On Wednesday, Spelman College officials announced a new scholarship opportunity.
They have created scholarships for two self-identified lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and questioning/queer students as well as a companion lecture series to explore contemporary issues of race, gender, and sexuality.
Titled the Levi Watkins Jr. Scholars Program, its purpose is a wake-up call in addition to a well-deserved accolade. It "will call attention to the importance of making visible the courageous and significant work of LGBTQ scholar activists within and beyond the academy, especially at HBCUs,” Spelman professor Beverly Guy-Sheftall stated about the program in a news release.
The scholarship is named in honor of Guy-Sheftall’s cousin who was a member of the Women’s Research and Resource Center’s National Advisory Board from its establishment in 2008 until his death in 2015. He also implanted the first automatic heart defibrillator in a patient and was instrumental in recruiting minority students to the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.
The students will be awarded renewable $25,000 scholarships. The recipients will be named this fall.
Guy-Sheftall, who is the founder of the Spelman Women's Research and Resource Center, launched the scholar's program and lecture series in May with a pledge of $100,000.
Spelman President Mary Schmidt Campbell believes that this gift "will present new opportunities for a critical conversation on race and sexuality with distinguished scholars and thought leaders, and provide a platform to recognize campus LGBTQ advocates and their scholarly achievements."
This is huge, especially for an HBCU where subjects of sexuality can often time be taboo even though LGBTQ students are definitely there. This could mean a lot for the institution, HBCUs in general, and how they treat their LGBTQ students.
For more information about the Levi Watkins Jr. Scholarship, visit here.
What do you all think? Is Spelman paving the way for HBCUs with their scholarship program, or do you think it's unnecessary? Let us know in the comments below.
