When NPHC decided to name
their greek week, "A Different World," after the famed Cosby Show
spin-off about the HBCU experience that ultimately inspired millions of
Black children to attend college, it was no surprise
that the Mary Lou Williams Center (MLWC) saw a golden opportunity to
inspire, educate and reflect. NPHC week takes place on the same week
Duke faces Durham's only historically Black University, North Carolina
Central University (NCCU), in football. While
there has always been a strong connection and history between Duke and
NCCU, particularly in the sports, NPHC's programming ultimately opens
the door for other considerations beyond this mighty sports tradition.
We know for sure that NCCU's NPHC community
helped to jumpstart Duke's Black greek community. Too, quite a few of
NCCU's students have studied at Duke, like Rev. Dr. William Barber...and
quite a few Dukies have studied at NCCU, including our beloved Dean Sue
Wasiolek. But what more do Duke students,
and Black Duke students in particular know about the HBCU experience?
For members of NPHC, all
roads lead to Howard University, as it is a critical place in the
development of the Black Greek Letter Organization Movement. However,
for most Duke Black students, HBCUs are often seen as
a caveat in the landscape of higher education. And given class, race
and prestige politics, some Black students (and administrators/faculty)
might even see these schools as lesser than their own Duke experience,
choosing only to engage (minimally) socially,
and instead remain aloof to the critical intellectual, historical, and
institutional legacies of HBCUs.
For the MLWC, we recognize
the validity, magnitude, and beauty of an HBCU education...and its
indelible fingerprint on the Higher Education landscape. For us,
invariably as a cultural center, we see HBCUs as having
a rich and vibrant cultural tradition that seeks to be one of the
mechanisms for educating their constituent communities. Historically,
HBCUs gave us students, who were the first to integrate places like
Duke. Educationally, most Black teachers (of a certain
age) trained in the US were developed at HBCUs...so in our life times,
if we have been taught by Black teachers, they were probably trained at
HBCUs. In our families, HBCU alums represent, in the main, our
personal advocates of excellence in education. Lastly,
the HBCU model of education, informs other culturally Black models of
education around the world where indigenous populations have faced
inequity in systems of apartheid.
So why should students at
Duke have a thoughtful understanding of HBCUs even as they race to
professions in Law, Medicine and Business? Well, for one, without them,
we could not be beneficiaries of a Duke education!
Too many of their fingerprints create the space we now inhabit. At
Duke, many HBCU alumni serve as resources and leaders. From the
esteemed Dr. Karla Holloway to the daring Dr. Paula McClain to the
beloved Linda Capers, HBCU alumni make an indelible
impact upon the Duke brand. Secondly, we continue to be in a place where
many Black PWI alumni are leading (and have led) HBCUs. Our very own
Michael J. Sorrell, leads Paul Quinn College currently! Thirdly, and
probably most importantly, HBCUs continue to
provide educational opportunity for a wider array of students (than most
prestigious PWIs are willing to accommodate). It is this point that
the MLWC would emphasize as an ongoing social justice effort by HBCUs.
And, as we embark on a journey to examine Black
philanthropy, we believe that supporting HBCUs could be one easy way to
ensure that the doors of education will always be available to anyone
who seeks to access it.
Moreover, this week's
programming in the MLWC seeks to examine how "A Different World"
poignantly addresses intra-racial conflicts. And while we will be
helping students consider how Hillman (the ficticious school
of "A Different World") and Duke are both alike and different, we
ultimately seek to help our students engage the HBCU experience even
though they did not choose it. We recognize that a current Duke student
could be the next HBCU college president, philanthropist,
and/or graduate/professional alumni. At the same time, maybe a
grandmother, father, friend, boss or future coworker is an alumnus of
one of those institutions. In this case, we seek to remind our students
that an HBCU education is a beautiful stepping stone
to success!
Join us all week long for programming around the HBCU through screenings and conversations about "A Different World."
