It may be that a diversity, equity and inclusion strategy that is confined within an institution is inadequate to address past wrongs or to create the conditions necessary for a more equitable future. The State Must Provide makes a strong argument that colleges and universities that have disproportionately benefited from public funding and philanthropic dollars have an obligation toward their HBCU counterparts.

HBCUs have historically received far less federal and state support than then their non-HBCU counterparts. Harris traces the historical roots of state and federal neglect of HBCUs. Private HBCUs are more tuition-dependent than their non-HBCU counterparts.Public and private HBCUs have experienced dramatic declines in federal funding per full-time student equivalent since the early 2000s.(At least as of this writing, Howard University's endowment is just over $700 million.) Over 100 universities in the US have endowments of over $1 billion.Due to funding constraints, HBCUs spend one-third less per student than the average college or university.Some data points of the structural disadvantages faced by HBCUs include: The second story that Harris tells in The State Must Provide is the degree to which HBCUs must do more with less and the deep historical roots of systemic public underinvestment of these institutions. Half of all Black faculty at non-HBCU research universities earned attended an HBCU as an undergraduate student.Three-quarters of all African Americans with doctorate degrees earned their undergraduate degree from an HBCU.Seventy-five percent of Black officers in the armed forces, and 80 percent of all African American federal judges, earned their undergraduate degree from an HBCU.

Twenty-five percent of Black STEM graduates come from HBCUs.

Seventeen percent of bachelor's degrees awarded to African Americans are from an HBCU.

The first story is about the oversize impact that HBCUs have in creating economic opportunities.Ĭonsider these statistics about the success of HBCUs as engines of opportunity: Harris, a staff writer for The Atlantic, tells two stories in The State Must Provide. There are about 100 historically Black colleges and universities in the U.S., educating approximately 300,000 students. The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal - and How to Set Them Right by Adam HarrisĪdam Harris’s new book, The State Must Provide: Why America’s Colleges Have Always Been Unequal - and How to Set Them Right, should be on every educator's 'must-read' list.ĭollar for dollar, the most impactful institutions across higher education may just be HBCUs.

The State Must Provide by Adam Harris