Update! HBCUs: Not A Different World Project

are you an HBCU student maybe a parent faculty admin staff ever been then this update is for you I mix what I like what I like what I like what I like I what's up World welcome back to I mix what I like so I have a little bit of an update on my longitude exploration into the experiences of folks at historically black colleges and universities hbcus where of course I've been working for now going into my 18th plus year at Morgan State University in Baltimore but I have an update that might even encourage a slight shift in the final form of this project but first I want to make sure you all know what the project is or reminded of the project and if you qualify and are interested I definitely want to hear from you so the short of it is when you go to imix withi like.org or you simply go to the link in the show description here uh in the main menu at the website under catalog you'll see a link to this project here HBCU not a different world where you will be invited and encouraged to participate based on your uh experience and relationship to these institutions and for me this starts with with again my own personal experience a lot of which demonstrates many of the flaws many of the problems many of the conflicts between what people think about these institutions what they think they understand about the histories of HBCU and the actual realities particularly for faculty particularly for faculty of a certain politics but as I've I as I've talked about as often as I can sort of my quintessential experience or story is summarized in the statement that I got here quoted verbatim from a former highlevel administrator with whom I was in a long discussion about many problems that I was experiencing others were experiencing and this was the response Dr ball your problem is that you want to create new knowledge we don't do that here your job is to produce menial laborers for the communications industry end quote so from there and given many more years now in my 18 year at Morgan State University having seen experienced firsthand so many different often negative occurrences I wanted to do this project to eventually in some form which may be changing tell not only my story but those of others whose stories get erased and usually subsumed beneath waves of way and waves of propaganda and mythology promoted about HBCU in particular and higher education more broadly so if you would just you you can finish reading at your leisure the rest of the description of the project but ultimately I'm just inviting those who have been students faculty staff admin to share their story and send me a simple email with HBCU project in the subject answering these or responding to these basic questions about your experience and then telling me even specifically I'm asking also to what extent the show a different World played a role in encouraging you to work attend support HBCU a point to which I'm going to come back in a little bit because again what I'm arguing is that HBCU are not a different world despite their promotion and the mythology targeting black communities suggesting that they are and should be now I mentioned a little while ago that I had been asked to blurb to write a blurb for a new book a forthcoming book uh on its way to being published it is just about to come out and the author and I are scheduling an interview so you'll be hearing from uh him and more about this book in in in the not do this in future but I did just want to share this by way uh as a way of an update that the book Black not historically black uh subtitled toward the pan black college and university by Joseph L Jones is on on its way and uh I'm very excited about the book and the project and very excited about getting a chance to talk with with Professor Jones uh but in the interim I did just want to share something here in terms of this that that I think maybe heading actually be imposing an update on on on me in that I'm honored and excited that my blurb made the book and is reprinted here but in the description it says something that I thought was pretty interesting that uh I had not necessarily intended in but but uh may have conveyed and maybe pointing me in in a different direction for the final project so my point with the with the HBCU not a different world project was that I wasn't I'm still not entirely sure what the final project will look like will it be uh a long form edited podcast will it be uh an actual book uh would it be or would it be more as what is described here as being and apparently I told them it would be as a memoir so what I said in the blurb is that few institutions in Black communities are less understood than those deemed historically black colleges and universities HBCU are popularly promoted as existing to serve black communities but despite their inability to do so criticism of that fact is blunted by the very reality of their being labeled historically black Joseph Jones has produced in this work far more than an important history or description of his and others experiences Dr Jones has provided here a tool even a methodology for demystification and the establishment of new interpretation analysis and corrective action Jones contribution to the historiography of the HBCU must have its value met by Collective action toward developing new approaches and indeed new institutions that will in fact live up to the fantasies generated and imposed about the HBCU and much else involving black life and history and in the description of who I am they describe me as as working on not a different world a historically black college and university Memoir yeah over over here behind me it says Memoir so maybe that's in fact what this will turn into But ultimately it requires and I hope to get much more of perhaps your involvement I'd like to hear more