Carmen Walters, the president of Tougaloo College, discussed her recent meeting with President Biden about cybersecurity and her role in advocating for HBCUs.
What was the meeting with President Biden like? And what should we know about cybersecurity and the Black community and jobs?
What we should know is that cybersecurity is everybody’s job. It’s keeping our country safe, that is so important. But our role as HBCUs are to prepare our students to be able to take some of these positions from the top seat all the way down to entry-level. And that’s what we were talking about today.
What, what did you say? What did you ask for in this meeting?
When we had the Democratic National Convention, I announced the votes for the state of Mississippi, and in my speech, I talked about how President Biden was going to put 70 billion into HBCUs. And so that process has begun, we’re all benefiting from the dollars with the Cares Act, and the American Recovery Act. I had meetings with several agencies, about the “ask” for HBCUs, and the role we play in all of those agencies. We’re pushing groups, along with UNCF and Thurgood Marshall, to talk about our role, and how the funding helps us to play our roles. It was a very important meeting being in a room with [corprorate CEOs]. And having me there, representing all HBCUs was pretty powerful. It is important that we do this work, not for one institution, but for all institutions.
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