Bluefield, W. Va.
When a historically Black university fails to
sustain, say, a ten percent African American student population, People
are bound to start talking. Well, they have.
Even friends of Bluefield State College are concerned because the
campus hosts a meager 7.7-percent African American student population.
Additionally, this fall for the first time in its 102-year history,
there are no African American faculty members.
The college is still listed as a historically Black university in
the Higher Education Amendment, which allows it to be eligible for
Title III funds reserved for historically Black colleges and
universities (HBCUs). In Bluefield’s case, that amounts to $1.1 million
a year.
According to a spokesperson from the Department of Education,
HBCU’s are “defined in statute as those institutions founded before
1964… with the precise mission of serving African American students.”
So while Bluefield’s statistics may have changed dramatically, it
remains an HBCU according to federal government criteria.
Still, the figures disturb Bluefield officials. That’s why the
institution’s president, Dr. Robert E. Moore, formed an eleven-member
task force last month to advise the school on the recruitment and
retention of minority students and faculty.
“This task force is comprised of respected and knowledgeable
African American leaders from our service area,” Moore wrote in a
position paper. “The members will further investigate minority
recruitment strategies employed elsewhere, along with the success of
those strategies.”
