Via P6, the economic crisis is affecting institutions of higher education, in particular the Historically Black Colleges and Universities that produce more than a quarter of the country's black college graduates. One of the more notable changes is Spelman, Morehouse and Clark merging their education departments:
Spelman recently announced it is phasing out its department of education in favor of a shared teacher certification program based at Clark Atlanta University that will also include Morehouse College. All three are part of the Atlanta University Center, which recently announced cost-cutting measures that will include sacrificing people and programs.
Other cost-cutting measures at Spelman include eliminating 35 positions and closing campus for the week after graduation in May. Clark Atlanta cut 100 workers and canceled its physical education classes last week after a drop in spring enrollment. At Morehouse, 25 adjunct professors, a third of the school's part-time instructors, were released.
HBCU's were already struggling with a decline in enrollment, integration meant that the most talented professors and students didn't necessarily have to turn to an HBCU, and enrollment has been on a slow decline ever since. HBCUs still provide welcome cultural spaces for black students, where they don't have to "prove" they belong there and can focus on getting an education without the frustrating racial politics that often come with attending non-HBCUs.
-- A. Serwer
