Obama Renews Initiative on Historically Black Colleges
On February 26, 2010, President Obama renewed the White House’s Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (“HBCUs”) by issuance of an executive order. President Obama introduced the executive order during a speech in the East Room of the White House.
He credited the initiative, which originated with President Carter and has been renewed by each administration since, with the creation of “cradles of opportunity” for diverse students.
The purpose of the order is to “increase the capacity of HBCUs to provide the highest-quality education to a greater number of students” and to improve HBCUs’ capacity to serve five core tasks:
• strengthening the capacity of HBCUs to participate in Federal programs;
• fostering enduring private-sector initiatives and public-private partnerships while promoting specific areas and centers of academic research and programmatic excellence throughout all HBCUs;
• improving the availability, dissemination, and quality of information concerning HBCUs to inform public policy and practice;
• sharing administrative and programmatic practices within the HBCU community for the benefit of all; and
• exploring new ways of improving the relationship between the Federal Government and HBCUs.
In addition, the executive order establishes the President’s Board of Advisors on HBCUs, to be comprised of up to 25 presidential appointees to “advise the President and the Secretary on all matters pertaining to strengthening the educational capacity of HBCUs.”
According to a White House press release, there are 105 HBCUs in the United States serving some 300,000 students. Notably, President Obama’s FY 2011 budget also includes $98 million in new funds to HBCUs, $20.5 million to the HBCU Capital Financing program, and $103 million dedicated to a science and technology workforce program at the National Science Foundation, targeting undergraduates at HBCUs as well as historically Tribal and Hispanic colleges and universities.
