I read the article, “Has Prairie View Lost Its HBCU Status?” in the Oct.20 edition. I am deeply offended by what the article said about those of us here who are faculty, staff and students and come from non-African American communities.Although I think the article brings up some good points about the purposes of an HBCU, and I don’t at all doubt the points about chronic underfunding of HBCUs in general, I take umbrage at two lines in particular.
First, the article stated “They [HBCUs] provide students with black professors who actually care, and want them to succeed.”
The implication here is that I, as a non-African American faculty member, couldn’t possibly care about my African American students. I know that I, personally, do care about my students. One must judge the situation on a professor-by-professor, case-by-case, not by the color of his/her skin.
Second, the article stated “Sure, diversity will provide monetary resources, but is it worth our history?”
I find this extremely offensive. Is that what the “diverse” population on this campus represents to the Board, a “monetary resource?” We non-African American people are on this campus because we choose to be. No one dragged us here. I, personally, would like to be considered first a human resource.
We bring a broader horizon to campus. We come from many different backgrounds, communities, countries and sometimes speak different languages. We have different perspectives on life, but at the end of the day we are, just like African Americans, people, and we want to be treasured as such.
Universities will change gradually in demographics, sometimes in spite of government policies, sometimes because of.
To say that change is bad because it’s change promotes a conservative, intolerant attitude that can be very harmful to non-dominant populations here on campus. Remember, most non-African American people are here because they choose to be.
Dr. Mehl A. Penrose
Assistant Professor of Spanish