11-Year-Old Elijah Precciely Just Started His Sophomore Year at Southern University

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Elijah Precciely, a home-schooled student who already had been taking classes at Southern University, has started full-time at the college this spring, according to WAFB. At this time he will have already published a book and submitted five patents for his inventions.

Elijah started building his own inventions at home at a young age before his mother, Pamela Precciely, a Southern University alumna, reached out to Dr. Diola Bagayoko, who is in the university’s Physic’s Department, about finding Elijah some lab space on the campus. Bagayoko encouraged Elijah to join his classes. Elijah went on to take biology, physics and business classes at Southern University.

When he graduates, he will just be learning to drive.

Elijah put a school cap on his head and a letterman jacket on over his shirt and bow tie before he academically signed with the university Friday at a meeting attended by his family and the school’s board of supervisors, according to The Advocate. 

By the time he was 5 years old, Elijah preached his first sermon and was a guest on WTQT 106.1 FM radio station, where he now has his own weekly show.

“It feels great,” Elijah told The Advocate. “I thank God that all my hard work and all the pouring (into me) did not go in vain.”

He will study physics and mechanical engineering through the honors college. When he was 8, he started taking biology, physics and business classes at the school, according to The Advocate.

He has also published a book, submitted five patents for inventions and hosts a weekly radio show, according to The Advocate.

Papa John’s Donates 500,000 to Bennett College

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GREENSBORO — Bennett College says it will get its largest-to-date donation from the foundation of a national pizza chain.

The college announced the $500,000 gift from The Papa John’s Foundation on Thursday morning.

Company CEO Steve Ritchie posted this on Twitter on Thursday:

In a news release, the company said it plans to support the college’s national fundraising efforts.

“With more than ten franchises in the Greensboro area and our renewed commitment to doing better in the communities we serve,” the company said in a statement, “partnering with Bennett College to raise funds to protect the college’s accreditation status was a natural alignment.”

A spokeswoman for the Louisville, Ky., pizza delivery chain said this is the first gift made by The Papa John’s Foundation, which will formally open in several weeks.

Papa John’s announced in August that it would start a charitable foundation to help communities after reports surfaced that company founder John Schnatter used racist language in a conference call with a marketing firm a month earlier. Schnatter resigned as board chairman shortly afterward, and the company took his image off of its advertising and packaging.

“We shared last year that the values that would drive the transformation of Papa John’s would be equity, fairness, respect and opportunity,” the company said in a statement. “We’re proud to support Bennett College, which not only shares these values but embodies them in their continual pursuit of inquiry, civic engagement, social justice, lifelong learning, and equity for all.”

Bennett is trying to raise more than $5 million by Feb. 1 in hopes of holding onto its accreditation. The college has raised about a third of that amount, according to its website.

The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges announced in December that it would revoke Bennett’s accreditation over concerns that the private woman’s college didn’t have sufficient financial resources.

Bennett has appealed that decision and remains accredited in the meantime. Colleges must be accredited to accept federal grants and federal student loans as payment for tuition, fees and other expenses.

Bennett’s plight has received statewide and national media attention. The college announced that President Phyllis Worthy Dawkins is scheduled to appear on PoliticsNation, the MSNBC show hosted by the Rev. Al Sharpton, at 5 p.m. Sunday.

TVGuide: Hey Hollywood, There Are Other Black Colleges Besides Howard University

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After Jordan Peele dropped the trailer for his new film Us on Christmas, some of the giddiest reactions were not a result of the movie itself, but the sight of star Winston Duke rocking a sweatshirt that said Howard on the front. Howard University, of course, is the famous historically black college whose accomplished alumni includes author Toni Morrison, This Is Us starSusan Kelechi Watson, and Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, among many others. Howard fans and alums rejoiced, bragging on social media about seeing their school represented in that way only Howard alums can. “But did your HBCU gear get worn in a horror film?” wrote one Twitter user. “No? That’s what I thought!”

But it’s not like Howard alums and fans are starved for representation. This Is Us painted Howard as a kind of Shangri-La for Randall (Sterling K. Brown), who lacked a connection to black culture at home. Howard was vaunted as a big deal on black-ish this season too, when Junior (Marcus Scribner) chose the university over the Ivy League school Stanford. (Not incidentally, Howard is also the school star Anthony Anderson and his fictional character Dre attended.) It’s even on reality TV: The Real Housewives of Atlanta star Cynthia Bailey dropped her daughter Noelle off at Howard in an episode that aired in December. It seems like any time a black kid on TV or film goes to an HBCU these days, he or she is headed to Howard.

