Diminished resources and poor leadership have brought Howard University to the brink of an existential crisis, according to a letter the vice chairwoman of the university’s Board of Trustees sent to her colleagues on April 24.
In the letter, which was obtained by The Chronicle, Renee Higginbotham-Brooks paints a dire picture of the historically black institution’s future.
“I can no longer sit quietly, notwithstanding my personal preference to avoid confrontation, and therefore, I am compelled to step forward to announce that our beloved university is in genuine trouble and ‘time is of the essence,’” Ms. Higginbotham-Brooks wrote. “Howard will not be here in three years if we don’t make some crucial decisions now.”
Ms. Higginbotham-Brooks goes on to criticize the “lackluster job performance” of Sidney A. Ribeau, the university’s president, and blasts Addison Barry Rand, the board’s chairman, for believing he can “operate as though this university is his own personal corporation.”
The letter calls for an emergency meeting to consider a vote of no confidence in both Mr. Ribeau and Mr. Rand. (No such meeting has taken place).
The chairman and president were not immediately made available for interviews on Thursday, but Mr. Rand provided a statement.
“Spirited debate and discourse are part of the culture of higher education,” he said. “The board and the university’s leadership team continue to work tirelessly to address many of the tough issues facing colleges and universities like Howard.”
Mr. Rand went on to praise the university’s continuing growth and competitiveness, noting new construction, historic board-passage rates in the health sciences, and a high concentration of black faculty members with Ph.D.'s.
Reached by phone on Thursday, Ms. Higginbotham-Brooks said she had “no comment.”
In her letter, Ms. Higginbotham-Brooks ticks off a number of challenges for the university. She cites enrollment declines, a weak fund-raising infrastructure, and the prospect of diminished federal appropriations. Additionally, she calls the university’s hospital a “serious drain on the budget” and suggests it may need to be sold.
Many of the nation’s 105 historically black colleges and universities struggle financially, and Ms. Higginbotham-Brooks’s letter connects that problem with the fact that black students now have far more educational options.
“The rationale for the university’s existence,” she wrote, “is expected to be challenged since African-American students can attend any college or university today.”
Just 12 percent of black students enroll in historically black colleges, although the institutions award 30 percent of baccalaureate degrees earned by all black students.
Ms. Higginbotham-Brooks, a lawyer in Fort Worth, earned a bachelor’s degree from Howard. She has been a board member since 1997, and vice chairwoman since 2005.
Kerry-Ann Hamilton, a spokeswoman for the university, said she could not comment on how the board may have responded to Ms. Higginbotham-Brooks’s letter. She acknowledged difficulties associated with the economic downturn, but cited the university’s efforts to cut costs and rein in tuition as signs of overall financial health.
“As a result of fiscal discipline, Howard’s finances are stable and its budget and cash flow are actively managed,” she said in an e-mail.
Chairman Is Criticized
The event that appears to have prompted Ms. Higginbotham-Brooks’s letter happened at an April 20 board meeting, when she said the trustees tried to “marginalize” her position by spreading the vice chair’s duties across two people.
“I was never consulted or advised of the bifurcation of my position as vice chair until one minute before I walked into the boardroom on Saturday,” she said. “I was shocked, truly offended, and extremely disappointed with this underhanded tactic, which is inconsistent with the manner in which we do business as a board.”
In his statement, Mr. Rand described the creation of two vice chairs as an “emerging trend” in higher education. The board voted to create the dual positions so that one trustee could focus on fund raising and another on “administrative matters,” Mr. Rand said.
Mr. Rand did not address the vice chairwoman’s grievances about being blindsided by the vote.
Stacey J. Mobley, a member of the board, said on Thursday that it made sense to create a second position to handle the board’s heavy workload. “I have no idea where she’s coming from,” he said.
Ms. Higginbotham-Brooks’s letter also alludes to a “personal relationship” between the president and board chairman, which she describes as problematic.
“We have ignored one impropriety after another, beginning with the personal relationship between the president and the chairman,” she wrote. “After five years, we know their partnership has not served us well.”
Mr. Rand, the chairman, was once married to Mr. Ribeau’s sister, but the marriage ended decades ago. When the board voted to approve Mr. Ribeau’s appointment, in 2008, Mr. Rand recused himself.
Asked about the vice chairwoman’s critique of the president, Mr. Mobley said, “Everybody has their views.”
“There is always room for improvement,” he said. “I don’t know one college president today whose performance could not be improved.”
The Chronicle attempted to reach several other members of the board, but they either did not reply or declined to comment.
Hospital Woes
During his tenure at Howard, Mr. Ribeau has overseen major changes at the institution. In 2011 the university cut or restructured 71 of its 171 undergraduate, graduate, and professional programs, citing a desire to strengthen what administrators described as growth areas.
The board had contemplated cutting even more programs, but preserved some after drawing criticism from scholars across the nation.
There is little disputing that Howard University Hospital presents challenges for the university. In 2010 Moody’s Investors Service downgraded the university’s bond rating a notch to A3, which is still considered a low credit risk. Moody’s also saddled Howard with a “negative” outlook, which remains in place.
At the time of the latest Moody’s report, in 2011, the university relied on the hospital for 32 percent of its operating revenue and drew another 27 percent from federal sources, the agency reported. Howard University wholly owns its hospital, unlike the hospitals at Georgetown University and George Washington University, two other large private universities in Washington.
“The reason they don’t own their hospitals is because the hospital business sucks,” Mr. Mobley said.
Ms. Hamilton, the university’s spokeswoman, said in her e-mail on Thursday that Howard’s hospital “is addressing cost and demand challenges of health care through increased quality, cost reductions, innovative approaches, and partnerships with health-care networks, hospitals, and clinical-care providers.”
Ms. Higginbotham-Brooks closed her letter with a call to action for her colleagues.
“The future of this university is at stake, and there comes a time when each of us will have to stand for what is right and just,” she wrote. “I hope you will stand with me now.”
