Monday, November 7, 2011

Higher Ed Board Member Compares HBCU To a Prison

Your Black World reports

Dennis Golden, a member of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, thought he was defending Texas Southern University when he made a statement that ended up offending people of color across the nation.

When the TSU Physics Department was on the chopping block, Golden tried to defend the university’s president by stating that when he arrived, the school looked more like a prison than a college.

The program was still cut because it only produced one graduate in five years.

But Professor Byron Price, chair of the Texas Southern University Faculty Assembly, did not take Golden’s words lightly.  In an open letter to Golden, he questioned the racial undertones of Golden’s remarks. 

“What did you hope to accomplish by describing TSU as a prison?” he asked. “What features of TSU specifically make it look like a prison? Have you ever been to a prison?  Have you ever been to TSU?” 

Golden has not yet explained his remarks, but given that African Americans are incarcerated at a rate that is several times higher than whites, the comment strikes a chord. 

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I have been a student at an HBCU. My comment is to why very few doctoral graduates are produced. The university I attended did not fund first year doctoral students, however, they did fund MA students. This is completely counter to practices at other universities and other doctoral programs.

C J Tymczak said...

It was 3 students in two years, the THECB refuses to get this statistic correct! Also we will graduate 4 students in may of 2012. The comments of the person on the THECB just shows the attitudes and prejudices that we are facing here at Texas Southern University

Rashad said...

It was 3 students in two years, the THECB refuses to get this statistic correct! Also we will graduate 4 students in may of 2012. The comments of the person on the THECB just shows the attitudes and prejudices that we are facing here at Texas Southern University

Gordon said...

It was 3 students in two years, the THECB refuses to get this statistic correct! Also we will graduate 4 students in may of 2012. The comments of the person on the THECB just shows the attitudes and prejudices that we are facing here at Texas Southern University