THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 10, 1996 TAG: 9602100252
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B5 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY PHILIP WALZER, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: HAMPTON LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Historically black universities must produce more graduate students, do more research and get more financial and moral backing from alumni and foundations to thrive in the next century, panelists said at a Hampton University conference Friday.
``Most individuals, foundations, bureaucrats and states look upon us not as an integral part of the educational landscape, but as an additive, a special project,'' said Frederick Humphries, president of Florida A&M University, a black college in Tallahassee. ``What's got to change is that perception of us.''
Humphries was among representatives of 43 black colleges at the conference at Hampton. About 150 people attended, including members of Congress, federal officials and students.
There are more than 100 historically black colleges and universities, also known as HBCUs, in the country. Virginia has five: Hampton, Norfolk State University, Virginia State University, Virginia Union University and St. Paul's College.
In his opening comments, Hampton's president, William R. Harvey, noted that for more than a century, black colleges had overcome racism, unequal treatment and the perception that they had ``outlived their relevancy and usefulness.'' Now, he said, the major challenges are federal cutbacks in education funding, which the schools have relied on for research grants and financial aid.
But speakers said colleges should work harder to tap other sources, such as graduates and foundations. ``Alumni are our best source of support,'' said Clarence Lockett, a Hampton graduate who is a vice president of Johnson & Johnson Corp. ``Graduates speak loudly for their institution.''
Edgar Smith, a consultant and former acting president of Tougaloo College in in Mississippi, suggested pressing foundations to appoint more black board members: ``There needs to be more blacks sitting around the policy table when important decisions are made.''
Humphries, in one of the day's most fiery speeches, said most U.S. colleges ought to be graduating more black Ph.D. recipients, and fewer foreigners. ``For those bureaucrats here,'' he said, ``I want you to change the direction of money,'' so that financial aid goes only to U.S. graduate students. ``It's not going to support American citizens. I don't want you to take our tax dollars and give it to them.''
He also chided black colleges for not pushing harder to get their students to go to graduate school: ``You've got to assume responsibility for the numbers. If we don't, you're not going to have a faculty that's black because you'll be filled with people of the world that have no relation to people of black America.''
But Ronald Palmer, a former ambassador who teaches at George Washington University, said: ``I want to see them (foreign students) keep coming; I want to see people of all backgrounds keep coming. We cannot cut ourselves off. We need Thais and Romanians and Indians to help us.''
Panelists also stressed the need to strengthen research, which would bring more money and prestige. ``We've got to become the Michael Jordans of science to get some money,'' said James Harris, a program manager for NASA.
To do that, Calvin Lowe, vice president for research at Hampton, suggested tougher standards for faculty members. For instance, universities could require most to publish three papers a year. Yet he noted, ``This is the one everybody (in the faculty) hates.''
This morning, participants hope to craft an ``action plan'' to ensure the success of black colleges in the 21st century. Speakers are to include former Gov. L. Douglas Wilder, a graduate of Virginia Union, and U.S. Reps. Robert Scott (D-Va.) and Carrie Meek (D-Fla.). ILLUSTRATION: MARTIN SMITH-RODDEN\The Virginian-Pilot
Denver Mayor Wellington Webb, left, chats with U.S. Rep. Robert
Scott (D-Va.) at Hampton University on Friday.
by CNB