It’s getting to be axiomatic: If Ward Connerly attacks a program or institution, you can be assured that it is serving a valuable purpose for African-Americans. We’ve seen this with the Black conservative’s anti-affirmative action crusades in California and now he’s attacking Black colleges.

Writing recently in the Congressional Quarterly Researcher, Connerly says, “…Directly opposed to the diversity ideal are historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs). An HBC’s entire reason for being is to not be diverse.”

That’s plain ignorant.

Black colleges were established during the Reconstruction Era because many White universities would not accept African-American students. Southern states were so determined to maintain racial segregation that they offered to pay the tuition of Blacks who wanted to attend a northern university. Legally-sanctioned racism caused Black colleges to come into existence.

As Bill Gray, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund, correctly observes, Black colleges are far more diverse than majority White institutions of higher education.

“Over 13 percent of students at HBCUs are white while fewer than 6 percent of students at white colleges are black,” he wrote in the November issue of the CQ Researcher. “More than 25 percent of faculty at HBCUs are white compared to less than 4 percent of black faculty at white colleges. More than 10 percent of deans and administrators at HBCUs are white compared to 2 percent at white institutions who are black.”

Connerly – who led the successful movement to eliminate affirmative action from the University of California higher education system – is even more disingenuous by blaming the existence of Black colleges rather than his actions for the paucity of Black students in California universities.

“…It is hypocritical to support the public funding of HBCUs and then turn around and criticize a ‘lack of diversity’ at other public colleges and universities, since HBCUs, by their very nature, draw away many black students who would otherwise attend racially mixed schools and affect their ‘diversity,’ “ Connerly writes.

HBCUs represent only 3 percent of the nation’s 3,688 institutions of higher education. More than 85 percent of all Black students attend predominantly White colleges. So, the problem clearly isn’t that Black colleges are draining Black students from majority White universities.

What is telling is that although Black colleges represent just 3 percent of the nation’s colleges, they produce 24 percent of all bachelors’ degrees.

“These institutions also account for nine of the top 10 colleges that graduate the most black students who go on to earn Ph.D.s, and four of the top five colleges that produce black medical-school acceptances,” Gray writes. “Students select HBCUs for their educational excellence, low costs and nurturing environments.”

A larger article in the CQ Researcher on Dec. 12, 2003 also repeated some popular misconceptions about HBCUs.

Responding to those misperceptions, M. Christopher Brown II, the executive director of the UNCF’s Frederick D. Patterson Research Institute in Fairfax, Va., writes:

“The article suggested that enrollments at HBCUs are declining. Please note that student enrollment at HBCUs has increased regularly for several decades, and is in fact at an all time high. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there were 190,000 black students attending HBCUs in 1980; 208,600 in 1990; and 227,000 in 2000.”

On another subject, Brown writes: “The article characterized alumni giving at HBCUs as being significantly lower than alumni giving at majority institutions, which is not true. According to the 2002 Voluntary Support to Education report, the average percentage of alumni who give at all colleges nationwide is 13.4 percent. This is comparable to alumni giving at the UNCF’s member colleges, which is over 12 percent. In fact, some studies suggest that African-Americans donate a larger percentage of their disposable income.”

Brown observes, “The article also stated, ‘more than 20 black colleges have closed over the years…’” He notes, “Over the last 25 years, only three Baccalaureate awarding HBCUs have closed compared to over 60 predominantly white institutions.”

Instead of maligning Black college, critics such as Ward Connerly should be praising them for accomplishing so such against tremendous odds. They should also recognize that more students are attending HBCUs by choice. For example, one of my nephews, Iverson Gandy III, was accepted by Harvard University after he graduated from high school. But he chose to enroll in predominantly Black Alabama A&M University – and he now says he is happy with his decision.

Bill Gray writes, “HBCUs have evolved into diverse institutions worthy of public support, just as Catholic, Jewish, Mormon and Methodist colleges have. Yet no one suggests that those religious institutions hurt diversity in public colleges and should be closed.”