When news circulated that presidents of esteemed HBCUs would be meeting up with the 45th president, many were instantly turned off. Seeing images of black men and women, cheerful and optimistic in nature, surrounding a man who has been under public scrutiny since taking office was nothing short of a literal facepalm. Now, one college president is opening up about his experience that day and its egregious aftermath. 

John Wilson Jr., president of Morehouse College in Atlanta, GA, penned a letter to his institution highlighting the two days he visited the White House. Wilson was very honest, citing that he and the other hundreds of HBCU leaders were very hopeful that this visit wouldn't be in vain. Concerns would be tackled head on, elevating the value of HBCUs on a national and fiscal level. However, that wasn't the case. For a lack of better terminology, he felt completely duped. 

"There was much advance chatter about it being 'historic,' and there were many signals from key Trump administration officials that they would surprise HBCUs with favorable treatment. Given my experience in the Obama administration, I knew this would require an extraordinary announcement…since President Trump pledged to “do more for HBCUs than any other president has done before.”

The letter continued to criticize the most recent executive order, which didn't do much for HBCUs other than putting any decision regarding them in the hands of the White House instead of the Department of Justice. There was even a bit of a shady history lesson directed at Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos which, let's be clear, is always necessary. "But HBCUs were not created because the 4 million newly freed blacks were unhappy with the choices they had. They were created because they had no choices at all."

The fruitless result of the meeting only gives fuel to the fire that is the devaluing of historically-black colleges and universities. Underfunded and misunderstood, these institutions require more from their government and quite frankly, they deserve it. Under the Obama Administration, over $3 million in funding was dedicated to HBCUs and prioritized them within the Department of Education; that action alone was met with an incredible amount of praise and support.

Wilson concluded with, "In general, the meetings were a troubling beginning to what must be a productive relationship."

We hate to say "we told you so" but …

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