from other people's experiences as will be I will be incorporating some that are described in this book for sure but I would like to hear more from you as well and just a little bit from within Joseph Jones new book again we're going to be hosting a a long form discussion with him about the book don't worry but just for the immediate purposes of of really promoting and highlighting this project I'm working on and hoping you know to hear more from you on and to be spurned on to finally a conclusion at some point uh spurred on that is to a a conclusion at some point part of the project is to identify the differences or the distinctions or the contradictions between what is promoted as as the HBCU experience and the actual lived experience and one of the reasons or one of the areas of exploration that I one of the areas I want to explore in that at least somewhat is the extent to which the television show a different world and perhaps some others I mentioned [ __ ] Le's school days as just one other example but as Jones starts off here like most high school students I knew very little of black colleges outside of what I saw in the sitcom a different world so quite serendipitously he starts off this way as do a number of other articles that I've been looking at that we'll come back to at some point but essentially the point is that obviously is a spin-off of The Cosby show at a time uh when Cosby and that show were at the height of their popularity in the late 80s early 90s you have the the spin-off created as a vehicle for Lisa Bonet that takes a life of its own and a different world became its own phenomena particularly among black and other television audiences suggesting an experience that most who would have any thought of going to college certainly and some who wouldn't would want to experience but as Jones says here and again we're going to get to it in our conversation in much more detail as the book has so much more to it when my parents dropped me off on campus in 1995 the desolate appearance of the college made me seriously reconsider enrolling because it did not match the picture of Hilman College the fictitious College depicted in not in in a different world or University of Alabama P Pine Bluffs uh is I is I think one he's talking about here and whether for those of us at Morgan certainly Howard probably Spelman and morous some of the bigger HBCU this is less of an issue certainly in Morgan State now where there's so much construction that this is almost hardly the case except for some of the older buildings some are still residing in or having to deal with but for a lot of HBCU this is more or less the case and even where the where the artifice is Recon instructed in a certain way to make the campus more beautified the insides the inner workings certainly the resources allotted to faculty for instance I mix what I like what I like what I like I like I pale in comparison pun intended to some of the distribution we would see at pwi or that we should see in an institution that is nominally there to function for an already a grieved Community also by the way again please forgive the fact that I'm working off of A draft copy that I got of the book I will be getting my full copy as soon as it's available and we will be working from that once we uh start moving towards the interview with professor Jones and encouraging you to get but this was sent to me so I could uh uh construct the the blurb but uh and I just couldn't put it down so to speak despite it being a virtual digital copy but again we're going to get more into it when we have the interview but for our purposes here just Just In This Moment what he shows here is as he points out that the condition of most private and some public historically black colleges is in the first couple of decades in the 21st century is in constant Peril and this is something that I have have struggled with a lot and continue to struggle with yes obviously black people are oppressed Community yes HBCU are in constant Peril financially resource-wise all all kinds of problems and yet what bothers me the most is something that he does talk about that I I look forward to talking about more when we have the interview and that is certainly an impetus behind my wanting to do not a different world as a project Beyond just wanting to get off my chest the experiences I've endured personally but that as he points out to here today and he himself as he talks about was a president of an HBCU today many HBCU employee presidents who practice Mis leadership and express little interest in providing leadership that will lead their institutions towards any liberating goal so yes there's already a structural disadvantage to Black life and black institution building but the complicity of the leadership the misleadership is is a a perennial problem but only a problem when we fail to understand beyond the mythology and the narrative construction what these institutions are here to do they're not here to be liberating spaces so in that regard the presidents are not engaged in any form of misleadership and I'll certainly want to ask Jones about this when we when we when we build that given their mission the actual mission of these institutions there's nothing wrong with what the presidents are doing as he says here presidents at these institutions are most often chosen for their autocratic conservative respectable charismatic and missionary demeanors which perpetuate the dysfunctional culture and dependency mindset again a point to which we'll return the development here is the idea of a pan black college and university that would have such leadership at its Helm that is dedicated completely to transforming the college into a place that Embraces Justice welcomes criticism Fosters academic freedom and is completely devoted to a student and employee