The Negro College in a Changing Economy

Abstract

N EGRO colleges are in a critical stage of their development, not only because the idea that higher education should serve the public interest has gained general acceptance, but also because of the changing relations between the Negro and the general community. That this is a crucial period for the Negro colleges is seen in the growing preoccupation of foundations, professional organizations, governmental agencies, and educators in general with the need for improving the quality and changing the outlook of the programs in these institutions. The Ford Foundation has announced grants of fifteen million dollars to private Negro colleges, awarded in the hope that strengthening them will hasten the day when institutions of higher education will no longer segregated. The central concern of several conferences called by the United States Department of Agriculture in I962 was how to prepare and encourage college graduates, including those of Negro colleges, to take advantage of the employment opportunities this branch of the government offers. During I963, the United States Department of Labor sponsored regional conferences which directed attention to the nation's need to train man power and to improve the programs of Negro colleges so as to raise the employment prospects of their graduates. In July of that year, the Marshall Flight Center called a meeting of the presidents and deans of selected Negro colleges to discuss how their institutions could best contribute to the advancement of space science. Later in the same year, the American Council on Education named a special Committee on Equality of Educational Opportunity, to be concerned primarily with the need to expand opportunities for Negroes in colleges and universities. In addition, it held a conference of college leaders in October, I963, to discuss plans for meeting this need. According to A.C.E. President Logan Wilson, the conference was designed toI. Strengthen the quality of the academic program in the predominantly Negro institutions of higher education. 2. Stimulate a continuous and mutually constructive dialogue between the Negro college and university community and the rest of American education.