Morehouse College’s top man will hang up his hat at the end of the 2024-2025 academic year. David A. Thomas, 69, announced his retirement in a statement released by the college late Friday afternoon. A veteran educator with more than 30 years of experience, Thomas was selected as Morehouse’s 12th president in 2018. His last […]
Higher Education
Posted inHigher Education, Incarceration
We Need More Prison Education Programs. But Is the Money There?
When Kimberley Pugh was released after a 13-year term in Habersham County’s Lee Arrendale State Prison, her college classes were the only thing that felt “normal” about the outside world. “Everything around me was in complete chaos, but I had to focus on my reading, my writing, and make sure I had all my assignments […]
Posted inHigher Education, Politics & Policy, Religion
Black Jewish Students and the On-Campus Divide Over Gaza
Life on campus at the Atlanta University Center has been more complicated for Spelman freshman Sara Scherlinder since the Gaza humanitarian crisis began more than six months ago. In a 24-hour period earlier this month, the 19-year-old Scherlinder, a Washington, D.C., native, attended a leadership forum for students who are both Black and Jewish, which […]
Posted inHigher Education, Politics & Policy
Planned Biden Morehouse Visit Angers Black Student Gaza Supporters
Morehouse College students packed a campus auditorium Tuesday evening to voice their anger at the decision to invite President Joe Biden to deliver the historically Black institution’s commencement address next month. Most of the estimated 50 students in attendance at Tuesday’s meeting expressed outrage and frustration at Biden’s support for Israel in its war against […]
Posted inEducation, Higher Education
CultureCon at Clark Atlanta Shines Light on HBCU Education and Community
Against a backdrop of vibrant greens and blues, hundreds of HBCU students clad in cropped denims, bolded letterman jackets, and trendy telfars flooded Clark Atlanta University’s campus for the inaugural CultureCon on Campus student conference. The student-centered event is under the umbrella of CultureCon, a conference that fosters community and connection for Black creatives and […]
Posted inHigher Education
Rising Rents, Housing Shortage Create Crisis for HBCU Students
Leron Thomas is one week away from the start of his junior year at Morehouse College, but the Baton Rouge, Louisiana, native has no idea where he’s going to live. This would be Thomas’ fifth semester at Morehouse — and his first with no housing. He entered the school’s housing draft but wasn’t among the […]
Posted inHigher Education
How Black College Students in Atlanta Are Reacting to Affirmative Action Ruling
Black college students in Atlanta are not mincing words after last month’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling to end affirmative action in higher education. They say the decision — which limits colleges from considering race in admissions — is just another in a long list of challenges keeping scholars of color from gaining access to colleges […]
Posted inCriminal Justice, Higher Education, Policing
Why Atlanta College Students and Professors are Chanting, ‘Stop Cop City’
At a rally on Emory University’s quad earlier this week, Maresah Malcom, a senior from Decatur, joined just over 100 fellow students in protesting the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center, also known as “Cop City.” Malcom said she came to the Stop Cop City demonstration because the facility is being built in the area where […]
Posted inEducation, Higher Education, LGBTQ
How Morehouse College Is Challenging What It Means to Be a Black Man
A culture shift is underway at Morehouse College. The 156-year-old men’s college — among the nation’s most-selective historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) — was built upon the image of a serious, contemporary Black man fit within a uniquely American mold. But now, students, faculty members, and administrators are reconsidering what it means to be a […]
Posted inEducation, Higher Education
How a New President, Alums, and Current Students Kept Morris Brown Going
Julian Ross did not need to think twice about his decision. The lure of an education in a music department led by Sharon Willis, the first Black woman to own her own opera company, is what attracted the Baltimore native to Morris Brown College. When he enrolled for his freshman year in 2019, Ross, the […]