures, both as co-owners and often as the primary lender. Through the years this approach has produced signifi- We should be reminded that both these Archons repre- cant investment returns to the university’s endowment. He sent private academic institutions whose origins are relig- emphasized the importance of board of trustee engagement iously based. Hampton was founded in 1868 by the American and leadership as essential ingredients in the mix that has con- Missionary Association to provide an education to freemen af- tributed to Hampton University’s success. ter the Civil War. In 2015, according to its report, it offered forty-eight baccalaureate programs, twenty-three master’s pro- In describing his comprehensive approach to successful grams, eight doctoral programs, two professional programs institutional advancement, Archon Francis argued that sys- and eight associate and certificate programs. It is the first and temic messaging through faculty, student, alumni, community only HBCU to have 100 percent control of a NASA mission – and corporate involvement are the cornerstones of a success- anyone who saw the 2016 movie Hidden Figures should know ful fundraising strategy. This approach advances the notion of this. 13 Xavier University of Louisiana, founded in 1915, origi- decisions and public policy. Moderated by Archon Antoine M. nally as a high school for Native Americans and African Ameri- Garibaldi, president of University of Detroit Mercy, the panel cans, is the only historically black Roman Catholic institution also discussed the potential impact of the current U.S. admini- of higher education in the United States. It has consistently stration’s Department of Education (DOE) budget recommen- been at the top in placing African Americans into medical dations. The budget contains drastic cuts and, in some in- schools, according to a New York Times 2015 article. stances, elimination of essential student financial aid and academic assistance programs. The private religion-based origins of these two institutions is significant. At the time Hampton was founded, provid- There is an overwhelmingly high proportion of first- ing an education to black Americans went against the political generation students at HBCUs, with more than 90 percent of norms of the state of Virginia. In the case of Xavier, in the them receiving some form of federal and state financial assis- state of Louisiana, religious organizations frequently bucked tance (such as Pell grants, Supplemental Educational Opportu- the norms of the state as a matter of conscience. nity Grants, work study). Lezli Baskerville emphasized the importance of strategic bipartisan alumni advocacy. Advocacy Both these institutions currently enjoy, by HBCU stan- groups like Sigma Pi Phi and similar affinity groups, she ar- dards, healthy endowments. The 2015 report of the National gued, could exert a positive influence if they formed strategic Association of College and University Business Officers–Com- alliances. She pointed to a recent successful example where monfund Institute, revealed that Hampton’s endowment was early bipartisan advocacy by her organization during the 2016 $263.2 million. In 2014 Xavier reported that its endowment election resulted in no cuts to the portion allocated to HBCUs, was approximately $162 million and was the fourth highest of despite a 20 percent across-the-board reduction in funding to Louisiana’s colleges and universities. all educational programs. She maintains that bipartisan The second panel, The Impending Impact of the U.S. Fis- HBCU advocacy can be an effective tool in continuing to pro- cal Year 2018 Budget on Student Aid Programs at Historically vide financial assistance to students desiring to attend and Black Colleges and Universities, included panelists Lezli Bask- graduate from college. erville, president of the National Association for Equal Oppor- Founded in 1969, NAFEO is a not-for-profit umbrella tunity in Education (NAFEO); Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., president membership organization and is a public advocate for all of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; and Archon H. Pat- black higher-educational institutions headquartered in Wash- rick Swygert, president emeritus, Howard University. The dis- ington, D.C. It represents HBCUs together with other organiza- cussion focused on the importance of federal and state budget tions such as the United Negro College Fund and the Thur-

