Issue Position: Preserving and Strengthening Maryland's Historically Black Colleges and Universities

Issue Position

For generations, Maryland's four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) -- Bowie State University, Coppin State University, Morgan State University, and the University of Maryland Eastern Shore -- have played a critical role in educating our students, supporting their local communities, and helping create one of the nation's most highly skilled and competitive workforces. In fact, as Lt. Governor two of my Chiefs of Staff earned degrees from our nation's leading HBCUs.

Maryland's HBCUs have been the foundation on which so many Marylanders have built their futures. Robert M. Bell, the first African American Chief Judge of the Maryland Court of Appeals, began his legal career as a student at Morgan State. Bishop L. Robinson turned to Coppin State for his Master's in Education before becoming Baltimore's first African American Police Commissioner. Art Shell, former Oakland Raiders Head Coach, NFL Executive, and Hall of Fame Offensive Tackle, is a proud graduate of the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. And Bowie State helped Christa McAuliffe master her craft as a teacher, before being selected by NASA to be "The First Teacher in Space."

The Brown-Ulman Administration is committed to seeing Maryland's HBCUs succeed and thrive. Our commitment to this goal will be reflected in our budget. It will also be a priority for our Secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission and be present in our appointments to the Maryland Board of Regents. By working together, we will ensure that the rich tradition of Maryland's HBCUs endures and thrives. Our HBCUs must continue to be a physical and virtual place of learning, opportunity, and access for all Maryland families and students across the country.

To succeed, the Brown-Ulman Administration, in partnership with the leadership of our HBCUs, the University System of Maryland, public and private universities, community colleges, academia, and community and business leaders, will implement a three step approach.

1) Plan -- In our first 100 days, the Brown-Ulman Administration will sign an Executive Order establishing a Blue Ribbon Commission responsible for developing a long-term vision and sustainable plan for Maryland's HBCUs. While each institution must continue to pursue its unique individual mission that reflects its history, strengths, community and commitment to its students and alumni, an overarching vision and plan will help us ensure our HBCUs future success.

The Commission will make recommendations to ensure and define: the appropriate future funding for each HBCU; that academic rigor, quality institutional leadership and equitable access continue to grow; how each University fits into the State and regional higher education landscape; that we build upon our HBCUs work to prepare a highly skilled workforce that matches our State's needs; and how our HBCUs can retain and grow their academic programs in a fair and competitive manner.

2) Invest -- We believe that college should be accessible to every Marylander who wants to get an education and prepare themselves for the jobs of today and tomorrow. To achieve this goal, over the past eight years, during some of toughest economic times the O'Malley-Brown Administration made record investments in our HBCUs and were the only state in the nation to freeze in-state tuition four years in a row.

For over a hundred years Maryland's HBCUs have played a vital role in educating the next generation of African American leaders and expanding opportunities to all Marylanders, regardless of color or class. While thousands of students have passed through their halls and gone on to succeed, challenges remain. With a comprehensive vision and plan in place by December of 2015, the Brown-Ulman Administration will take the necessary steps, beginning in our first full budget (FY17), to make the investments necessary for our HBCUs to thrive and attract Maryland's brightest students. This includes investing in state of the art infrastructure, public-private partnerships, our academia and academic programming, remediation programs, and quality workforce development programs.

We will make these investments because the conversation surrounding, and resolution of, our HBCUs future funding challenges will be addressed through our Administration's commitment to the success of our HBCUs, the Commission's recommendations and the State's budget, not in the courtroom.

3) Thrive -- With a commitment to success from the highest levels of our Administration, a comprehensive plan, and increased investments, we will ensure an expectation for excellence at every Maryland HBCU and for every student that enters the classroom. We must build upon the unique qualities and strengths of each institution and encourage our system to work together to benefit all of our schools, every community, and all Marylanders.

Coordination will not be enough -- we must collaborate. HBCUs, the University System of Maryland, community colleges, community leaders and employers must partner together so we can reach our shared goals: increasing retention and graduation rates, building and maintaining modern facilities, reducing student debt, expanding access to underserved families, growing the number of students of color entering and graduating in the fields of STEM and health care, finding new ways to close the achievement gap, and making our universities the centers of our communities.

The Brown-Ulman Administration is committed to promoting, planning, investing and positioning Maryland's HBCUs for excellence. By working in partnership with our HBCUs to establish a long-term vision and plan we will ensure that they continue to play a critical role in our higher education system. United by our commitment to achieve excellence at each of our HBCUs, we will all succeed. From continuing their historic mission to educate students of color, to creating new businesses and entrepreneurs, to finding solutions to the local and global challenges of our future, a community of thriving HBCUs will allow us to fulfill our mission to educate all Maryland students and train and educate the next generation of leaders.

Sincerely,

Source