LISTEN: Former Kentucky State President M. Christopher Brown II

LISTEN: Digest After Dark - Let's Go On Strike

We discuss the new Executive Director of the White House HBCU Initiative, threats of faculty strikes at Howard University, and leadership chaos at Kentucky State University.

LISTEN: Century Foundation Fellow Denise Smith Discusses $53 Billion HBCU Endowment Deficit

The South Carolina State University alumna and current Howard University Ph.D. candidate discusses the historic and current-day implications of disparities between endowments at HBCUs and predominantly white institutions.

READ THE FULL REPORT HERE

Headlines

David Banner is getting tired of HBCU advocacy [Yahoo! Life]

The institutions that shaped Black researchers’ careers [Nature]

Adobe announces $1 million gift to HBCU, Hispanic institutions [Fortune]

Agriculture committee advances $190 million in scholarship funding for HBCU Land Grant institutions [Georgia Recorder]

Read & React

“The fact that U.S. News, a private commercial entity, has that much influence is incredibly disturbing.”

—New America Editor Stephen Burd on the negative impact of the U.S. News & World Report annual college rankings. 

React - Disturbing is that colleges and universities, particularly HBCUs, continuing to be co-conspirators in their own disenfranchisement as created by these rankings. While several presidents, including Howard University President Wayne A.I. Frederick and Winston-Salem State University Chancellor Elwood Robinson have spoken out against the rankings, far too many institutions use them in their marketing and engagement campaigns. And then we wonder why “higher ranked” predominantly white institutions have better chances at recruiting Black students away from HBCUs.

LISTEN: How Alabama A&M Broke Fundraising Records, Into the Beer Business

Mississippi Valley State University alumnus and Alabama A&M University Vice President for Marketing, Communications and Advancement Archie Tucker discusses the university’s recent record-breaking anonymous gift.

He also shares behind-the-scenes details on how the institution bolstered its revenues with a beer manufacturing deal.

LISTEN: How Tougaloo College Navigated a Cyberattack

Tougaloo College President Carmen J. Walters discusses her participation at a White House meeting on cybersecurity in higher education, and walks through how the college prepared for and survived a campus malware attack.

LISTEN: Edward Waters President A. Zachary Faison is Trying to Get Free

Dr. Faison shares the secret to the university's unprecedented gains in status and branding, the problem with HBCUs and the search for proximity to white wealth, and how Black people must be catalysts for institutional and leadership autonomy.