Allen and Glover: HBCU leaders send thanks to President Biden
Dr. Tony Allen is the president of Delaware State University and the chair of the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities. Dr. Glenda Glover is the president emerita of Tennessee State University and the vice chair of the same board.
Editor’s note: The following letter was sent to President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, and shared with the Daily State News, on Monday.
The President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities simply wants to say thank you. While many have suggested that they comprehend the importance of America’s HBCUs, no administration — and we do mean no administration, in the history of our republic — has done more for these schools than the Biden-Harris administration. Delivering more than $17 billion in investments to the HBCU community in less than three-and-a-half years is unprecedented. You know the details:
- The American Rescue Plan for emergency grants for students, campus operations, staffing and learning during the pandemic
- Infrastructure loan forgiveness for 45 public and private historically Black colleges and universities
- The expansion of academic capacity, as well as financial aid, for students from low- and middle-income families; and support for HBCUs that were victimized by bomb threats to their campuses
- The expansion of research opportunities for our institutions, allowing them to become more competitive as centers for innovation
- The approval of nearly $160 billion in student debt cancellation for over 4.5 million people
While these are just a few of the noted achievements for HBCUs in specific, your administration has also delivered the most significant increase to Pell Grants in the last decade, made permanent fixes to public service loan forgiveness and recently launched a new student debt repayment plan that will cut payments for undergraduate borrowers in half. A rising tide lifts all boats. By focusing on this community, you have created an avenue for all students and families to pursue their childhood dreams.
Mr. President, you made two particularly relevant comments at your last meeting with the President’s Board of Advisors.
The first: “HBCUs are engineers of economic mobility, helping to increase the Black middle class. When the middle class does well, everybody does well.”
That sounds like the best return on investment in higher education.
The second: “I make no apologies for efforts to support HBCUs.”
That sounds like Joe Biden.
You have forever changed the course of our outstanding institutions, Mr. President, and your actions have affirmed something you have known since you launched your first campaign on the hallowed grounds of Delaware State University in 1971: If you believe in access and opportunity for all, regardless of what you look like, where you come from or who you love, you believe in historically Black colleges and universities.
Madam Vice President — an alumna of a historically Black university yourself — you, of course, know that HBCUs have long accepted doing more with less. But, because of the Biden-Harris team, it is clear that less is no longer acceptable. Madam Vice President, please know that your substantive impact is not lost on us. Like many of our mothers and fathers told us — and we suspect your parents told you, too — “You have to be twice as good, twice as smart, twice as resilient and twice as thoughtful just to get a seat at the table at which we have been settling for crumbs.” Your example has taught us that we can set our own table. While many think that the clarion call of “HU” is reserved for Howard University, we all know it is the rallying cry for Black excellence, Black equity and Black energy in an America that needs us all.
You are both well aware that the return on investment for HBCUs is more than just financial. On every indicator of well-being, Black students attending these schools fare better than similarly situated students at predominantly White institutions. In addition to educating talented people of color and enabling a mobility rate twice that of our peers, we also make confident global citizens who are committed to finding professional success and giving back to their communities. In that sense, it is not surprising that figures like these are routinely repeated. In addition to generating more than $16 billion in direct economic impact, HBCUs still produce 80% of Black judges, 25% of Black science professionals, 70% of Black dentists and physicians, and 40% of Black members of Congress. And, as the United Negro College Fund has long noted, these institutions remain the primary driver behind moving low-income Black people into the middle class.
The work that the Board of Advisors has done under your collective leadership has been transformative for all of us, and we will continue for as long as you allow us to serve. That said, the legacy, the impact and the movement toward something greater than our own self-interest belongs to the Biden-Harris administration.
Mr. President, we are now and will continue to be prepared to heed your selfless, courageous, democratic call, and we will work over the next several months to carry the work of your presidency forward on behalf of our country and all the institutions — including historically Black colleges and universities — that have adhered to the nation’s highest pursuit: “a more perfect union.” We are, as ever, thankful for your leadership and are resolute in our continued pursuits: “We shall not be moved!”
Godspeed to both of you.
Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.
