Thread: Black college president: Trump admin meetings were ‘troubling’

Black college president: Trump admin meetings were ‘troubling’

By Max Greenwood - 03/03/17 09:43 PM EST

The president of one of the country’s oldest historically black colleges called a series of meetings with Trump administration officials this week “troubling” and said they ultimately failed to live up to expectations.

“In general, the meetings were a troubling beginning to what must be a productive relationship,” Morehouse College President John Wilson Jr. said in a statement to the school’s students on Wednesday, highlighted by the Huffington Post.

The meetings, which took place on Monday and Tuesday, brought dozens of representatives from the country’s historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) to Washington to meet with senior administration officials.

The trip, Wilson wrote, was supposed to be “historic" and a step in fulfilling President Trump’s pledge that he would “do more for HBCUs than any other president has done before.” There was anticipation among the representatives that the president would set aside additional funding for HBCUs or potentially create new tax incentives for private sector donors to the schools, Wilson said.

“But, instead of the long-awaited executive order containing or signaling any of those outcomes, the key change is a symbolic shift of the White House HBCU Initiative from the Department of Education to the White House,” he said in the statement.

Trump’s executive order moves the Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities from the Department of Education to the White House’s executive office. It directs the initiative to work with the private sector to boost HBCUs, improve infrastructure, provide job opportunities for students, and work with high schools to improve access to the colleges.

Wilson also blasted comments by Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, in which she called HBCUs “real pioneers when it comes to school choice” – an education policy advocated by DeVos.

HBCUs, Wilson said, did not develop out of a desire for greater school choice, but rather because many African Americans were not permitted to attend other schools.

“HBCUs were not created because the 4 million newly freed blacks were unhappy with the choices they had,” he said. “They were created because they had no choices at all. That is not just a very important distinction, it is profoundly important.”

DeVos later walked back her comment.

But Wilson did not disparage the Education secretary and said that she should not be “diminished or dismissed” for her remark.

“From listening to her carefully for the last two days, I get the strong sense that she wants to get this job right,” he said.


http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefi...were-troubling

Gee, two days of meetings with the White House and Trump Administration on HCBU's and you call it "troubling" and barely write 2 full paragraphs?? This is an historic initiative, Trump and Devos really want to get this right, there was much to report on with activities spanning 2 days so this is a key objective of the Trump Administration, yet this is all the coverage it gets?? Very disappointing coverage, but at least you covered it.

This will be one of those many many Republican initiatives for black Americans that does down buried deep in some archive that no one on the street including black Americans ever knew about, but for those who looked.

Thank you President Donald J Trump for following through on your many many plans to help black Americans. Can't wait until Ben Carson gets started at HUD!!! Saw that he was confirmed the other night.

Congratulations, Secretary Carson and we thank you so much for devoting yourself to this important agency. I know there were other things you wanted to do at this point in your life, and those of us who know the sacrifice, really really appreciate your decision to serve our country in this capacity. There's no glamour to this job, very little fun, you'll see things and learn things that will disgust you and disappoint you and make you sick to your stomach in these housing projects. HUD is an evil disgusting mess. I know you'll do a great job cleaning it up, getting it straight and using this important funding to make real difference in the communities, especially the inner cities where it was designed to serve.

This individual and the others were given an opportunity to speak directly with the President, someone who genuinely wants to do positive things for education. He also wants to reach out to minority communities to hear from them and to learn about their problems and needs.

What is "troubling" is this man's criticism.

I agree GeorgiaPeach. The Trump Administration worked really hard to arrange 2 full days of meetings and events to establish means and ways of helping these colleges and universities and more importantly the students and high schools kids who would like to attend an HCBU school. I thought taking it out of Dept. of Education and making it a White House Initiative was excellent because that ensures top priority Trump attention to the mission.

I think the President of Morehouse was looking for money instead of results and was disappointed that Trump is pursuing additional funds through the private sector rather than government. I think Trump's plan will produce both more and better results. I don't think a special tax credit for HCBU's or additional government funding were viable options.