As a graduate of a public HBCU, Central State University in Wilberforce, Ohio, I want to respond to your comment. “It's situations like this that highlight the problem with public HBCUs.”

I know the public HBCU has a relevant and important purpose in the higher education community today, now more than ever. It certainly enriched and changed my life.

I have participated in many Black College Tours, taking qualified African American students from Long Island, NY to visit public HBCU’s and encourage those students to consider attending one as a viable educational choice, rather than a state university in New York or elsewhere where retention and graduation rates are poor for African American students. Contrary to popular belief there are still many qualified African American students for whom the public HBCU is a better “fit” academically and socially.

The experience I had on the campus of Central State University in Wilberforce ,Ohio, a public HBCU, shaped me into the person I am today. I also wrote a book, several years ago, entitled ,”The Black College Guide, to encourage students I was teaching in New York to consider attending these public colleges.

According to their own testimony in this case, UMUC is not focused on the new high school graduate.

“With UMUC, the state has a public institution that serves those students who were not prepared—academically,socially, financially, or all three—to succeed in a traditional undergraduate setting,but are able to manage those problems a few years later. “.

The traditional public HBCU is focused on teenage students graduating from accredited high schools and entering college immediately after their high school graduation.

“UMUC has shown that it provides an important service for students who might seem like casualties of the

achievement gap when they are in their early twenties, but become successful students when their finances and life situations stabilize. UMUC serves as the finalstep for a college degree for many African American students throughout Maryland.”

As I wrote in my introductory essay in my book, The Black College Guide,

“Your selection of a college is a serious, major decision that will affect your life for years to come. In the world you will face, all African American students must be fully prepared and able to face the challenges to come. For many of you this will be the first time, perhaps the only time in your life, that you will be measured by your excellence, not by your race.”

Here’s the link to the UMUC testimony.http://www.umuc.edu/president/testimony/2008/UMUC_2008_Senate_Testimony.pdf

Thanks for bringing this issue to my attention Steve.

By the way, my brother graduated from Hampton University another HBCU in your neck of the woods. Last week they celebrated their Homecoming festivities by electing a white, Miss Hampton University, a first for a traditional HBCU. http://wjz.com/wireapnewsva/Historically.black.Hampton.2.1243176.html

Hi again Steve,

Public HBCU’s were established under the 1862 Morrill Act- Land Grant Colleges

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morrill_Land-Grant_Colleges_Act... Read More

The purpose of the land-grant colleges was:”without excluding other scientific and classical studies and including military tactic, to teach such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the mechanic arts, in such manner as the legislatures of the States may respectively prescribe, in order to promote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and professions in life”

A second Morrill Act in 1890 was also aimed at the former Confederate states. This act required each state to show that race was not an admissions criterion, or else to designate a separate land-grant institution for persons of color.[9] Among the seventy colleges and universities which eventually evolved from the Morrill Acts are several of today's Historically Black colleges and universities (indicated below with *). Though the 1890 Act granted cash instead of land, it granted colleges under that act the same legal standing as the 1862 Act colleges; hence the term "land-grant college" properly applies to both groups.

With a few exceptions (including Cornell University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology), nearly all of the Land-Grant Colleges are public. (Cornell University, while private, administers several state-supported contract colleges that fulfill its public land-grant mission to the state of New York.)

Later on, other colleges such as the University of the District of Columbia and the "1994 land-grant colleges" for Native Americans were also awarded cash by Congress in lieu of land to achieve "land-grant" status”.

The public HBCU’s were established after the Civil War, after slavery. Seventeen of these institutions opened their doors in the twenty years after the war in southern segregated states. Freedmen were clamoring for what had been denied them for 200 years; an education. These institutions were not,”equal”, yet they opened the educational door to students who had been consistently denied access.

The HBCU’s today do not limit access to any student. The current Miss Hampton, attends the university. Many Black Homecoming Queens have been elected at traditionally white institutions as well. I think we’re seeing a diverse student population at many institutions.

Your experience as a counselor of immigrant students is not similar to the challenges faced by Black students at HBCU’s or predominately white institutions. The historical backdrop is different. It’s comparing apples to oranges. They’re both fruit, but the similarity ends there.

Everyone in my family attended an HBCU and had successful careers, retired , started businesses and enjoyed the American Dream..

Ultimately, the choice and graduation success of students entering college is based on making the right choice and obtaining the best fit. Students need to choose college based upon their individual needs. It’s not the prestigious name that makes a college right for a student. Does the college meet the needs and interests of the student? Does the atmosphere and ambiance of the campus nurture and encourage the individual? Is the student comfortable in his academic surroundings?

Public and private HBCU’s have produced successful, celebrated, contributing members of society. Attending an HBCU does not imply that a student has had an inferior education or that they are unable to function in a diverse world.

However, here again I’m speaking as a primary source; an alumna of an HBCU, an alumna of two predominately white institutions- Brooklyn College and Hofstra University and a secondary teacher who encouraged students to consider an HBCU. I consider myself a world citizen comfortable in a variety of environments. Perhaps you would enjoy one of those HBCU tours and hearing the viewpoint of prospective students.

We may disagree based upon our disparate experiences but I always appreciate the exchange of viewpoints. Thanks for exchanging your point of view.

Your children may not make the choice to attend a public HBCU. It may not be the fit for them . I am happy there are public HBCU’s available for those who want to attend. It's still not a level playing field in education. We may get there one day.

Last weekend was my annual college homecoming at Central State University. It was a “homecoming “ in the truest sense. Meeting friends made 42 years ago is a wonderful experience and it still feels like home. If public HBCU’s can do that, they serve a relevant, public need.

I wish I could sing this to you Steve!

Oh Central mine we sing of thee

Maker of men who are free

We build in deeds our greater name

We spread thy lasting fame

Oh Central mine we sing of thee

Truth and right our song shall be

Our alma mater guides us and it’s great

For God, For Central, For State!

Sheila writes, "Your experience as a counselor of immigrant students is not similar to the challenges faced by Black students at HBCU’s or predominately white institutions. The historical backdrop is different. It’s comparing apples to oranges. They’re both fruit, but the similarity ends there."

Steve, what were the ethnic origins of the immigrant students, whom you served?

If, for example, they were from the Caribbean, one presumes that that their historical backdrop would have been similar to American students' at HBCUs.