How does one devalue a Billion Dollar Equity HBCU?

Shaw University is a small HBCU, one of the oldest in the country, and sits on 40 acres in downtown Raleigh, NC. Systemic racism. White privilege. Institutional racism. Microaggression. White fragility. All play a part in its future because an inept board of trustees invited it into its future. The campus is nestled among city blocks in one of the fastest-growing and dangerously gentrified cities in the United States. Raleigh, the state capital is a virtual home of higher education that has had a tumultuous history of civil rights abuses with some of the brightest minds of academia within its mist of state government famously known for gerrymandering state politics to serve and progress a conservative agenda, and academic research that is often white supremacy disguised as caring about fiscal responsibility. Since 2010 alone, $1.7 billion in development has been completed downtown. What that translates to is streets and skyline are over 7 million square feet of new or renovated building space and a 91% increase in new housing units. Amongst all this prosperity Shaw University has failed to thrive and now developers have set their sights on the campus to visualize this new sleek and ritzy downtown which is a perfect storm of development that leaves out the people that have mostly benefited from and supported Shaw University.

The Dysfunctional Board of Trustees ' 30-Year Reign of Mediocre.

Due to the large size of the Board of Trustees, and the legacy processes of its board chairman to appoint his fraternity brothers and family associates, the board struggles to maintain the integrity and execute functions of the university without the look of corruption and mismanagement.

The Trojan Horse On the Shaw Board of Trustees

Raleigh has had a rocky relationship with the university and has never given consideration to its students while building this swanky downtown with businesses and developments that have actually ignored Shaw students historically. The local media have always been quick to point out any debacle or incident on the campus and has never had a cooperative relationship with the university. The city and the state actually punished the university for the position it took during the civil rights movement and the benefits to the university during this time are still evident on the campus and it’s not too distant programming.

The current Board is a miss mash of professionals and community leaders with little or no access to capital that could benefit the university. The remaining board consists of Dr. James A. Thornton, Dr. Nilous M. Avery, II, Rev. Linda Inman, Dr. John H. Lucas, Mr. Travis Mitchell, Dr. Ol’Bunmi Peters, Dr. Mack Sowell, Dr. Michael Ugwueke, Mr. Isaac B. Wheeler, Sr., and Mr. Sean N. Woodroff.

This is a board of over 20 people and with all that power upon the board, none of them have been able to recruit a President with experience and vision nor have they been able to organize or develop a capital campaign to support the university and yet, this is the board that wants to be trusted with developing the equity of the university. The very definition of crazy is appropriate here, after all, it is not mentally sound or lacks a reason to think this board could all of a sudden be trusted to do what is fair and decent for the university when it has escaped them for years.

This Board and Administration Rezoning Request

The board has spent untold monies hiring consultants, attorneys, and special interests to make its case and all of that money spent has not produced a viable plan for development and it is painfully obvious why it has not. This executive committee does not have the vision or determined will to see that the university is developed to its fullest potential. If it did the reasons for writing this would not be necessary. However, it is necessary because the appearance of corruption is absolutely too powerful to dismiss. We have not seen one example the university would like to emulate because it is not out there. This brings up the players the university has involved and it gets even uglier. The powerful Urban Land Institute and Morningstar Law Group have a solid reputation for development, yet the very things that the university could benefit from have never been applied to this rezoning request. Why? Is it because they wanted to waltz in and take advantage of the corruption on the board while using the directions of the Trojan Horse on the board? If this is not the case then we definitely should have seen better options coming from the powerhouse of consultants and paid hands. If we were talking about any other college in the Triangle besides St. Aug or NCCU, we would have already known the best options available. It’s always strange when it comes to people of color the narrative always changes to diminish the possibilities. Shaw University sits on over a billion dollars worth of equity and yet it has never been mentioned once. The fact that the board has overlooked and not engaged the necessary people to develop and administer a successful university is all too familiar to many alumni and the very reason this rezoning request by this board and administration is alarming. After all, this is the board and administration that has steadily shut down buildings and programs of the university to dangerous levels of mediocrity, from the illustrious Shaw Players to the outstanding Radio Station, to majors that brought students have all been cut and we all know it’s for a reason. We have been watching this since Dr. Newsome arrived and in each administration with the exception of Dr. Yancy’s administration. One series of debacles after another, and now the university finds itself at the bottom of every list that highlights failure and lack of growth including a dismal graduation rate, a low value for the money students pay to a foundation that has not seen growth in years. To this concoction of failure, we have people sitting on the board with management, investing, and developing skills that are not applied at or for the university. Some of the top successful corporations are represented on the board, from TIAA and Methodist Le Bonheur Healthcare, Wells Fargo, to Cherokee Investment to name a few. If this powerful mixture can’t produce success and it hasn’t for years, why should they get the privilege to develop such a valuable resource? It is very clear this expertise is not anywhere to be seen on the campus, now, or in the immediate past. Therefore most of the alumni believe too many of the folks sitting on the executive committee of the board have selfish reasons because the students have not benefitted. The alumni have also grown weary of the constant begging for funds and are more interested in assisting the present students because it’s a fact this board and administration have not. It's been a steady flow of privatizing services and responsibilities the university used to handle. It is also a common theme amongst the black community when privatization is used it usually is a way for greed to be introduced and used to slither funds dishonestly from constituents and taxpayers and a major tool of conservatives to exclude people of color and reward their patronage.

