Georgia State Senator Proposes to Merge Historically Black Schools with White Majority Schools
Stuart Nachbar
February 17, 2009
Last week I read that a Georgia state senator has proposed that two Historically Black Colleges be merged with public institutions that are located in the same city.
State Senator Seth Harp, a Republican, and chair of the the legislative body's higher education committee is making his case partly based on economics--the state must close a $2.2 billion budget shortfall and cut higher education spending by eight percent--and because he believes that segregationist history has run its course for the two historically black schools in his proposal, Albany State University and Savannah State University.
Harp has proposed that Albany State be merged with Darton College, a two-year school and that Savannah State, be merged with Armstrong Atlantic University, a four-year school. Georgia has ten historically black schools, but only three are publicly supported, the two that are the subject of Harp's proposal and Fort Valley State, which is not.
It was also interesting to note that Albany State and Savannah State, according to the Regents of the University System of Georgia,have had enrollments on the upswing over the past ten years. Enrollment at Savannah State has increased 60 percent, while enrollment at Armstrong Atlantic has risen by 25 percent. So, while these schools might have financial issues, they still attract students.
Putting aside issues of race and history, which will spark their own heated debates, the primary considerations of a consolidation would be administration and athletics. Consolidating one school into another would mean that fewer senior and second-level administrators would be needed, although those with academic credentials could conceivably return to the faculty, so the savings could be less.
Consolidation also means that the combined school would not need two sets of athletic teams; there would be fewer athletic scholarships as well as coaching slots. Both of these schools play scholarship sports, so pain would be felt among the athletes. However, athletic departments pay the university for their scholarships; tax dollars do not subsidize athletes. So, the consolidated school have these choices: do without these students, find other students who do not need the aid, or make up the aid through other sources, including their own coffers.
Beyond the top level administration and sports, students would still have the same needs: courses, counseling, housing, security and so on. If the consolidated school is to remain attractive to prospective students, it will not become more attractive by providing fewer services, or by having a more crowded campus.
Harp's proposal for Albany State takes a different tack by proposing a merger with a two-year school. But not all two-year schools are run like four-year schools. And two-year school could either be a community college or the freshman-sophomore division of a university system. Their missions are not the same. And their missions, in a consolidated regional university would change too, though no one can predict how change will happen, or how much it might cost.
But Seth Harp does not have the final say over the future of these schools. That decision rests with the regents. They have a strategic plan to, among other things, provide for the enrollment of 100,000 additional students by the year 2020. That would mean, according to the regents, that there would need to be a 40 percent increase in the capacity of all of the system schools.
Somehow, I doubt that merging two schools, historically black or otherwise, would help increase capacity in the system. Further, one assumption that has been made is that enrollment growth will be greater among the students who would attend the less selective schools,including the three HBCUs.
This proposal appears to be political suicide. Georgia's electorate is 30 percent black, second only to Mississippi and 43 percent of the Peachtree State's voters are college-educated, according to NBC News analysts Chuck Todd and Sheldon Gawiser. Atlanta was the epicenter of the leadership of the civil rights movement in the last century, and the city is a leading center of black enterprise today. Savannah is also a black majority city, so local impact would be felt as well.
It is safe to assume that opposition to this proposal would be quite vocal,vocal enough to make or break a few political careers in the process. The smartest action that the Georgia legislature could take is to take Harp's proposal off the table.
Stuart Nachbar blogs on thought and fiction in education and politics at www.EducatedQuest.com
State Senator Seth Harp, a Republican, and chair of the the legislative body's higher education committee is making his case partly based on economics--the state must close a $2.2 billion budget shortfall and cut higher education spending by eight percent--and because he believes that segregationist history has run its course for the two historically black schools in his proposal, Albany State University and Savannah State University.
Harp has proposed that Albany State be merged with Darton College, a two-year school and that Savannah State, be merged with Armstrong Atlantic University, a four-year school. Georgia has ten historically black schools, but only three are publicly supported, the two that are the subject of Harp's proposal and Fort Valley State, which is not.
It was also interesting to note that Albany State and Savannah State, according to the Regents of the University System of Georgia,have had enrollments on the upswing over the past ten years. Enrollment at Savannah State has increased 60 percent, while enrollment at Armstrong Atlantic has risen by 25 percent. So, while these schools might have financial issues, they still attract students.
Putting aside issues of race and history, which will spark their own heated debates, the primary considerations of a consolidation would be administration and athletics. Consolidating one school into another would mean that fewer senior and second-level administrators would be needed, although those with academic credentials could conceivably return to the faculty, so the savings could be less.
Consolidation also means that the combined school would not need two sets of athletic teams; there would be fewer athletic scholarships as well as coaching slots. Both of these schools play scholarship sports, so pain would be felt among the athletes. However, athletic departments pay the university for their scholarships; tax dollars do not subsidize athletes. So, the consolidated school have these choices: do without these students, find other students who do not need the aid, or make up the aid through other sources, including their own coffers.
Beyond the top level administration and sports, students would still have the same needs: courses, counseling, housing, security and so on. If the consolidated school is to remain attractive to prospective students, it will not become more attractive by providing fewer services, or by having a more crowded campus.
Harp's proposal for Albany State takes a different tack by proposing a merger with a two-year school. But not all two-year schools are run like four-year schools. And two-year school could either be a community college or the freshman-sophomore division of a university system. Their missions are not the same. And their missions, in a consolidated regional university would change too, though no one can predict how change will happen, or how much it might cost.
But Seth Harp does not have the final say over the future of these schools. That decision rests with the regents. They have a strategic plan to, among other things, provide for the enrollment of 100,000 additional students by the year 2020. That would mean, according to the regents, that there would need to be a 40 percent increase in the capacity of all of the system schools.
Somehow, I doubt that merging two schools, historically black or otherwise, would help increase capacity in the system. Further, one assumption that has been made is that enrollment growth will be greater among the students who would attend the less selective schools,including the three HBCUs.
This proposal appears to be political suicide. Georgia's electorate is 30 percent black, second only to Mississippi and 43 percent of the Peachtree State's voters are college-educated, according to NBC News analysts Chuck Todd and Sheldon Gawiser. Atlanta was the epicenter of the leadership of the civil rights movement in the last century, and the city is a leading center of black enterprise today. Savannah is also a black majority city, so local impact would be felt as well.
It is safe to assume that opposition to this proposal would be quite vocal,vocal enough to make or break a few political careers in the process. The smartest action that the Georgia legislature could take is to take Harp's proposal off the table.
Stuart Nachbar blogs on thought and fiction in education and politics at www.EducatedQuest.com