It makes sense. Howard has earned its legendary status by nurturing some of the most accomplished minds of the day by being a school of choice for rich kids, working-class students and international pupils alike. It’s also notable for its epic homecoming weekends, during which hip-hop royalty like one-time student Diddy and rapper Jay-Z have partied. Meanwhile, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Howard graduate and current California senator Kamala Harris spoke on campus after announcing she’s running for president in 2020. At this point, Howard has become so frequently named-dropped in mainstream culture, particularly as African Americans gain more exposure in TV and film, that it’s perhaps starting to overshadow a truth many may not know: there are a lot of other HBCUs — 101 others, to be exact — besides Howard.

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Morehouse College Receives $1.5 Million From Billionaire Robert F. Smith

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Founder and CEO of Vista Equity and black billionaire, Robert F. Smith donated $1.5 million to Morehouse College, according to a statement released by the school.

A million dollars of the money will go toward creating the Robert Frederick Smith Scholars Program. The remainder will be used to the design and creation of a park that will serve as a new outdoor study area for students.

“Robert F. Smith’s donation of $1 million for student scholarships will have a profound impact on the lives of deserving young men who have the desire to attend Morehouse College, but lack the resources,” said Morehouse President David A. Thomas in the released statement. “We appreciate his generosity and his investment in a generation of students who will follow in his footsteps as global leaders and entrepreneurs.”

Smith is the founder, chairman, and chief executive of Vista Equity Partners. His company is No. 1  on the BE100s (Black Enterprise’s annual list of the most successful black-owned companies) Private Equity list with $14 billion in capital under management.

He was also named to the Forbes 400—the magazine’s annual list of the 400 richest Americans.

Heralded as a private equity titan and Wall Street wiz, Smith started his early life out as a computer geek and even interned at Bell Labs. Although he worked in the STEM field for some time after earning a degree in chemical engineering from Cornell, the financial world beckoned. He attended Columbia Business School and ended up at Goldman Sachs. He served as the co-chief of the investment banking division.

After Goldman Sachs’ IPO, Smith founded Vista Equity Partners in 2000, investing in technology companies. In 2013, Black Enterprise named the firm BE100s Financial Services Company of the Year and Smith as one of the Most Powerful Blacks on Wall Street. Smith made a shrewd move in acquiring Sunquest Information Systems Inc. for a relative bargain price of $327 million–$200 million in equity and $127 million in debt.

In a recent transaction, a Vista Equity-acquired company, Marketo, was sold to Adobe for $4.7 billion. The acquisition was just one of many acquisitions made by Smith, who compiled mass wealth by buying companies in the technology space.

As per the Morehouse press release:

Smith is the largest private donor to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.

Recently, Smith also donated $560,000 to purchase land for and build a park in Southwest Atlanta. The new park will be adjacent to the Ray Charles Performing Arts Center on the campus of Morehouse College. The College will engage students and alumni in the design and naming of the park.

Smith is a 2018 recipient of Morehouse College’s most prestigious award for community service. He received a Candle Award in Business and Philanthropy at the College’s 2018 “A Candle in the Dark” Gala, which benefits student scholarships.

Smith is the chairman of the Carnegie Hall Board of Trustees, and chairman of the board of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. He is also the founding director and president of the Fund II Foundation, which is dedicated to safeguarding human rights, the environment, and sustaining critical American values.

HBCU Grad, Dr. Wes Bellamy New Book Monumental Talks Riots in Virginia

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When HBCU graduates step up to the forefront, the world takes notice. This has been the case for Charlottesville, Virginia city councilman and HBCU graduate (South Carolina State and Virginia State) Dr. Wes Bellamy. Dr. Bellamy is not only the youngest elected official in the history of Charlottesville, Virginia and professor at both Virginia State University and Virginia Union University, he is now the author of his new book, Monumental: It Was Never About a Statue.  

Many of us remember Dr. Bellamy for being one of the leaders to remove the Confederate Statue of Robert E. Lee in Charlottesville, which many say led to the deadly White Supremacist riot in 2017, in which one person was killed, and several others severely injured. 

