higher education
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Colleges Promised to Hire More Black Professors, but So Far It’s Been Nothing But Talk
Robert Palmer knows how uncomfortable it can feel to be a black professor at a predominantly white college. He recalls speaking with a white student he was advising at the public Binghamton University in upstate New York, where just 4 percent of tenure-track instructors in 2016 were black, according to federal figures. “He comes out…
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Is Racism the Reason Why HBCUs Have to Pay More for Loans Than Other Schools?
If you want to see how systemic—and endemic—racism in the U.S., follow the money. You’d see the racial wealth gap—a phenomenon that has only gotten worse, even as unemployment rates for black Americans dip. You’ll see predatory loans, which disproportionately affect people of color (and which helped fuel the housing crisis). You’ll also see that…
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Maryland Governor Tries to Settle HBCUs’ Lawsuit With $100 Million; Schools Say ‘What Else You Got?’
Years ago, The Root Editor-in-Chief Danielle Belton and I were having a conversation about America’s jacked-up relationship with black people. We were enslaved for more than 200 years, lived under American apartheid for another century, and then finally, in the last 50 years or so, America has made a half-hearted attempt to erase its terrible…
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Should a Racist Grade Your Papers? Students Discover White Supremacists Teaching at Their Universities
Whenever I see Ku Klux Klan rallies or skinheads marching, instead of hate, I am always filled with a sense of curiosity. What do white supremacists do when they’re not white-supremacy-ing? There’s only so much time one can fill denying holocausts and soaking crosses in kerosene for nighttime activities. More important, I wonder where they…
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Education Secretary Betsy DeVos Just Removed Some Huge Consumer Protections for Student Loan Borrowers
While we were all distracted by other things Tuesday, Betsy DeVos used her powers as education secretary to roll back some key policy memos issued by the Obama administration that strengthened consumer protections for student loan borrowers. The Washington Post reports that the U.S. Department of Education is in the process of issuing new contracts…
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Black Professors Speak Out After Trump Victory About the Routine Racism of Academia
Editor’s note: Once a month, this column will tackle broader questions about what the country should do to increase educational opportunities for black youths. “You don’t pray for an easy road; you pray for a strong back.” This is how one professor responded to the question, “What has it been like to be a black…