In recent years, HBCUs overall have seen enrollments plummet, endowments decrease and student bodies — once entirely black — become more mixed as they attempt to compete with schools that no longer shut out African Americans.
Bennett College senior Brie'Asha Nwanze embraces a classmate outside the campus chapel after a ceremony where they received their caps and gowns.
Bennett’s story reflects that of many of the nation’s 102 historically black colleges and universities, or HBCUs, most of which formed after the Civil War. The nation’s oldest historically black college, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania — founded in 1837 — has fought to keep its accreditation. It’s trying to raise at least $4 million to stay afloat. Three HBCUs have closed since 2000.Elizabeth City State University
After their establishment, historically black colleges grew in size and influence for more than a century. Many of the oldest are private schools created by churches. Public campuses blossomed in the late 19th century. That’s when a federal law that granted land for universities also required states that barred blacks from institutions of higher education to create separate campuses to serve African Americans.
In the last decade, HBCUs have increasingly recruited students who are not black, offering scholarships and touting their small class sizes and role in the fight for racial equality. At a quarter of the schools, non-black students make up at least 20% of enrollment today. “The country is run by white people,” Hughes said. “I wanted the experience — at least for my education — to be one that is exclusively black.”
“I love this campus and these people. But the issues this school faces could hurt my future.… I have to move on.”Veasey Conway / For The TimesAbigail Mosley, Bennett College student “I have to have a backup plan,” she said. Once she gets her degree in political science, she wants start a nonprofit in Cleveland that focuses on community organizing.
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