Dr. Bellamy has now written a new memoir book about his experience about the backstory about what it was like to help push a city to the forefront of the nation in the fight against White Supremacy. Bellamy, who is currently on a multi-city book tour, opened up about how he and his family dealt with and still deal with weekly death threats, how his therapist encouraged him to write this book, and his love for Charlottesville at a recent book talk.

Dr. Bellamy writes, “They came with torches, they came with swords and shields, they came with guns. They came with signs that called me the N-Word. Months earlier, they tried to take my livelihood, break down my family, and send us all a message. It was clear THIS was deeper than a statue. My city was in the midst of a change that the world would see. Yet to me, it was also personal. It would become a fight that almost cost me everything, but at the same time, that fight provided me with a sense of purpose I had never known before. No matter what I did or how I was going to do it, I knew that my job was to make every moment of this fight matter –not just for me and my family, but for all who were standing alongside me, and for the generations will follow us.”
 
CNN Correspondent and Political Commentator Symone Sanders said of Monumental: It Was Never About a Statue, “Dr. Bellamy’s book tells an illuminating story that is both education and profound.” The book has been well received thus far, and will be featured in the prestigious Virginia Festival of the Book on March 20, 2019!  

Dr. Wes Bellamy, Author of “Monumental: It Was Never About a Statue” is a City Councilman in Charlottesville, Virginia, Political Science Professor at Virginia State University, and one of the Global thought leaders of the Millennial Generation. He is the youngest individual ever elected to the Charlottesville City Council post, and he came into the national spotlight after helping to lead the effort to remove statues of Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson from City Parks.
 
He developed a comprehensive plan, the “Equity Package,” which included nearly $4 million in aid for marginalized communities, and pushed it through city council. He is the founder of the Black Millennial Political Convention, a Convention focused on bringing together African American millennials from across the country to collectively use their power to create change. He has been featured in the New York Times. Washington Post, USA Today, Huffington Post, and has made appearances, on CNN, MSNBC, PBS News Hour, NPR, and On One with Angela Rye.

Community Roots Project Displays HBCUs Fruitfully

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The “Community Roots” mural is a part of the @wonderRoot sponsored, Off The Wall mural project, where the theme is: Atlanta’s Civil Rights Legacy, and Social Justice, said Muhammad Yungai

My mural is about the appreciation of HBCU’s, and urban agriculture.  Where these two entities meet, is that they’re both great for the community, they’re both undervalued, and college students of the AUC does a lot of volunteer work at the “collegetown” urban farm on Lawton St. in Atlanta.

Urban Agriculture teaches horticulture to inner-city folk, and fosters neighborhood engagement. They also donate food to the community so, the college volunteers are essential to its success. 

I spent 10 years teaching art in Atlanta, and every year we received students from Morehouse, Spelman, and Clark who would come regularly and tutor our middle school students! 

When ‘out-of-towners’ or natives, attend HBCU’s, they tend to become an integral part of the community surrounding the school. I know this is true of Morehouse, Spelman, Clark, and Morris Brown! I know this is true of Tuskegee and Howard University! They engage with the community…and essentially make it home.

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Kamala Harris Likely To Announce Run for President

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SAN DIEGO – It appears Senator, Howard University Alum Kamala Harris will seek the 2020 Democratic nomination for president, CBS reported Thursday.

CBS reported sources saying Harris will announce her candidacy on or around Martin Luther King Jr. Day in late January. The source told CBS the announcement will most likely be made at a campaign rally in Harris’ hometown of Oakland.

Harris, 54, has recently been making the rounds on talk shows and events to promote her new book.

In her new memoir, “The Truths We Hold,” Harris described her anger watching her mother become a target because she was “brown-skinned” and how that has driven her efforts to enhance the legal and humanitarian protections over immigrants coming into the US.

Harris said she was blessed with a nurturing, happy, healthy childhood, but has been dismayed by Trump’s vilification of immigrants.

During an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper Wednesday, Harris said she would make a decision soon and she believes the country is ready for a woman of color as president.