14 good Marshall Fund by responding to and providing input to The Thurgood Marshall Fund, named for the first black the U.S. Congress and Congressional Budget Office requests U.S. Supreme Court justice, was established in 1987. It repre- to represent their member’s issues. They conduct research sents the nearly 300,000 students attending the forty-seven and produce studies depicting the accomplishments of member schools that include public HBCUs, medical schools HBCUs. Recent reports have shown that HBCUs are the lead- and law schools. According to its literature it evolved from a ing producers of black graduates in the fields of science and small organization proving scholarships for its member engineering in the United States. Some of their studies show schools to a powerhouse of resources for public HBCUs. It has that blacks are more likely to major in computer science than raised more than $200 million for programmatic, capacity- whites and that they earn more degrees in computer science building support and scholarships for its member institutions. than Asian Americans. These studies rarely appear in so- Archon Swygert apprised the audience of the value of net- called mainstream media publications, leading to the public working and knowing who is making the major decisions perception of black underachievement in the science, engineer- within the federal government, such as the Office of Manage- ing and computer fields. ment and Budget, and not solely the DOE. An example cited Johnny Taylor reinforced Baskerville’s comments and was the impending, and perhaps unprecedented, practice that shared his insights on how he and his staff have been able to the DOE was contemplating approving a single private com- effectively raise scholarship funds on behalf of students who pany to service all student loans rather than multiple compa- are interested in or are attending HBCUs. Taylor also under- nies or a federal agency. He called for HBCU leaders to under- scored the importance of monitoring and shaping public poli- stand “the difference between playing checkers and chess” cies directly affecting the future of these schools. In his view, and stated that the DOE-proposed single private company ini- it is important for government leaders to hear directly from tiative was a perfect example of government officials playing HBCU alumni and supporters to understand the significant chess. He also expressed concern over the unusually high contributions these institutions have made on local communi- short tenures of HBCU presidents. The responsibility for se- ties, the nation and the world. As an example, several Archons lecting institutional leadership and policy development re- who were presidents of HBCUs, such as Sam Proctor, Vivian sides with the board of trustees. He asserted that trustees Henderson, Brodus Butler, James Nabrit and Herman Smith, should take time to get to know the campus leaders they ap- to name only a few, have served as higher-eduction advisers to point and should also support them through their presiden- U.S. Presidents. cies.

15 North Carolina A&T University currently has the largest student population among all HBCUs in the country, and Ar- chon Harold Martin is considered one of the nation’s leading experts on HBCU enrollment. He set the tone with his opening remarks, stating that it isn’t enough to say to students that they should attend an HBCU because these schools are more nurturing and caring. Rather, he said, HBCUs must demon- strate value to the students and families they recruit beyond their mere historical significance. On that point, Archon Hay- nes added that our institutions must reassess their inventory of course offerings. Academic majors should match the de- mands of the workforce. He went on to say HBCUs have a responsibility to ensure that students are able to find quality jobs when they graduate. Outdated programs must be down- The audience engaged the panelists by offering points of sized or closed, and new programs developed to match the view on several timely topics during the Q&A session that fol- modern workforce. lowed. There was no shortage of operational and policy recom- mendations offered. Archon Briggs echoed the idea that HBCUs must deliver superior educational services. He said it is important that stu- The third panel, entitled Increasing HBCU Enrollments dents enjoy a good college experience, and quality customer and Elevating Their Status in Higher Education, was moder- service is key to recruiting and retaining students. The panel- ated by attorney Archon Preston Castille, national president of ists all agreed that a stronger emphasis on science, technol- the Southern University Alumni Federation and president of ogy, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education will be the HBCU Alumni Coalition. Panelists included Archons Jer- necessary to compete globally in an advanced technological ryl Briggs, executive vice president and COO, Mississippi Val- era. That said, students must develop strong fundamental ley State University; Leonard Haynes, president of the Ameri- skills in areas such as literacy, which will help them advance can Heritage Defense Corp. and senior fellow at the Consor- in any career. The panel also acknowledged that HBCUs must tium of Metropolitan Area Higher Education Institutions; and become more deeply involved in the pipeline to higher educa- Harold Martin, president, North Carolina A&T University. tion. As such, universities will need to become more involved

