A hard reset has taken flight for Morris Brown College. Under the leadership of Kevin James, Ed.D, a new chapter for the school has begun as Morris Brown College has been granted full accreditation by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools after nearly 20 years.
“This should have been the end of Morris Brown,” said James, the 19th president of Morris Brown.
The school, the first college in Georgia to be owned and operated by Blacks, went from an enrollment of 3,000 students to about 50 overnight after losing access to federal funding.
Today, the institution has met the standards and criteria required to be deemed a quality institution. James made history by leading the college to the successful implementation of a strategic plan to realize its vision and achieve its goals. With a background in higher education, administration and business leadership, James has managed to stabilize finances, increase fundraising, and revise academic offerings.
How do you plan to improve the HBCU cultural experience?
Historically, HBCUs have been that safe haven when we couldn’t go anywhere else. And so, as the first Black college started in 1837, we’ve been educating Black and Brown students and others ever since. Morris Brown is that safe haven. Some students who may need … a second chance can come, and we will pour into anyone who walks through the doors and ensure they have the education they need to go out into the country and be thriving, contributing citizens.
What did you envision yourself doing in your career?
God sent me to Morris Brown College to do this great work. It is not about me. It is about the faculty, the staff, the students, the alums, and the community. We owe it to our ancestors to ensure that this institution is kept standing, so I’m just thankful to God that I was used as an instrument to lead in this way.
How do you remain positive and on track ?
When I came in, the biggest thing that I had to do was to get people to believe. People wouldn’t even talk to me. They would say, “oh, here we go again, trying again.” It’s been 20 years, so we implemented this mantra called the hard reset. It was a sermon title that my pastor preached. He uses the analogy of wiping your telephone clean and starting [anew]. The vision is here. It was a heavy lift. My team will tell you that I have this mindset of fixing it; there are no excuses. If we can be 35 million dollars in bankruptcy, [owe] 9.5 million to the U.S. Department of [Education], 4.2 million to the AME Church, [suffer] the loss of our brand, faculty, staff and reputation; if we could come out of the grave and overcome that with God, all things would be possible.
How can students connect with you if they are passionate about attending an HBCU like Morris Brown?
We made it very, very simple and seamless. [Prospective students can] go to our website, Morrisbrown.edu, click on apply now and we would then contact you, set up a Zoom meeting with you or an in-person meeting campus tour. You can do that online as well. Everything that you need to learn more about more about it [is] right on our website, Morris brown.edu, and you can also follow us on social media at Morris Brown College, where you can see and watch more of what we’re doing here at the college on a daily basis.
What is your vision for Morris Brown in 10 years?
In 10 years, Morris Brown will be the No. 1 historically Black college in the state of Georgia. It will continue to be a phenomenal place to come, learn, be nurtured and groomed. Not only that, [but] also to be placed with jobs or to get into any graduate school that you want to attend in this country. We are going to continue to be the place that our ancestors dreamed of. We will prove that we are our ancestors’ wildest dreams.