“We have to give the American people more credit, and we have to understand that the American public and the people of our country are smart people, who will make decisions about who will be their leader, based on who they believe is capable, who they believe has an honest desire to lead, to represent, to see them, to be a voice for them even if they have no power,” Harris said. “Those are the kinds of people who we are as a country. And so the pundits can talk all day, and all night, and there’s a lot of chatter about which demographic will do this or that. It has been my life’s experience that the American people are smart and they make decisions about what’s in the best interest of their household, their family and their community. And I have faith that in 2020, and in any other election, that will be their motivation when they vote.”

But she argued that the American people deserve better leadership than they are seeing under President Donald Trump.

The former California attorney general also expressed regret that she was not informed by her staff that her former top aide in that previous office was accused of gender harassment, a lawsuit that the attorney general’s office settled for nearly $400,000 after she had moved on to the US Senate.

One-Stop Clinic At NCCU Takes Holistic Approach to Wellness

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North Carolina Central University’s College of Behavioral and Social Sciences has embarked on a creative collaboration to make it easier for members of the university community and their neighbors to live all-around healthier lives.

The one-stop Behavioral Health & Wellness Clinic on the second floor of the Miller-Morgan Building is based on a model of integrated health care, considered the most effective way to achieve overall good health, said Seronda Robinson, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Public Health Education and co-director of the clinic.

“By providing an integrated health model, we focus on the whole person and bring the various disciplines together to achieve optimal health,” says Dr. Robinson.

“The center offers basic cardiovascular health exams, along with assessments for sports injuries, fitness capabilities, dietary needs and mental-health screenings.”

To identify learning issues such as dyslexia or attention deficit disorder, psycho-educational evaluations are offered to students who are referred to the clinic by Student Accessibility Services.

In addition to offering this wide palette of services, the wellness clinic also benefits NC Central students by providing opportunities for hands-on training in human sciences/dietetics, physical education, psychology, public health education, social work and nursing. All students are supervised by licensed faculty from the appropriate departments.

“I switched from nursing to public health education because I decided I’d rather prevent people from getting sick than treating them for illness,” said Tiffaney Spruill, a junior from Raleigh. “Working in the clinic gives me an opportunity to do that by educating patients about their health.”

Graduate students in the Department of Psychology provide psycho-educational evaluations, as well as behavioral, personality, and cognitive assessments. Students who are identified as needing ongoing care are referred to NCCU’s Student Health and Counseling Center, but counseling services for non-students may be provided on-site, as needed.

Graduate students in social work provide the initial assessment for new clients at the clinic, evaluating their overall social, mental, and physical health.

“Our services are available to students, faculty, staff and the community at large,” said Sherry Eaton, Ph.D., chair of the Department of Psychology and clinic co-director.

By opening its services to neighboring residents, clinic leaders also address the problem of health disparities.

A 2017 National Center for Health Statistics report shows that blacks have the highest rate of hypertension among all ethnic groups. The center also reports that both blacks and Hispanics have higher rates of obesity than whites; however, members of both minority groups are more likely to be uninsured. The picture is the same regarding diabetes.

The Behavioral Health & Wellness Clinic is committed to serving clients on a fee-for-service basis so that costs remain affordable for all income groups.

“We are in the heart of the community, so many can walk to their appointments,” Dr. Eaton said. “This is the population that NCCU is a part of, and so we believe it is important that we are able to provide for this population, whom we know are often underserved.”

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HBCU Grad, Leonard breaks Colts Franchise Record For Tackles In A Season

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Former S.C. State University standout and current Indianapolis Colts linebacker Darius Leonard has added another milestone to his historic rookie season following Sunday’s game against the Tennessee Titans.

Recording six tackles during the first half of the game, Leonard broke the franchise record for tackles in a single season (160), a standard which was previously held by linebacker Jeff Herod set in 1991.

Before even playing Sunday night, Leonard was the NFL’s leader in both combined tackles and solo tackles. He’s also added seven sacks, four forced fumbles and one interception during his rookie season.

Despite the immense production leading the NFL for the majority of the season, Leonard was snubbed as a Pro Bowl invite. He was listed as an alternate, which means there’s a good chance he makes it by the time the game comes around.

Norfolk State Alumna Brehanna Daniels To Compete On NBC’s “Titan Games”

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NORFOLK, Va. – As a Norfolk State University student, Brehanna Daniels majored in mass communications and had designs on a career in entertainment.