16 in elementary and secondary education programs in their re- rection against the government of the United States shall be gions to ensure that students are equipped for college when entitled to the benefit of this Act.” they graduate from high school. These key points will not only The end of the Civil War in 1865 provided the timing for help increase enrollment at HBCUs but will also elevate the the remaining southern states to receive land-grant designa- status of HBCUs in higher education. tion under the first Morrill Act statutes. The congress could This final panel representing the public land grant not get the cooperation of most of the southern states so a sec- HBCUs has a unique story. The origin of the black land grant ond Morrill Act was enacted in 1890. Even though some states education institutions in America required an act of congress. supported black education institutions that were in existence Access to an equal education opportunity for black Americans prior to 1890, the so-called “1890 Act” schools, the majority of was not a given. The founding of NC A&T is an example of this black institutions, gained land grant designation only after the story. In 1890 the U.S. Congress, according to that year’s con- second Act was signed into law. The three panel discussions gressional records, enacted a Second Morrill Act that man- provided the major theme for the forum and the remaining ac- dated “a separate college for the colored race.” The major dis- tivities reinforced this theme. tinction between the first and second Morrill Acts was racial The forum luncheon featured two outstanding presenta- laws and timing. According to congressional records, the first tions. The first, Archon Dwayne M. Murray, the HBCU Com- act, though proposed in 1857 and named for its author, Sena- mittee chair, focused on the occasion. Archon Murray articu- tor Justin Smith Morrill of Vermont, was passed in 1859 but lated the grand legacy of the historically black colleges and uni- vetoed by President James Buchanan. In 1861, Morrill resub- versities from their traditional mission to their current contri- mitted the act with the amendment that the proposed institu- butions. He asserted that America would be unrecognizable tions would teach military tactics along with engineering and were it not for the contributions these institutions make to agriculture. Because by this time many of the southern states our educational, social, cultural, spiritual and economic envi- had seceded from the Union and did not support the plan, it ronments. He opined that the panel discussions gave voice was signed into law on July 2, 1862, by President Abraham and vision to the current leadership resident in these institu- Lincoln. It authorized the donation of public lands to states tions, which should bode well for their future. and territories in order to provide colleges for the benefit of agriculture and the mechanic arts. Provision 6 of the Act Grand Sire Archon–Elect Gregory Vincent followed Ar- stated that “no state while in a condition of rebellion or insur- chon Murray to introduce the keynote speaker, Archon Elijah Cummings of Baltimore’s Gamma Boulé, currently serving in

17 the U.S. House of Representatives for the 7th Congressional Grand Sire Archon Coleman and Archousa Barbara greeted District of Maryland. Archon Cummings talked about his spiri- members of the Fraternity from the stage of the Oprah Win- tual upbringing and then proceeded in Pentecostal fashion to frey Theater. Throughout the evening, live entertainment was deliver a message of hope and promise for America’s African provided by Marcus Johnson and his quintet, while libations American community, despite its current bleak political pre- and a delectable variety of hors d’oeuvres were served. The dicament. “We’ve been here before,” he suggested, “and we tour of the museum was the perfect conclusion to a thor- overcame it.” oughly edifying and well-planned weekend.

So, he continued, our history suggests that we will Archons and Archousai should look forward to continu- weather these circumstances and become even stronger. A ing this dialogue during the upcoming regional conferences. summa cum laude graduate of Howard University Law The recently announced postponement of the U.S. president’s School, Archon Cummings gave credit to his parents, who de- conference on HBCUs originally scheduled for the Fall of 2017 spite modest means and education, instilled in him the will will likely contribute to the discussions during these confer- and courage to survive, thrive and succeed against obstacles ences. designed to thwart black achievement in America’s Jim Crow Kudos to Grand Sire Archon Coleman, to the staff of the environs. His exposure to legal giants like Thurgood Marshall Office of the Grand Boulé for their expert delivery on his vi- and Archons Charles Hamilton Huston and James Nabrit sion, and to the members of the HBCU Forum Committee: Ar- would never have occurred were it not for the existence of an chons Dwayne Murray, chair (Alpha Xi); Ralph Aldredge HBCU like Howard University. He said he took inspiration (Gamma Epsilon); Raymond Burse (Psi); Harry Coaxman from their contributions to defending and improving the lives (Delta Upsilon); Eric Gallien (Gamma Tau); Antoine Garibaldi of Americans in general and black Americans in particular. (Iota); William Harvey (Beta Lambda); Howard Jessamy The lessons learned by remembering his parents’ fortitude (Gamma); Kanahl Kendrick (Gamma Chi); Charles Ledbetter and the documented legacy of these legal stalwarts, Archon (Upsilon); David Marion (Beta Gamma); Patrick Martin Cummings concluded, are his life’s guideposts. (Gamma Sigma); Mac Stewart (Lambda); James Welch (Al- After the luncheon, Archons and Archousai were free to pha Tau); Larry Williams (Epsilon Beta); and Leonard Haynes enjoy the many sights and sounds of our nation’s capital. Sat- (Beta Mu). urday night, from 6:00 p.m. until midnight, the National Mu- seum of African American History and Culture became the ex- clusive province of Sigma Pi Phi members and their guests.

18 HBCU Forum Gallery OPEN