success so again we're going to come back to this more then this is not what I want to focus on here because this is part of the challenge that I think faces not only HBCU but us more broadly speaking but I just just did want to quickly introduce and summarize what this book is going to be arguing for and set seeks to set up as distinct from what is happening now and that's really the point I want to drive home in this moment that these are not institutions currently arranged to develop a pan-africanism a radical Blackness a liberatory set of ideas and frames of analysis and interpretation Etc and so forth they're not here to do that but what I do want to draw some attention to before closing in this video and encouraging again people to participate in this project inviting you to is that this is what what the project is meant to to to focus on and clarify and and give some Voice to my own our own some forced complicity some go willingly some are happy to do it others of us feel a certain level of of manipulation but as he says here as I mentioned in my preface I'm not above the same criticism I Levy against black colleges I practice the art of misleadership as an administrator by not respecting the very people I led or the institution I served as a junior scholar I could admit that I miseducated some of my students by not taking the time to update my test and lecture notes yearly I added to the dysfunction of several institutions by gossiping and disregarding protocols and policies to serve my interest at one point I told prospective students not to attend my almaa because I did not trust the administration or faculty I have supported philanthropy based programs knowing that it would have no bearing on educating our students so that we can get money to pay for to pay the bills I have ridiculed students about how they speak and dress in my classrooms I am guilty of being in rooms where unjust decisions were rendered to employees and students and allowed them to unfold to protect the institution that one I I can't say maybe protect the institution but I have absolutely I have been have been guilty of that I'm not allowed in any rooms like that anymore so I don't have to worry about this this contradiction at this point but the reality is over time over the years I have felt I can't I can't wage this fight right now I won't be effective in this fight right now I don't have the energy emotionally or physically or otherwise to have this fight right now and I've let certain things go knowing that they would have either a negative impact or that they were unjust decisions as it related to other employees or students now I was never an administrator never a president and never allowed to exercise my rank and seniority as a faculty member but the reality is I could have always made more of a fuss than I did these certain instances not always I could have in these certain instances in many others I did raise enough of a fuss that you know whatever but I just I just acknowledge that that that we are we are given every opportunity in these institutions to fail what whatever our perceived if if we have a perceived if if our perceived Mission goes beyond what these institutions are find acceptable overall it is impossible to work at an HBCU and not succumb to the culture at some point or another the lesson I learned over the years is that all of my actions were the antithesis of Blackness not acting black so yet again we will have more of a discussion of that book when it comes out and when we schedule the time with the author but I just wanted to to sort of give an update as it relates to this project and what may change the direction of the final version of this project maybe push it more towards Memoir and also to use this moment to encourage more participation in the not a different world project the link to which is in the show description one last thing to bring up as it relates to this is somebody is is is work I've talked about here before we've done interviews and panels with the author he's a former colleague of mine at Morgan State who unfortunately had to leave Morgan State to not only complete this great book we're going to talk here a little bit about and maybe get him back on to do a better interview because the original interview had some technical difficulties didn't really work too well but I think speaks to again why I'm doing this not a different World project and why I'm yet again inviting some more participation even as I'm taking my time with this as I'm calling it longitudinal study so the book by Dr galani favors my former colleague at Morgan State University is again titled shelter in a time of storm how black colleges Foster generations of leadership and activism and throughout the book but also here in the epilogue he raises a couple points that I just want to quickly point to that that speak to why I'm doing this project again Beyond own personal experience one of which is again he mentions here as as comes up often in in literature about the HBCU of a certain generation is he's asking the epilogue it's a different world the rise of the hip-hop generation and the corruption of the black college communitas as he as he says here he sat glued to his television set immersed in an episode of a different world uh again the offshoot of The Cosby Show which as a young person encouraged his engagement with HBCU his eventual working with me uh not that he writes about this of the book but what eventually led to him being a colleague of mine for a time at Morgan State University but also as he points out in this epilogue a point that I'm speaking to in my own project I'm calling it not a different world what he's saying when he says it is a different world that it's not the it's not the world we see in the show a different world what we see in a different world is