Daniels, who played basketball at NSU from 2014-16, will take another step in that direction as a contestant on Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson’s NBC reality physical competition series “The Titan Games,” which premieres Thursday at 8 p.m. ET.Daniels

“The Titan Games” features everyday people from across the country competing in a series of endurance-based mental and physical challenges, similar to the old show “The American Gladiators.” If successful, competitors will become a member of the group of “Titans,” who will have to defend their title every week against new competitors in order to remain in the group and have a shot at a $100,000 grand prize.

Fame, and competition, isn’t new to Daniels. For the last three years, she has worked as a tire changer on pit crews at various levels of professional auto racing. In July, she became the first African-American female to work on a pit crew for a race in NASCAR’s Cup series, the sport’s top level.

VUU Joe Taylor Elected to College Football Hall of Fame

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Virginia Union University Athletic Director Joe Taylor, has been selected for induction into the College Football Hall of Fame.

“This is an extremely humbling experience,” said Taylor, who has been the Athletic Director at VUU since 2013. “This is the result of not just myself, but of many people. It really shows that hard work does not go unnoticed.”

The announcement of the 2019 Class was made live on on Monday, January 7, on ESPN’s “SportsCenter” from Santa Clara, California, the site of the College Football Playoff (CFP) National Championship.

Taylor’s induction will take place during the 62nd NFF Annual Awards Dinner on December 10, 2019, at the New York Hilton Midtown.

2019 COLLEGE FOOTBALL HALL OF FAME CLASS

PLAYERS:
TERRELL BUCKLEY – DB, Florida State (1989-91)
RICKEY DIXON – DB, Oklahoma (1984-87)
LONDON FLETCHER – LB, John Carroll [OH] (1995-97)
JACOB GREEN – DL, Texas A&M (1977-79)
TORRY HOLT – WR, North Carolina State (1995-98)
RAGHIB ISMAIL – KR/WR, Notre Dame (1988-90)
DARREN McFADDEN – RB, Arkansas (2005-07)
JAKE PLUMMER – QB, Arizona State (1993-96)
TROY POLAMALU – DB, Southern California (1999-2002)
JOE THOMAS – OL, Wisconsin (2003-06)
LORENZO WHITE – RB, Michigan State (1984-87)
PATRICK WILLIS – LB, Mississippi (2003-06)
VINCE YOUNG – QB, Texas (2003-05)

The all-time winningest coach in Hampton history, Taylor compiled an impressive 233 wins overall during his standout 30-year career. His remarkable 70.6 winning percentage ranks in the top 10 in FCS coaching history.

After one season as the head coach at Howard, Taylor took over the program at Virginia Union, where he won 60 games in eight seasons. His best season with the Panthers was in 1986 when he guided the team to the CIAA title, an 11-1 record and a trip to the NCAA Division II Playoffs. Taylor also guided Virginia Union to the playoffs during a 10-2 season in 1990 and an 8-3 season in 1991.

Taylor shined during his tenure as Hampton’s head coach from 1992-2007, posting a school record 136 wins while leading the Pirates to four SBN Black College National Championships. Hampton played at the NCAA Division II level his first three seasons, earning two Division II playoff appearances, including the school’s first-ever NCAA playoff win. Taylor guided the Pirates to CIAA titles in all three of those seasons and the first of his four Black College National Championships in 1994. After moving to the FCS in 1995, his Hampton teams would win three more Black College National Championships and five MEAC titles while making five FCS Playoff appearances. The four-time MEAC Coach of the Year owns eight of the top 10 winningest seasons in Pirate history, including the top six. Taylor also guided Hampton to a win in the 1999 Heritage Bowl over Southern, and he coached three NFF National Scholar-Athletes during his time at the school: Timothy Benson (1993), Malcolm Benson (1995) and Michael Bland (2000).

Taylor concluded his stellar coaching career at Florida A&M from 2008-12, where he became the first coach in school history to win 25 games in his first three seasons. Arguably, his best season with the Rattlers came in 2010 when the team went 8-3 and claimed a share of the MEAC title.

At the time of his retirement, Taylor’s 233 career wins were tied for the third most among coaches at historically black colleges and universities. Over his entire 30-year career, he coached 68 First Team All-Americans, 142 first team all-conference players and one First Team Academic All-American.

