the great debate

“You're not black enough if you go to a PWI.””HBCUs are just party schools.” Those are just two of the assumptions made in the HBCU vs. PWI debate. The debate has been going on longer than I can remember. The only thing that has changed about the debate is its platform. In the beginning it would be discussed in small groups, and now that we are in the social media age, it’s now discussed on all social media platforms like Twitter.

For those that don’t know the debate is mostly between African American students from Predominantly White Institutions (PWI) and African American students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU). Some PWI students believe that their education is better than their black counterparts at HBCUs, while some HBCU students believe their “blacker” than their black counterparts at PWI’s.

Usually with these debates all people do is go back and forth about why their home school is better, or why someone else made the wrong decision to attend the university of their choice, but the real problems and solutions are never talked about at hand. Some of those problems include why are HBCUs so under-funded, why don’t HBCU athletes get drafted to play on a professional level, why aren’t more black students choosing HBCUs, etc.

In order to get more insight on the topic I interviewed my friends from PWIs and HBCU. I chose these people because they are all very involved on their campus, and I believe that they would give great insight to black student life at their university. I conducted interviews with students from the University of Cincinnati, Bowling Green University and Kent State University. Though I attend an HBCU I still wanted to hear what others had to say that can discuss things from the HBCU side so I interviewed a student from Tennessee State University.

I asked the students a variety of questions like why did you choose the school you are currently at?What stereotypes have you heard about HBCUs?Did your high school teach you or show you HBCUs?, and what are solutions on how the HBCU vs. PWI debate should go in the future?, to name a few.

I asked the interviewees if I could share some of their responses….

How do you feel about high ranked high school athletes committing to HBCUs?

For example, Makur Maker commits to Howard University over UCLA, and Mikey Williams who says that there are some HBCUs in his top picks.

Aeneas Dock (University of Cincinnati): “I feel like that’s dope, I do feel like there needs to be a change in the sport world when they do decide to choose schools, because most PWIs don’t really care about you as much as you think they do. They just want you to bring in money, bring in fans, and keep people connected to their school. Like right now I don’t see a lot of PWIs standing out or making statements about Black Lives Matter, so I definitely think it’s a good idea for top ranked students to go to an HBCU.”

How do you think the conversations about HBCUs vs. PWIs should go in the future?

Mark Davis (Tennessee State University): “I think we should start discussing our experiences at our universities, and even the differences. Something one does at their university, you may use that idea and try to do at your own university.

Side Note: As me and Mark were doing our interview he quoted something that I thought was very powerful which is, “ We spend all of our lives being minorities, why not spend four years being a majority.”

Do you feel that you are not getting the full “black experience” by being at a PWI?

Taryn Phillips- Smith (Kent State University):“I’m not sure what the “full black experience” is but I do feel as though I miss out on not having the number of black people on campus. There have been many times where I’m the only black person in class or the dining halls, so it’d be nice to be around more students that look like me. Overall I feel like the black community at Kent try our best to showcase black culture with the help of our Student Multicultural Center who were able to implement different black orgs that uplift black culture, and empower black men and women.”

Do you feel that your PWI education is more superior than an HBCU education?

Crephat Grengbondai (Bowling Green State University): No, I don’t think so at all. For me sometimes with my teaching classes I wish I had a black instructor, because I don’t want to teach in a white district. I have a job in a Detroit urban district, and Bowling Green didn’t prepare me for that. Had I not gone out myself and did student teaching in black areas. They get you ready for one type of teaching, at least to me. They show you how to teach white kids that will follow a trend. I would be interested in how HBCU professors would teach those same education courses, would they be geared towards more black kids, or white kids.”

In order to have a successful debate with this topic, I believe you must do several things:

1. Be open. Imagine being in that person’s shoes. Even if you don’t agree with the opposing party, still listen, you never know what you may learn.

2. Always have the facts. Nothing is worse than trying to argue something with no facts. Also make sure your facts are 100% correct, and can be backed up.

3. Have respect for everyone. No yelling or unnecessary profanity. Just like you don’t want someone yelling and cursing you out, others want that same respect.

4. Don’t talk about all the negatives. Discuss the school culture, see what events each other offer, you never know that could be something to present to your home school.

5. Discuss solutions. We can talk all day, but what can we do to change the narrative? We need to discuss why high schools aren’t sending high school students on HBCU college tours, why are people bad-mouthing HBCUs to people which affects a person’s views on them, why aren’t high ranked athletes going to HBCUs?

At the end of the day we are still fighting the same fight we’ve always had, which is racial injustice. So instead of tearing each other down let’s build each other up, because to the people on the outside they don’t care if you got your education from a PWI or HBCU, they will still see you as less than.

The topic for July is communication. When most people hear that they automatically refer to relationships with a significant other, or communication with family, but never how to communicate with others on a social topic. Since our biggest audience are college students, and HBCU college students at that, I thought the best way to discuss communication is by talking about a topic that all of us can relate to.