This week, Dr. Earl Yarbrough Sr. is finally occupying the seat he’s sought most of his professional life — the one belonging to a historically Black university president.
But it’s not the chair at Knoxville College in East Tennessee, where he was appointed president in December. Instead, he starts this week in the historic Georgia coastal town of Savannah, where he takes over at Savannah State University.
“I’ve had a goal back when I was doing my Ph.D. work that I’d like to lead an institution of higher education,” says Yarbrough. “I realized I wanted to head an HBCU. Those things came together for me.”
His beginning actually brings to an end a strange, six-month odyssey for Yarbrough and the two HBCUs. It started in December 2006, when Knoxville board of trustees tabbed Yarbough for the presidency.
“We are delighted to have Dr. Yarbrough as the president-elect of Knoxville College, and we are excited about the talent he brings to the college at this critical time,” said Knoxville board chairman Ronald Damper in the Dec. 2 release announcing the appointment.
“There are some challenges, but none so great that we cannot overcome together,” Yarbrough said in the same release. At the time, he was a Virginia State University professor and long-time collegiate administrator.
The challenges at Knoxville — a school that produced journalists Vernon Jarrett, Ralph Wiley and George Curry along with historic football coach Jake Gaither — have been many.
Financial problems led the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to strip the nearly 132-year-old institution of its accreditation. The move made it impossible for students to receive federal financial aid. As a result, enrollment plummeted. There had been more than 1,000 students on the campus before the accreditation decision. But the student population has been less than 200 each year since. A group of faculty members sued the school in 2005 claiming that they hadn’t been paid regularly. A group of students filed their own lawsuit alleging they had not been paid for their campus jobs.