A former president of the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Taylor also served on the FCS All-American Selection Committee and the advisory board of the Black Coaches Association. He has received lifetime achievement awards from the AFCA/FCA and the All-American Football Foundation, and he is enshrined in the Virginia Union Athletics, Western Illinois Athletics, CIAA and MEAC halls of fame.

A graduate of Western Illinois University, Taylor played offensive line for the Leathernecks under College Football Hall of Fame Coach Darrell Mudra. He began his coaching career as an assistant at Howard D. Woodson High School in his hometown of Washington, D.C., from 1972-77. Before his first head-coaching job, Taylor also served as an assistant coach at Eastern Illinois (where he helped earn the 1978 NCAA Division II national title), Virginia Union and Howard. Since December 2013, he has served as the athletics director at Virginia Union.

These HBCU Grads Are 2019 NFL Playoffs Bound

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Tarik Cohen – NCAT – Chicago Bears

Tarik North Carolina A&T University grad became the first NFL rookie to record a rushing, receiving, passing and punt return touchdown since Gale Sayers in 1965 … his 53 receptions in 2017 were the third most for a rookie in franchise history. 

Darius Leonard – South Carolina State – Indianapolis Colts

Leonard attended South Carolina State and was drafted in the second round of the 2018 NFL Draft! Darius Leonard #53 LB 6-2 234 R South Carolina State

Grover Stewart – Albany State – Indianapolis Colts

Selected by the Colts in the fourth round (144th overall) of the 2017 NFL Draft. Recorded 141 tackles over his four-year collegiate career.

Chester Rogers – Grambling State – Indianapolis Colts

Chester Rogers is an American football wide receiver for the Indianapolis Colts of the National Football League. He played college football at Grambling State and signed with the Colts as an undrafted free agent in 2016

Anthony Lanier – AAMU – Los Angeles Chargers

Anthony Lanier II is an American football defensive end for the Los Angeles Chargers of the National Football League. He played college football at Alabama A&M, and was signed by the Washington Redskins as an undrafted free agent in 2016.

Trenton Scott – Grambling State – Los Angeles Chargers

Played four seasons (2013, ’15-17) at Grambling State after redshirting in 2014. Allowed just three sacks in his collegiate career. As a senior in 2017, posted 39 pancake blocks and no sacks en route to earning first-team All-Southwestern Athletic Conference recognition.

Anthony Levine – Tennessee State – Baltimore Ravens

“He’s been amazing for us – one of the best defenders we’ve had playing this year,” Weddle added. Levine’s says he’s not playing any better than before; it’s just about being put in the right position. “Everything is just lining up,” he said.

DeLance Turner – Alcorn State – Baltimore Ravens

Watch RB De’Lance Turner making the most of his opportunity with this 65-yard TOUCHDOWN.

KhaDarel Hodge – Prairie View – Los Angeles Rams

Signed by the Rams as an undrafted rookie free agent (7/24/18). Began his collegiate career playing quarterback at Alcorn State as a freshman in 2013

Terron Armstead – UAPB – New Orleans Saints

=American football offensive tackle for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Saints in the third round of the 2013 NFL Draft. He played college football at Arkansas–Pine Bluff.

Michael Ola – Hampton – New Orleans Saints

American football offensive tackle for the New Orleans Saintsof the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Hampton University

Maryland HBCU Case Back iS In Mediation

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A three-judge panel on Wednesday ordered Maryland and its historically black universities into mediation to try to resolve a long-running lawsuit over program duplication and segregation, warning failure to settle likely means years of costly and divisive litigation hurting higher education in the state.

Although both sides in the dispute presented their arguments well, neither “has a realistic appreciation of the strengths and weaknesses of their respective claims and contentions,” according to a three-page order from the panel of judges for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.

“The Court is of the firm conviction that this case can and should be settled,” the order says. “Otherwise, the parties will likely condemn themselves to endless years of acrimonious, divisive and expensive litigation that will only work to the detriment of higher education in Maryland.”

Supporters of the historically black institutions backed the decision Thursday, saying they have been committed to negotiating in good faith.

“Given the legal gravity of this case, the ruling by the Fourth Circuit reaffirms our long-standing commitment to mediate in good faith and fairness with the State,” said David Burton, president of the Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education, one of the case’s plaintiffs, in a statement. “We trust that Maryland will now do the same.”

