If We Want To Strengthen HBCUs, We Must Elect Joe Biden & Kamala Harris

Nia Page – a 2020 graduate of Spelman College – explains why we must vote Joe Biden & Kamala Harris in office. HBCUs depend on it.

Nia Page’s op-ed on how crucial Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) are to black students and why we must vote Biden/Harris in to maintain their existence is worth the read.

In 1837, the first Historically Black College and University (HBCU) was founded as Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. Founded to be an educational and cultural resource for Black Americans - free from the systemic injustice ingrained into the very fabric of American society - HBCUs have since flourished and thrived, producing leaders in the African American community. HBCUs have played a crucial role in the empowerment and education of Black students, providing them with the knowledge and resources that the nation once legally and constitutionally denied them during the eras of Jim Crow and enslavement.

HBCUS are more than just institutions of higher education. HBCUs make up a global community connecting the African diaspora. They are the pure representation that systemic injustice ingrained into America’s education system cannot stop the education of Black Americans. They are our ancestors’ stand against Jim Crow American and dedication to the education of Black Americans. They are a culture, a tightly knit community, and in the words of Senator Harris, a Howard University alumna, “family.”

For myself, it was not until attending Spelman College that I was able to enjoy the pursuit of education free from systemic racial injustices deeply rooted in the United States' education system. My commitment to advocating for HBCUs post-college was determined by my exceptional undergraduate Spelman education and by my experience working as an intern for Congressman John Lewis and the late Congressman Elijah Cummings, who were both graduates of HBCUs. And now, as the Biden-Harris campaign’s National Co-Chair of the HBCU Students for Biden and the National African-American Engagement Coordinator, I’m working hard to elect a president and vice president that value HBCUs and will strengthen them.

HBCUs give students a chance to be the best they can be, and the Biden-Harris campaign understands that. This ticket gets that we need real investment to keep that tradition of success alive. That’s why the Biden-Harris plan invests over $70 billion in HBCUs and Minority-Serving Institutions. The plan includes establishing 200 new centers of excellence to serve as research incubators and connect students in fields where they are underrepresented, building high-tech labs and facilities, and strengthening graduate programs in areas like teaching, health care, and STEM. These investments in students of color will be the key to ushering in a new era of Black academic and professional success.

Of course, those investments only matter if students can afford their education. That’s why Joe Biden plans to ensure students from families making less than $125,000 can attend public HBCUs without having to pay any tuition, and he’ll give private HBCUs funding to lower costs for their students, too. The Biden plan also addresses the student debt crisis, which is critical to women’s success in particular because women hold two-thirds of student debt in this country.

Senator Harris said that for her, attending an HBCU was “where it all began.” Empowered by the tools around her and by the support of her teachers and peers, she’s gone on to break barriers throughout her career, including as the first Black woman to ever be nominated on a major party’s presidential ticket.

And I could not be prouder to see so many HBCU students come together and have her back as we work to get her elected. HBCU students across the country are coming together and doing everything we can to elect the Biden-Harris ticket and vote for a future where HBCUs are valued as the critical institutions that they are. Please join us and make your plan to vote for our future today at iwillvote.com.

Nia Page is a 2020 graduate of Spelman College, where she was the 78th President of the Spelman’s Student Government. Throughout her college career, Nia interned for the late Congressman Elijah Cummings in his Capitol Hill office and Congressman John Lewis in his district office of Atlanta, Georgia. Currently, Nia is pursuing her master’s degree in International Education Policy at Harvard University. Nia Page works for the Biden/Harris Campaign as the National African-American Program Coordinator. In addition to this position, Nia Page is the National Co-Chair of HBCU Students for Biden, a program she helped start in November of 2019 and launched in January 2020. Nia Page is a lead for this week’s National HBCU Week and HBCU Homecoming Rally.

 

source: theybf