Examining the Significance of Historically Black Colleges and Universities and Their Inclusive Climate

• In Event: Exploring Issues of Diversity Within Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Abstract

Building on their historic legacy of delivering exceptional educational opportunities to popu-lations excluded from access to higher education, many historically Black colleges and universi-ties (HBCUs) are moving proactively to advance efforts to grow diversity on their campuses and ensure inclusive spaces for individuals from all cultural backgrounds. Indeed, HBCUs have al-ways been open to individuals of all races, yet more recent and intentional shifts in policy and practice regarding the centrality of diversity work within the mission of these institutions signals the potential for new paradigms of understanding. While emerging research at HBCUs has ex-plored topics such as the experiences of White students (Carter & Fountaine 2010; Closson & Henry 2008; Strayhorn, 2010), student engagement (Harper, Carini, Bridges, & Hayek, 2004; Sutton & Kimbrough, 2001), student-faculty interaction (Harper, 2004), graduate school aspira-tions (Pascarella, Wolniak, Pierson, & Flowers, 2004), African American male achievement (Palmer & Gasman, 2008; Palmer & Strayhorn, 2008; Kimbrough & Harper, 2006) , relevance (Exkano, 2013; Minor, 2008), recruitment of non-Black students at HBCUs (Mutakabbir 2011), and the possibility for engaged racial identity work and cross-cultural understanding at HBCUs (McMickens 2012), the matter of how HBCU institutions frame and administer this work in di-versity and inclusion has received little attention. Drawing from Gasman's (2012) article in The Chronicle of Higher Education, HBCUs need to do a better job of telling their stories; therefore, this book seeks to bring greater attention to the unique realities and dynamics involved in creat-ing, implementing, and sustaining comprehensive diversity agendas at HBCUs.
One of the questions circulating around HBCUs is their relevancy in a post-Brown v. Board of Education society. In the midst of an increasingly diverse world, the ability to serve today’s Millennials is a call for concern for educators and practitioners. Colleges and universities are watching trends in U. S. Census Bureau demographic data, which reveal an increasingly diverse population. For example, according to U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Edu-cational Statistics (2012) projections, African American, Hispanic, and Asian American popula-tions are expected to grow rapidly over the next few decades. In fact, those populations will comprise approximately 50% of the total U.S. population by the year 2050. As a result, greater attention must be paid to the ways in which institutions respond meaningfully to create inclusive spaces as well as culturally meaningful educational experiences.
Given the growth of diverse issues impacting HBCUs, it is important that these institu-tions of higher education critically examine their efforts and have access to scholarship that ad-vances best practices. Educational scholars have not thoroughly investigated the intersection of diversity and HBCUs. This text is designed to offer an overview of theories and approaches for better understanding of diversity work that exists within these historic institutions. To ensure rel-evance to the unique context of HBCUs, critical analysis of the origin, nature and scope of ideo-logical positions within diversity, equity and inclusion work will be provided.

Authors

• Ted Nicholas Ingram, Bronx Community College - CUNY

• Derek Greenfield

• Adriel Adon Hilton, Grambling State University

• Joelle Davis Carter, The George Washington University