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TIME: Almanac 1990
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1990 Time Magazine Compact Almanac, The (1991)(Time).iso
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1990-09-17
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EDUCATION, Page 59Black by Popular DemandAfrican-American colleges enjoy a welcome renaissance
As a Yale undergraduate, George Bush headed the local drive for
the United Negro College Fund, a consortium that then represented
32 private black schools. Last week, as Bush delivered the keynote
speech at the fund's 45th-anniversary dinner in Manhattan, and it
was clear his ardor had not waned. "Then as now," said the
President, "the U.N.C.F.") insists that excellence become a way of
life."
Bush's remarks come at a time of renaissance for the nation's
117 historically black colleges. During the 1970s, many of the best
black students deserted such institutions for Ivy League schools.
Today, spurred in part by racist outbreaks on predominantly white
campuses, African-American students are rediscovering the nurturing
atmosphere and pride in a shared heritage that made black campuses
attractive to their parents' generation.
Two-thirds of the 42 schools currently represented by the
U.N.C.F. have seen an increase in enrollment this academic year.
At many colleges, applications far outnumber openings. Last spring
Virginia's Hampton University received 8,300 applications for 900
places, making the school as popular as Dartmouth. Says U.N.C.F.
President Christopher Edley Sr.: "Black students are coming back
home."
A major factor behind this shift is cost. On average, private
black colleges charge only about half the tuition levied by similar
white schools. As student aid has been slashed, that has made a
difference to college-bound blacks, most of whom require some form
of assistance.
But economics is only part of the story. For many African
Americans, black colleges promise a level of academic and social
support that mostly white campuses cannot match. "Psychologically,
a black student is going to feel better about himself at a black
college," says Barry Beckham, editor of The Black Student's Guide
to Colleges. At schools such as Dillard, Fisk, Morehouse and
Howard, black students say they feel a surge of self-esteem
directly traceable to the experience of being the majority race on
campus.
Black colleges are also more likely to provide vital
encouragement to marginal students. Sulayman Clark, 35, was on the
verge of dropping out of mostly white Temple University when he
transferred to 152-year-old Cheyney University in Cheyney, Pa.
Bolstered by attentive professors, he not only graduated but went
on to earn a Ph.D. from Harvard. "If Cheyney did not exist, my
career would have been over," he says.
Like their white counterparts, black-colleges have become savvy
promoters, competing aggressively for students and philanthropic
dollars. Gone are the days when black-college presidents enjoyed
a near monopoly on black-college hopefuls. Today they are more
inclined to run their schools like a business, placing corporate
brass on their boards and going head to head with Brown, Duke and
other top schools for the most promising black youths.
The new vitality of black colleges is reflected in their
coffers as often as it is in their classrooms. Ten years ago, only
seven black colleges had endowments of more than $5 million; by
1986, 19 had reached that level. Such schools are getting mixed
messages from Washington. In his 1990 budget, Bush proposed $10
million in matching grants for gifts made to enrich the endowments
of black colleges. At the same time he warned Congress that federal
student aid might have to be cut further to whittle the deficit.
Consequently, black schools have had to address one of their
oldest financial weaknesses: small and infrequent alumni donations.
In November, when Bill and Camille Cosby made a $20 million gift
to Spelman College, the event received widespread publicity; yet
modest donations have been the norm. That shows signs of changing,
however. During the past fiscal year, alumni support at Alabama's
Tuskegee Institute topped $1 million for the first time, aided by
three gifts of $125,000 or more.
Despite such advances, the future remains clouded for many
black colleges. In 1987, 17 of the U.N.C.F.'s members were in the
red. Last summer Dallas' Bishop College went under after a long
struggle with bankruptcy. Worse still, the overall percentage of
African Americans going to college has been declining for almost
a decade, shrinking the pool of potential applicants to black
schools.
Such worries seem far away to Angela Addison, a black senior
at the selective Alabama School of Fine Arts in Birmingham, a high
school where African Americans are in the minority. Addison could
go on to almost any of the nation's top-ranked colleges, but she
is convinced that Hampton will provide the right environment. "I
want to go someplace different," she explains. "I want to go to a
prestigious black college." So, it seems, do many others.