Black males in Louisiana and across America face daunting odds even before they are born.
About 28.5% of us can expect to serve jail or prison time.
That’s far too many.
One of the best paths forward is education, especially earning a college degree.
I’m all for older and younger Black men attending colleges and universities of their choice.
HBCUs are the best option for most Black students, including Black males, because they have a track record of producing more Black attorneys, doctors, engineers and tech professionals than predominantly White higher education institutions.
But the number of Black males enrolled at historically Black colleges and universities is declining, according to an August report issued by the American Institute for Boys and Men, a nonpartisan organization focused on boys, men and their well-being.
The report notes that the number of Black male students has declined at HBCUs for some time. Using data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS), AIBM highlights a problem that should concern us all.
“Black men account for only 26% of the students at historically Black colleges and universities, down from 38% in 1976,” the report summarizes in part. “HBCUs have long served as valuable institutions for Black students, offering a unique environment that fosters academic achievement, mental well-being, and economic mobility.”
HBCUs are more than a comfortable, safe environment for Black students. They are nurturing institutions where students are expected, and pushed, to succeed. However, as the report states, “the reduced presence of Black men means fewer are benefiting from the supportive environments that HBCUs provide to help students succeed during and after college.”
AIBM breaks down the data by institution. Other than single-sex-focused HBCUs like Morehouse College and Spelman College, smaller institutions have the highest Black male enrollments. That includes Arkansas Baptist College with a 66% Black male enrollment out of 497 students, and the Southwestern Christian College, which has a Black male population of 61% of its 88 students.
As Historically Black Colleges and Universities face Black male enrollment declines, Dillard University showed a Black male student population of 21 percent of its 1,224 enrollment in 2022, according to an August 2024 study by the American Institute for Boys and Men (AIBM). Here, DU has its first day of classes in New Orleans, Louisiana. Wednesday, Aug. 19, 2020. (Photo by Max Becherer, NOLA.com, The Times-Picayune | The New Orleans Advocate)
STAFF PHOTO BY MAX BECHERER
Some HBCUs have surprising histories because they are predominantly White. Bluefield State University is about 80% White. Only 9% of its 1,306 students are Black males.
Some well-known HBCUs with higher enrollments face challenges attracting and keeping Black male students, while others are staving off further declines in Black male enrollment.
Based on 2022 enrollments, some HBCUs with the highest enrollments and their Black male enrollment percentages include North Carolina A&T State University (13,487; 29% Black males); Howard University (12,886; 19%); St. Philip’s College, also a Hispanic-serving institution (12,663; 4%); Tennessee State University (9,218; 26%); Florida A&M University (9,215; 28%) and Morgan State University (9,101; 26%).
Closer to home, Dillard University in New Orleans, Grambling State University, Southern University and A&M College in Baton Rouge, Southern University at Shreveport, Southern University at New Orleans and Xavier University of Louisiana have a range of Black male enrollments.
Grambling State leads the Louisiana HBCU pack with Black males comprising 31% of its 5,058 students. Xavier trails all the others with only 17% Black male enrollment among 3,419 students.
SU Shreveport and SUBR have 28% Black male student populations and 3,154 and 8,226 total enrollments respectively. SUNO had 1,950 students and 23% Black male enrollment. Dillard came in with 21% Black male enrollment among its 1,224 students.
As of this fall, SUBR has 2,038 Black male undergraduate students and 186 Black male graduate students, according to the Southern University System. Last year those numbers were 1,926 and 194.
As Historically Black Colleges and Universities face a Black male enrollment decline, Grambling State University in Grambling, Lincoln Parish, Louisiana, had a Black male enrollment of 31 percent of its 5,058 students in 2022, according to a national research study issued in August 2024. (Photo by Billy Hathorn, via Wikimedia Commons)
Hampton University, my alma mater, had 3,286 students, of whom 32% were Black males. More impressive among HBCUs with enrollments larger than 2,000 are the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff with a 38% Black male student population among its 2,387 students, and South Carolina State University with Black males comprising 41% of its 2,649 students.
I can’t include the data for all HBCUs, but I encourage everyone to look at the AIBM research and consider how we can reverse the decline in Black male enrollment at HBCUs. Some of the decline may reflect how many Black males graduate from high school — and how many choose to pursue higher education. Some no doubt are attending community colleges.
Whatever the cause, HBCUs must work harder to recruit, attract, admit, retain and graduate Black males. But, the decline is not solely their responsibility. Community and technical colleges and predominantly White institutions should do likewise — and they should help HBCUs with Black male collaborations and transfer students. And K-12 schools play a significant role.
Lifting the futures of Black males in Louisiana and across America is a matter for us all.
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Publish date : 2024-09-20 05:00:00
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