What do you want parents of students to know that you and the other Black HBCU presidents are doing to be prepared for COVID?
We want them to know that we have taken every precaution to make sure that not only our students are safe, but that our faculty and staff members are safe as well. I am representing private HBCUs [and] there are things we can do in our private HBCUs that are not able to be done at state and institutions. We have required our staff and students and faculty to have taken the vaccine and have a negative COVID test to be on campus. All of our schools have clinics on campus. We meet with local and state officials about this. And they’re using our schools as examples. We were the first HBCU to offer testing to the community. So I want them to know that our HBCUs are anchors in the community. And so if they have concerns or questions, they can go in and talk to their presidents and vice presidents, they are going to be able to respond to them in a manner [that] will make them comfortable. And HBCU enrollment is up because I think faculty and parents understand that we know where they are, and we’re going to meet their kids where they are.
