From the New York Times, Hard Times at Howard U.
By CHARLAYNE HUNTER-GAULTFEB. 4, 2014
MANY FAMILIAR with the Howard situation, as well as with other troubled H.B.C.U.’s — five have closed their doors in the past 20 years — insist that what is critical for getting back on track is understanding that “new occasions teach new duties,” in the words of James Russell Lowell.
Within 50 years, people of color will be the American majority. The associate director of the White House Initiative on H.B.C.U.’s, Meldon Hollis, shared with me estimates showing that by 2060 the population under 18 is expected to be 38 percent Hispanic, 33 percent white and 15 percent black. “And that,” he said, “is a demographic tidal wave that not only affects white schools but black schools, too.”
Already, two historically black colleges are now predominantly white — West Virginia State and Bluefield State, also in West Virginia — and one, St. Philip’s College in San Antonio, is predominantly Hispanic.