is it is a different world from it's a different world in other words I'm saying the HBCU is not the different space that it claims to be and he's saying it's not what the TV show used to say it was and for the sake of brevity to summarize his summary as to why it is a different world in his language or why it is not a different world and mine favor says there are three that is three reasons why it's not a different world for him as the TV show and it it's not a different world for me as a a world that is the TV show first he says these critically important institutions had to reckon with the challenges of integration so he points to the fact that after integration became legal in this country a lot of black students found acceptance were invited to chose to move to pwi for as he says here Greener pastors which led in some cases to brain drain a black brain drain of both students athletes and faculty as well secondly the curriculum itself faed that is the curriculum at HBCU and he goes through the history and uh of of that curriculum and of those early the the the official curriculum the social curriculum he does all of this it's a great book he says secondly the curriculum itself faced serious challenges the promise of corporate and STEM Science technology engineering and Mathematics jobs which offered a higher earning potential after graduation caused many to steer clear of the humanities potential activists were less and less likely to take the traditional courses that had the potential to politicize them message and then lastly years of historic underfunding exacerbated the the base these institutions internal struggles marring relationships between trustee board members administrators faculty students and thus created a public relations nightmare that effectively weakened the brand of HBCU and prevented a new generation of potential students and faculty from considering matriculation my bias my experience my focus is on this second Point more than any after the 1960s and70s as he details in this book The Shift of funding to HBCU in particular targeted stem REM uh distracted and and and and discouraged Humanities so and anything that would lead to a radical critical Consciousness the black college communitas was not completely broken but the privileging of stem Fields would further undermine the intellectual foundations of black militancy the idealism race Consciousness and cultural nationalism that Define the second curriculum again the the genealogy he traces earlier in the book had fed the freedom dreams of black college students for Generations it was powered by faculty who operated out of departments and programs that stimulated critical thought students in turn link those ideas with messages that they received from visiting speakers returning alumni and sometimes administrators themselves following the climax of the Civil Rights Movement however those departments were increasingly marginalized almost every major Financial investment coming into HBCU was being funneled toward the hard Sciences social science programs and Humanities departments languished after a brief bump in the beginning of the 1970s enrollment in the humanity suffered a precipitous dip toward the end of the decade and Flatline for almost nearly for the for almost the next 40 years with negligible gains and today we're seeing many of the aftermath effects of that and it is wreaking havoc on the faculty experience for sure and the the and definitely the radical potential for students themselves to be realized but I'll wrap here today with the way favors ends his book by referencing stokeley carmichel or Kwame teray who speaking at North Carolina &t March 21st 1971 in honor of the 11th anniversary the sharpeville massacre in South Africa Carmichael powerfully declared you are black students your people are in trouble you have an obl ation to your people your obligation is as students to use your analytical Minds for the development of your people not for yourselves that's a [ __ ] concept it is you who must analyze the problems you are the students you have the analytical Minds the farmers and The Peasants and the sharecroppers cannot do that the Breadwinners of the families cannot do that but you have the opportunity and you have the tools at your disposal in the terms of in the terms of the books and the library it is your duty to study it is your duty to use your minds for the benefit of your people to analyze the problems that we pose and to give us the correct solution that is your duty what other purpose do you serve and that dear friends colleagues comrades and enemies is the Crux of the problem one that my experiences come crashing up against one I see students experiences coming crashing up against and one that unfortunately quame ter is no longer here to help us interpret and correct that is the shift that favers TR traces in his book The One the shift that Jones traces in his book and the one that I will hope to describe in whatever forthcoming version of this project evolves is the shift that targeted what Carmichael or kwam teray was speaking to at that moment that targeted the black student at particularly HBCU for a negation of any potentially radical or radicalizing experience and after that fact is established the cascading precipitate precipitating trickle down abuses encourage projects such as not a different world so thanks for checking this out if you qualify if you're interested please consider reviewing the not a different world project HBCU project in the show description and submitting a response and along with everyone else please like share subscribe become a members of this Channel and thanks for tuning in as always peace only if you're willing to fight for it as Fred Hampton used to say and I'll catch you next time here at I mix what I like what I like I like I I