Recently, some students at Towson University have taken it upon themselves to declare their college an HBCU. Whatever that means, I would hope that this is not the case considering the fact that Towson barely has enough black people at their institution, being 16 percent, to speak for even a small majority of the campus. They claim that they became an HBCU because of what looks like a cookout hosted by their Black Student Union and the different social events surrounding the black students.
Now I may be a bit biased or maybe even a little hypocritical when I say this but, there is absolutely nothing "historically black" about this cookout as a matter of fact, this is extremely offensive towards the students that actually attend HBCUs. The assumption here is that all you need to "become an HBCU" is to swag surf, have lit cookouts, and make sure your Greeks stroll at every basketball game, pageant, and house party. This is simply a reduction of the legacy and tradition that comes with the identity of a historically black college. You would think that institutions like Howard, Spelman, Hampton and Morehouse were just places with a bunch of black people partying in college but, that is not what we represent at the core. Even if this was a big joke, you don't see too often, HBCU students joking about the blackface parties, historically racist school figures, and the lack of African curriculum at Predominantly White Institutions.
The history of black education comes from a place of struggle and the pursuit of education that was often denied for black people. The idea was that blacks people WERE the model citizen and could compete and contribute to the larger society in the same way that there white peers did. At its inceptions, Towson University was not built to advance black people but, only recently have they begun to "tolerate" this group. These institutions like Tuskegee and FAMU were not created with the intention of just providing black people with an education but, with the intent to progress the black community through the education and empowerment of disenfranchised black people to become productive and fully functioning citizens in the racist and segregated society. The entire terminology surrounding the "HBCU vs PWI Debate" is completely asinine considering that the term PWI only speaks to the RATIO of black students in comparison to that of white students and quite frankly, comparing institutional history and impact is not something that is up for debate when we talk about HBCUs.
I pray that Towson University's black students work through their tragic identity crisis and adopt a more productive perspective on these colligate experiences. When your original alumni study in the basement of Friendship Baptist Church with only candles to see, hoping not to be killed by the KKK, or when your president's house is burned down for educating negroes, or even when you graduate some of the most notable black academics and political innovators for the black community, only then can you call your institution an HBCU but, that is only after time-traveling back to the late 1800's and funding your college with the United Negro College Fund's money and a few white philanthropists.
I'm personally all for black people getting educated and helping our community at whatever college they decide to attend but, black Towson you need to take a minute to reevaluate the harmful comment that they are made to passive disparage HBCUs. To make it seem almost as if HBCU students are not studying as hard and actively serving the community is deeply problematic sentiment considering that the entire notion is supported be the dull analysis of a "black college".
This assumption is riddled with the idea that "black" kids don't take their education seriously. Black Colleges are not for your tasteless satire.