Conclusion

.March 2018- Shaw University’s WSHA-FM, the first public radio station owned by a historically black college is sold to the Educational Media Foundation, a nonprofit organization that operates radio networks specializing in adult contemporary Christian music and in spite of saying why they sold it, no evidence has been produced that the explanations given are active or being planned.

.No one has been hired in Alumni Relations or Student Recruitment for at least the last two years.

.Buildings on campus have been boarded up and dorms closed without explanations long before the rezoning request was filed. Reducing its footprint downtown at a time when it is dangerous to do so amongst rapid development approaching the campus.

.Closing majors and academic disciplines.

.Student enrollment is down to historic levels of incompetence with no plan for addressing the falling numbers besides a rezoning request without details.

.Hiring more consultants and specialists without clear directives and reasons other than to support a false and hyped agenda.

.Hiring real estate experts and professionals without clear directives or purpose other than reducing its footprint.

.In danger of losing its accreditation because of questionable practices.

.People sitting on the board for decades without evidence of successful engagement.

.A dysfunctional relationship with its alumni and faculty.

.The firing of faculty and administrators of departments without explanations.

.No capital campaign for raising the necessary funds for efficient operations.

.An endowment that is not growing despite having experts sitting on its board.

.A total lack of transparency with both the students and the alumni.

.Hiring companies and entities that represent the school without the benefit of people that look like its students, therefore not understanding the culture or plight of the majority of its students.

.Giving opportunities and advantages to students that are not historically minority or disadvantaged.

.Not fostering a healthy community of neighbors and friends.

.Failing to attract students at a time many HBCUs are seeing record enrollment and investments.

.Feeble attempt at diversity with disadvantaged students paying the high cost of this misguided attempt.

.Institutional Development Department and real estate division with no successful campaigns despite having fully funded employment positions.

From the late 1800s until the late 1950s Shaw University had its glory days and directly or indirectly lifted entire generations of black prosperity in the state of North Carolina, actually producing Congressman from the reconstruction period, after the 1950s Shaw again was in all it’s glory and was the citadel for civil rights in North Carolina and again was the engine for upward black mobility. Unfortunately, this ushered in the era we find ourselves in now. The one thing most black people that know and love Shaw University know is what it has been to the progress of upward black mobility in the state of North Carolina and in a small part, the nation. However humble, in the state of North Carolina and its dubious history of segregation and civil rights violations, Shaw is our academic mecca on the hill, our Duke for all intents and purposes because it had to be. Shaw survived over 150 years in hostile territory and now finds itself again the target of white aggression. However, this time, it is the enormous money of the white establishment that is using this aggression for a hostile takeover, something they have mastered around the world. As an alumnus of Shaw University, it would be nice to finally see an HBCU, able to take advantage of its valuable equity and be put on a level playing field with the ability to use that equity to create a masterpiece on the very corner many have devalued. Shaw University could once again provide the world, with a perfect example of how quasi-government, private, and educational development could be the model for other institutions of similar historical attributes and similar real estate characteristics. An opportunity to show what diversity really could look like successfully. The most of alumni at Shaw would like to see Shaw finally get its due, however, that can’t happen when corruption and mistrust are overwhelmingly present. It would be nice to see the folks who have misguided this university for decades step aside and allow the university and the students it serves from overwhelming disadvantaged communities to get the help it needs from visionaries who know how to negotiate to favor the university and not misguided black elites and white aggression.

In loving memory: Dr. Wilmoth Carter, Harold, and Willie High, Roberta Lightner, Dr. J. Archie Hargraves, Martha Wheeler, Vivian M. Sansom, Dr. William Spann, H.B. and P.C. Caple, Paul Vandergrift, C. T. Vivian, Vivian Galbreath, Dr. Elizabeth Laizner, Dr. Mustafa, Thomas Kee, Dr. John Fleming.

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