Biden Administration Signals Support for HBCUs

The White House senior adviser Cedric Richmond has invited presidents of historically Black colleges to a teleconference on Friday, HBCU Digest reported. The United Negro College Fund’s senior vice president for public policy and government affairs, Lodriguez Murray, sent a note to college presidents encouraging them to join the conference, the group’s communications manager confirmed.

The news comes one day after President Biden made remarks at the White House about racial equity and alluded to better funding for HBCUs. “Just imagine how much more creative and innovative we’d be if this nation held the historically Black colleges and universities to the same opportunities,” Biden said, “and minority-serving institutions had the same funding and resources of public universities to compete for jobs in industries of the future.”

Advocates of historically Black colleges are hoping for a renaissance in their sector under the new administration, The Chronicle reported this week, especially since the new vice president, Kamala D. Harris, is a graduate of one — Howard University. They hope to see the Biden administration double the maximum Pell Grant and increase funding for research at HBCUs, among other priorities.