For more than 150 years, historically Black colleges and universities have been lighthouses of access for students. Today, HBCUs continue to graduate significant numbers of the nation’s African-American students, oftentimes students who are the first in their families to attend college or who come from low-performing school districts and/or low-income backgrounds.
The enduring legacy of HBCUs has been their distinguished mission to serve and meet the unique needs of African-American students — academically, financially, physically, socially, and spiritually.
However, I am deeply concerned and disappointed by the dearth of positive news articles written about HBCUs. Even more disheartening is to hear some higher education reporters — with whom I work closely with as a communication strategist for various higher education organizations — grumble about how difficult it is to get many HBCU presidents and/or their senior staff to agree to go “on record” for a story, even though it may be a positive one.
My guess as to why many HBCUs shy away from speaking to reporters is because of the negative experiences they’ve encountered in the past. Based on my conversations with some HBCU presidents and senior institutional staff, when they tell their stories to the masses the result has been anything but positive most times. Articles that may be perceived as negative or not showing African-American students and HBCUs in the best light naturally perpetuate feelings of distrust for dealing with the media. Many HBCU presidents and their staff recognize that, at times, the media do not always play fair. And because they don’t always know the rules of engagement, HBCUs would rather not play at all.
Fundamentally, there is a misperception about how to communicate the powerful benefits and contributions of HBCUs. Perhaps it is because they have historically faced many institutional challenges. A large majority of these campuses are struggling to maintain their relevancy because of declining graduation and retention rates. Many HBCUs are surviving in a weakened financial condition and there is a turnover of experienced leadership to sustain the legacy of these campuses as well.
