Tag Archives: black-college

Congressional Black Caucus: President Obama Doesn’t Care About Struggling HBCUs President Obama has received flack from the black community for nearly his entire time in office over claims that he supposedly neglects HBCUs and now a new report from the CBC is echoing those sentiments. via HBCU Digest A report from Congressional Black Caucus blog CrewOf42.com quotes several members of the caucus saying that President Barack Obama offered harsh criticism of black colleges during a meeting with the caucus earlier this week. In his first meeting with the caucus in nearly two years, President Obama said that low graduation rates, not federal funding cuts or his community college free tuition plan, were the greatest threats to HBCUs. “He said there were some HBCUs that were not good at graduating students and if they did not improve they’d have to go by the wayside,” said Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA).  “In other words he didn’t show much empathy for struggling HBCUs. It was like show me the numbers and if the numbers aren’t where they need to be, that’s it. It was a somewhat callous view of the unique niche HBCUs fill,” Rep. Johnson, a graduate of Clark Atlanta University, said. Rep. Johnson said there needs to be a deeper discussion with the President on HBCU issues. Other legislators shared the sentiments. The CBC’s First Vice Chair, Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-NY) said, “I was concerned about what the President said because it feeds into a narrative about the value of these institutions and whether they are equip to educate our students and what the cost is for doing so,” Rep. Clarke added.  “Many of these institutions have not had a maintenance of effort on the part of states or the federal government and over time that wears on their ability to maintain standards or even advance beyond a certain level. It was very clear that he doesn’t have the same level of appreciation for what these institutions have done and could do in the future given the right support systems,” Rep. Clarke concluded. President Obama clearly has a million things on his plate and it seems no matter how many of them he’s able to tend to, there’s always someone left dissatisfied with how he decides to handle things. Do you agree with the CBC’s comments? Let’s discuss.

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For Discussion: Congressional Black Caucus Members Accuse President Obama Of Disregarding Struggling HBCUs