The HBCU supporters believe they drew a relatively conservative panel of three judges that nonetheless didn’t rule in the state’s favor. That, they hope, will signal to the state that it needs to take a different approach going forward.

“They’re kind of running out of courts,” said Jon M. Greenbaum, chief counsel at the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which argued the HBCU supporters’ case last month along with the law firm Kirkland & Ellis. “Our hope is that maybe this will create a change in tenor.”

Of course, the court didn’t rule in the plaintiff’s favor, either. Greenbaum acknowledged that judges had harsh words for both sides.

“We have to consistently evaluate what the realistic settlement is going to be under the circumstances,” Greenbaum said in a telephone interview Thursday. “But it’s never been to a point where it’s even been close.”

Several Maryland entities and government offices are involved in the lawsuit. A spokeswoman for the Maryland Office of the Attorney General declined comment Thursday. A spokeswoman for the state’s governor, Larry Hogan, said the state is interested in reaching an agreement.

“As our administration has throughout this case, we reached out to the plaintiffs and their supporters in an effort to resolve this matter prior to the 4th Circuit ruling,” said the spokeswoman in an email. “We remain interested in reaching an agreement that will conclude the case in a way that is fair and equitable for Maryland’s college students.”

Hogan offered as much as $100 million over 10 years to historically black universities last year. That was more than double the amount offered earlier in the case, but HBCU backers argued that the offer didn’t address what they see as a history of predominantly white institutions duplicating programs that were successful at HBCUs, undercutting the historically black institutions.

Others on the state’s side noted past rulings in their favor. The University System of Maryland is committed to a mission of excellence and inclusion, and historically black universities play an important, valued role in that mission, a system spokesman said in an email. He went on to reference past rulings, including rulings that rejected controversial proposals.

“The trial court found that the State was equitably funding its historically black institutions’ operations and facilities, and that the historically black institutions were not limited in their missions in comparison to non-historically black institutions,” he said. “The trial court also rejected the Coalition’s proposed remedies of transferring academic programs among campuses, merging two institutions, and dramatically reducing the size and role of another institution.”

Mediation is to conclude by April 30. The appeals court ordered the mediator to report progress every 30 days, to the extent allowed by confidentiality rules.

The new order represents yet another step in a case that has dragged on for over a dozen years. In 2006, a group of historically black college and university supporters sued the state of Maryland, alleging violations of the Civil Rights Act and the equal protection clause of the Constitution. The case centered around the question of whether Maryland had caused segregation at historically black universities by allowing their successful programs to be duplicated by traditionally white institutions. Under that line of thinking, unnecessary duplication would effectively prevent the historically black institutions from enrolling diverse student bodies.

U.S. District Court Judge Catherine C. Blake found in 2013 that the state could not justify effects of segregation from unnecessary program duplication. The parties went into mediation, failed to agree and submitted competing proposals in 2015. Blake went on to order the appointment of a “special master” in 2017 to create a remedial plan and monitor it under court supervision.

The plan would have created new unique or in-demand programs at the historically black institutions. It also would have provided them with additional funding for efforts like marketing, recruitment and financial aid.

The Fourth Circuit stayed the district court’s orders Wednesday. During oral arguments, Fourth Circuit Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson III voiced skepticism about adding a layer of bureaucracy by appointing a special master, The Daily Record reported.

Also at oral arguments, Judge Stephanie D. Thacker indicated the record doesn’t show the state to be working with the plaintiffs after Blake’s ruling. She asked what assurance the court would have that the state would come to the table if the Fourth Circuit reversed the district court.

“It seems like the state didn’t really come to the table on the remedy issue, well, at all or much,” she said, according to The Daily Record. A lawyer for the state said it would come to the table if liability was affirmed, the newspaper reported.

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What It Means To Study Food At Historically Black Colleges

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By Dr. Ashanté Reese, Spelman Professor //I stare at a photo of seven women. They are presumably Spelman College students, tilling the soil of the Oval, the green space around Giles Hall, the historic building that houses my office. The Spelman archivist dates the photo in the 1890s. The women’s eyes concentrate on the ground. They aren’t smiling. No one recorded their names.

Clad in long skirts, armed with farming tools, the unidentified women grew food as part of their education well before food studies had a name or structure. In this period, it was not uncommon for women’s academic training to include homemaking skills, including growing food. My work as an interdisciplinary professor in anthropology and food studies is part of a long legacy.

