It’s a curious feature of America’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that they rarely have any diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) administrators or policies on their campuses, beyond what federal law requires.
Howard University, for instance, the alma mater of Vice President Kamala Harris, has no central administrator dedicated to DEI, and its student affairs programming aims to help the disabled and LGBTQ students. Neither Jackson State nor Grambling State, two famous HBCUs, have DEI plans or central administrators. North Carolina’s four public HBCUs also have very little DEI presence on campus. Much the same is true of Texas’s HBCUs, none of which has DEI deans at the college level and almost none of which has DEI in its college strategic plans. Tennessee State has less DEI than any four-year university in the Volunteer State. One could go on.
The lack of DEI at HBCUs may seem surprising in light of what we are commonly told about the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Diversity, we are told, means “the presence of differences in a different setting.” Differences of race, gender, religion, and so on “enrich our workplace” and make for a great national strength—in fact, our greatest strength, per President Biden. Equity, we are informed, is about providing all people with opportunities to grow, as is demonstrated when an institution “looks like America” by mirroring its demographics. Inclusion, it is said, involves “welcoming all people regardless of race, ethnicity, sex” and so on, by showing that “everyone is valued, respected and able to reach their full potential.”
Of course, HBCUs hardly “look like America.” At least 75 percent of students at these schools are black (at some HBCUs, the numbers exceed 90 percent), though only 13 percent of Americans are. Only 8 percent of students at HBCUs are white, 2 percent are Latino, and 1 percent are Asian—figures well out of proportion to their percentage in the population at large. Much the same is true of faculty. Nationwide, HBCU faculty is 56 percent black, but only 2.5 percent Hispanic, 0.7 percent indigenous, and 24 percent white—again, well out of proportion with their presence in the population at large. Furthermore, HBCUs are more female-dominated than campuses across the country. More than two-thirds of all degrees at HBCUs are conferred on female students.
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Howard University, for instance, the alma mater of Vice President Kamala Harris, has no central administrator dedicated to DEI, and its student affairs programming aims to help the disabled and LGBTQ students. Neither Jackson State nor Grambling State, two famous HBCUs, have DEI plans or central administrators. North Carolina’s four public HBCUs also have very little DEI presence on campus. Much the same is true of Texas’s HBCUs, none of which has DEI deans at the college level and almost none of which has DEI in its college strategic plans. Tennessee State has less DEI than any four-year university in the Volunteer State. One could go on.
The lack of DEI at HBCUs may seem surprising in light of what we are commonly told about the values of diversity, equity, and inclusion. Diversity, we are told, means “the presence of differences in a different setting.” Differences of race, gender, religion, and so on “enrich our workplace” and make for a great national strength—in fact, our greatest strength, per President Biden. Equity, we are informed, is about providing all people with opportunities to grow, as is demonstrated when an institution “looks like America” by mirroring its demographics. Inclusion, it is said, involves “welcoming all people regardless of race, ethnicity, sex” and so on, by showing that “everyone is valued, respected and able to reach their full potential.”
Of course, HBCUs hardly “look like America.” At least 75 percent of students at these schools are black (at some HBCUs, the numbers exceed 90 percent), though only 13 percent of Americans are. Only 8 percent of students at HBCUs are white, 2 percent are Latino, and 1 percent are Asian—figures well out of proportion to their percentage in the population at large. Much the same is true of faculty. Nationwide, HBCU faculty is 56 percent black, but only 2.5 percent Hispanic, 0.7 percent indigenous, and 24 percent white—again, well out of proportion with their presence in the population at large. Furthermore, HBCUs are more female-dominated than campuses across the country. More than two-thirds of all degrees at HBCUs are conferred on female students.
Where’s the DEI at the HBCUs?
The lack of diversity policies at Historically Black Colleges and Universities makes clear that the concept means something other than its public definition.
www.city-journal.org
