We are facing a serious crisis that is robbing higher education of its ability to educate all by providing the special programs that are necessary to make up for centuries of exclusion, subordination, misinformation and inferiorization of the intellect of Blacks. The City University of New York is being sued by a conservative legal organization for maintaining such a program, and in the past few years, nearly 100 programs have been eliminated by such educational terrorism. This crisis must be faced down.
The problems of access for Blacks and Hispanics, especially to selective institutions, grows more difficult even as the absolute numbers of those enrolled increases. And recent cuts in higher education programs continue to illustrate the lack of will to expand education for all and an understanding that the social environment plays a vital role in this process.
Studies by Dr. Gary Orfield at the Harvard Civil Rights Institute have conclusively demonstrated that the low economic status of Blacks and Hispanics plays a role in their high school attendance and performance and access to higher education. The critical role of economic status is seen in the current enrollment figures that illustrate a decline of Black students in law and medicine schools and flat enrollment in Ph.D. programs. This suggests that students from low-income families are increasingly refusing to take on higher levels of debt to finance their education.
By all accounts, educational access, especially for those who have been left behind, has become an urgent resource. Consider the fact that the economic crisis of the Black community is deepening, although the national economy appeared to flourish. The Bush administration has said that 5 million jobs have been generated in recent years, as unemployment stood at generally 4.7 percent. But it seems the resurgent economy missed the Black community. Some indices come to mind:
· Industrial jobs have — where Blacks make up 25 percent of the work force — declined by 2.7 million since 2001.