I joined the Spelman faculty in 2015 to help build a food studies program that other faculty had been developing for years. I teach black women about food access inequalities, urban agriculture, and the role of race in the food system. What we know as food studies did not exist when Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) were founded in the mid-1800s. The role of food in curriculum and campus life, however, was firmly in place. The women in the photo grew food for their own consumption and were likely involved in managing the Spelman College Dairy.

Spelman was not the first HBCU to connect food and academic inquiry. HBCUs and other black educational institutions were beacons in the midst of legally enforced white supremacy and segregation. To provide for the campus and build community, students, especially those attending Southern HBCUs, were expected to show industrial and practical skills alongside their academic training. In other ways, the academic and practical training that students received proved to their white counterparts that they deserved full citizenship. Perhaps the best-known example of this is Tuskegee University in Tuskegee, Alabama, founded by Booker T. Washington in 1881—the same year Spelman College was founded.

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Alabama State Becomes 1st HBCU to Lead Rose Bowl Parade

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History was made at the 130th annual Rose Parade when Alabama State University became the first Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) to lead the parade.

Nationally acclaimed, the Mighty Marching Hornets, led by Dr. James B. Oliver, is one of two HBCU marching bands appearing in the 2019 Tournament of Roses Parade in Pasadena, California. The other is the Florida Agriculture & Mechanical University Marching 100. Both bands join 18 other marching bands at the parade.

One of the world’s most popular parades, the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Parade is seen by more than 70 million people in over 150 countries.

“I’m telling everybody, you have to catch the parade from the beginning, said band director, Dr. James Oliver, “otherwise you are going to miss the best band there is”.

In most cases, interested prospects, which also include floats and equestrian units, apply to participate and anxiously await a response from the parade selection committee. Not in the case of ASU.

“The president of the Tournament of Roses, the first African-American president (Gerald Freeny), reached out and asked if we’d apply,” Marching Band Director James Oliver said. “It’s a historic time, to have the very first African-American president of the Tournament of Roses, and it’s going to go down in history for ASU to have participated in the parade.”

Oliver called the trip a “dream come true. This is a big after Christmas present for these guys and they are excited they are really excited” he said about his band members.

Thousands of spectators lined the parade route but Oliver and the group also made several other special performances including a stop at a nursing home for seniors that aren’t able to attend the parade. That’s all a part of nearly a week of “unforgettable experiences” Oliver said, that would not be possible without the outpouring of community support.

“It’s not easy to raise $300- or $400,000 to make this trip so it means a lot to our university but it represents so much because we’re representing the state of Alabama and we’re also representing the city of Montgomery,” he said.

Jussie Smollett Fights To Save Bennett College

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There are several historically Black colleges and universities across the country that have experienced financial woes, and celebrities are stepping up to save them. After learning that Bennett College—an all-women HBCU—was on the brink of losing its accreditation, actors Jussie Smollett and his brother Jake Smollett stepped in to help the institution, Essence reported.

According to the news outlet, the school—which was founded in 1873 and became a women’s institution in 1926—needs to raise $5 million by February 2019 to stay afloat. The Smolletts took it upon themselves to use their platforms to spread awareness about what’s happening at Bennett College and motivate individuals to pitch in and help save the school. Jussie posted a photo of both him and his brother donning shirts that read “Stand With Bennett” accompanied with a caption that read “In the 1930s we had 121 #HBCUs now we’re at 101. Don’t let us be down to 100 if #BennettCollege, who has made the education of black women a priority since 1926, closes its doors.”

Bennett College President Dr. Phyllis Worthy Dawkins hopes that they can raise enough money to not only save the college from closing but keep the college’s doors open so that they can continue to educate, empower, and inspire leaders for generations to come. “We look forward to working with partners who understand that their investment supports the education of deserving young women whose potential is only limited by the opportunities we give them,” said Dawkins in a statement, according to the news outlet. “Our challenge is great. Our time is short. Our resolve is mighty.”

The Smolletts aren’t the only celebrities who are showing their support for HBCUs and their students. Beyoncé generously donated thousands of dollars to fund scholarships for HBCU students. Most recently, the cast of “A Different World” presented a $100,000 check from Ford to Southwestern Christian College in Texas.