Congressional Black Caucus Members to Boycott Education Hearings
CBC protesting unfair treatment of Black, Hispanic-serving institutions

Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) members plan to boycott many congressional education hearings this year as part of a continuing protest against what they view as unfair Republican treatment of Black and Hispanic-serving colleges.
The 21 Democratic members of the House Education and the Workforce Committee say they will boycott all subcommittee meetings until GOP leaders change their plan to divide higher education policy among two new subcommittees. One new panel, 21st Century Competitiveness, would oversee nearly all higher education programs except for aid to historically Black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions and tribal colleges. These programs instead would fall under the responsibility of the Select Education subcommittee — also responsible for juvenile justice, child abuse and aging programs (see Black Issues, March 1).
And during Bush's budget speech to both chambers of Congress, many House Democrats wore buttons protesting the change.
"If you look at the [Feb. 7] hearing, we kept saying we don't think this is malice; we don't think it's intentional," says Rep.
Major Owens, D-N.Y.
But, Owens adds, "This is going back to the days of separate but equal, where you had one water fountain for colored and one for White people [and] the equal never lasted very long."
Taking HBCUs and HSIs away from other postsecondary programs and placing them with social service programs is a clear setback for minority-serving institutions, says Owens, who is one of the leaders of the boycott effort.
Moving Black and Hispanic-serving colleges to a separate subcommittee is "segregating them from other higher education concerns and also indicates, by their new association with purely social issues, the low priority in which these institutions are perceived by the Republican leadership," Owens says.
Democratic membership on the Education and the Workforce Committee includes many prominent CBC members, including Owens and Reps. Bobby Scott, D-Va., and Harold Ford Jr., D-Tenn. Some members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus also sit on the committee and have voiced their opposition to the new subcommittee structure.
Republicans deny they are shortchanging the colleges, saying that the reorganization will allow for more careful consideration of HBCU and HSI issues. Members of the Select Education subcommittee also are among those leading a new House Republican task force on Black colleges, they say. The task force, formed late last summer under the leadership of Rep. J.C. Watts, R-Okla., is supposed to provide a discourse among HBCU presidents, legislators and the business community to improve Black colleges (see Black Issues, Aug. 31, 2000).
As debate intensifies, those caught in the crossfire are individual HBCUs and HSIs, which are being courted for support by both sides.
The Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) "remains concerned" about the division of college programs into two subcommittees, says its president, Dr.  Antonio Flores. The plan "may lead to the de-emphasis of HSIs and other [minority-serving institutions] as an essential part of national higher education policy priorities," he says.
Still, Flores has expressed a willingness to work with Rep. Peter Hoekstra, R-Mich., the Select Education subcommittee chairman, who says he wants to undertake a major outreach effort. So far, Hoekstra's plans to make minority-serving institutions a priority "represents a healthy step in the right direction," Flores says.