As Historically Black Colleges and Universities grapple with declining Black male enrollment, a program at Howard University is working to reverse the trend through mentorship, exposure and addressing systemic barriers.
Now in its third year, the “Kings of Campus” initiative targets middle- and high-school students in partnership with school districts, to build a pipeline for young Black men to see themselves in higher education.
Nationally, Black male enrollment at HBCUs has dropped from 38% in the late 1970s to 26% today, with Howard’s Black male student population at 19%.
HBCU enrollment initiative
Calvin Hadley, Howard’s assistant provost for student engagement and academic partnerships, said the issue needs to be addressed swiftly.
“We are really a clarion call for the world, right? Because there’s a significant concentration here and we are able to feel this a little bit more,” he said. “But it’s really just illuminating what is a national issue, and so I think we’ve been able to dive deeper into that. We’ve known about this and have been working on this.”
Howard’s model offers a blueprint for Florida, where HBCUs such as Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman universities face similar challenges. FAMU reported 37% male enrollment in the last academic year, reflecting a national trend at HBCUs, where women outnumber men nearly two-to-one.
Howard’s initiative focuses on combating the “belief gap,” or the disparity between what Black male students can achieve and what educators often expect of them. Through events such as barbershop talks and a “burning of fears” ceremony, Hadley said the program fosters self-efficacy and community.
“We’re dedicated to addressing this issue that didn’t origniate with us and likely is not going to end with us,” he said. “But we know that if we can create best practices – if we can better understand what is taking place around the country and create partnerships, collaborations, etc. – we do believe that we could make a significant impact in this.”
While FAMU and other HBCUs work to reverse the trend through targeted programs such as AIM Higher, which combats high school dropouts, the enrollment decline has profound economic consequences. Research by economist Raj Chetty shows Black male educational outcomes disproportionately determine both economic mobility and the racial wealth gap.
Support for this reporting was provided by Lumina Foundation.
