Towards the end of the 2019 legislative session State Sen. Lester Jackson (D-Savannah) introduced SB 278, which seeks to consolidate the state’s public Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HCBUs) into a single new university system.
State Rep. Calvin Smyre
Proponents of the bill, including some on the University System of Georgia’s Board of Regents, say the would be a cost saving measure as the schools, Albany State, Fort Valley State, and Savannah State universities are often running in the red. The new governing body, known as the Georgia Agricultural and Mechanical University System, would theoretically strengthen the schools financially, allowing them to expand and create new programs.
This week though one of the state’s most high profile Democrats, state Rep. Calvin Smyre (D-Columbus) penned a letter to University System of Georgia Chancellor Steve Wrigley urging him to reject the legislation.
Said Smyre, “The best way to ensure that all of our Georgia students are prepared to be competitive in the workforce is to ensure that each college or university is able to leverage the best aspects of their traditions and core competencies through the provision of needed resources and fair guidance. Simply separating the three historically black universities off to one side, however well-intentioned it may be, is a nineteenth-century solution to twenty-first century challenges.”
A 1970 graduate of the Fort Valley State University, Smyre is the dean of the Georgia House of Representatives, first elected in 1974. His opposition to the legislation will surely carry weight among a Democratic caucus that will ponder the bill this summer and fall ahead of the 2020 session.
While the schools do need additional funding, according to Smyre the bill would “unnecessarily and perhaps unwittingly diminish the particular role each public HBCU plays in this state by assuming that their needs and ability to educate Georgians are different from those of non-HBCUs.”
He continues, “The goal, instead, should be to equitably empower these institutions to be centers of excellence so that they may prepare students to become the professionals this state, nation, and world needs to move humanity forward.”
See the full letter HERE
