President Dillard, Peers Probe HBCU Priorities

RALEIGH — Presidents from 32 historically Black colleges and universities ranked priorities for higher education institutions like theirs:

1. enrollment management
2. student success
3. fundraising and endowment
4. infrastructure, technology and facilities
5. academic program relevance
6. talent

“The priorities don’t become one through six, they become one,” Shaw University President Paulette R. Dillard, Ph.D,, said during the Black Leadership Across Campuses (BLAC) Summit 2024 in late March. “You can’t do any one without the other. I have them all equally ranked across one line.”

It was a virtual summit hosted by Virginia Union University.  “The HBCU Shift: From Survival & Sustainability to Competitiveness & Transformation” provided insight into what’s going on with HBCUs.

Those priorities emerged from a study commissioned by Virginia Union’s Center for the Study of HBCUs in partnership with the Student Freedom Initiative.

Talented faculty — that’s the thing, Dillard insisted.

“The data is clear,” Dillard said. “The single most important [factor] in a successful matriculation of a student through the university is their engagement with faculty.”

That means undergirding faculty through professional development and then stewarding that investment by retaining those educators, who are critical to rigorous, relevant academic programming, which supports student recruitment and the other university priorities, the president explained.

“First and foremost, we have to have great faculty. We have to be able to provide all of the tools they need to continue to educate an amazing group of students,” Dillard said. “You can’t do that without faculty, staff and an amazing academic program. Those are the things that really are the core of the academy and responsible for what students ultimately become.”

Faculty ought to have some skin in the game, though, Dillard said. Governance, for example, is not just the purview of a university’s top leaders and board members; faculty has valuable contributions to make in that respect, she said.

Dillard was featured on a panel with former HBCU presidents, including Beverly Wade Hogan, Ph.D., the former president of Tougaloo College in Mississippi. Hogan underscored the importance of partnerships.

“It provides opportunities to expand the learning experience for our students,” Hogan said. “It is for the investment of a richer society that’s diverse and talented. That’s what our institution provides to the larger society — a talented and diverse workforce.”

Everett B. Ward, Ph.D., the former president of Saint Augustine’s University, said HBCUs need to get back to the town-gown concept wherein students understand their dual responsibility of both earning a degree and using it to elevate the community.

Larry L. Earvin, Ph.D., the former president of Huston-Tillotson University in Texas, emphasized accreditation.

“We’ve got to pay more attention to it not just as our individual institutions but as a collective as we have moved from an era where we focused on student access to institutional accountability,” Earvin said.

What’s becoming increasingly challenging for universities — HBCUS and otherwise — is the continued devaluing of a four-year college degree. According to a 2023 American Association of Colleges and Universities survey, less than half — 45% — of the 1,010 U.S. executives and hiring managers queried strongly agree it’s worth getting a college degree. Around 36% somewhat agreed a college degree is worth it; 13% somewhat disagreed; 5% strongly disagreed.

Making things tougher for HBCUs are students who normally would enroll there are getting plucked by community colleges, Ward said. With students having more options nowadays, customer service at HBCUs has to elevate, he said.

“It’s a very new day with this generation of students. I mean, they start receiving marketing  information their sophomore and junior years,” Ward said. “High school counselors and many of the teachers are pushing and encouraging our students to go the community-college route.”

More and more community colleges are even offering sports these days.

“They’re taking on the full collegiate student experience,” Ward said.