Was the White House Meeting with Historically Black Colleges and Universities a Sham?

On Monday, the White House met with leaders of the country’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs). It now appears that that meeting may have been an elaborate setup—a photo-op and a propaganda opportunity. As explained by Walter M. Kimbrough, president of Dillard University and one of the leaders present at the meeting:

In other words, what was billed as an opportunity for the White House to listen to the leaders of HBCUs turned into anything but. More than that, after the meeting DeVos released this statement:

A key priority for this administration is to help develop opportunities for communities that are often the most underserved. Rather than focus solely on funding, we must be willing to make the tangible, structural reforms that will allow students to reach their full potential.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have done this since their founding. They started from the fact that there were too many students in America who did not have equal access to education. They saw that the system wasn’t working, that there was an absence of opportunity, so they took it upon themselves to provide the solution.

HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice. They were living proof that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater access and greater quality. Their success has shown that more options help students flourish.

Their counsel and guidance will be crucial in addressing the current inequities we face in education. I look forward to working with the White House to elevate the role of HBCUs in this administration and to solve the problems we face in education today.

None of that is how any of this works. Betsy DeVos gets an F in history. Indeed, it looks as though DeVos is using this meeting with the leaders of HBCUs as an opportunity to plug her specific agenda, which involves promoting charter schools and vouchers rather than putting in the hard work needed to improve public schools for disadvantaged students.

Let’s take a moment to break down DeVos’ statement:

A key priority of this administration is to help develop opportunities for communities that are often the most underserved. Rather than focus solely on funding, we must be willing to make the tangible, structural reforms that will allow students to reach their full potential.

The reference to “funding” likely refers to efforts to give disadvantaged public schools the resources they need to invest in their students. The “tangible, structural reforms” referred to here are likely those created by DeVos’ signature programs—in other words, the closing of public schools deemed to be failing and the promotion of charter schools and vouchers in their place.

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have done this since their founding. They started from the fact that there were too many students in America who did not have equal access to education. They saw that the system wasn’t working, that there was an absence of opportunity, so they took it upon themselves to provide the solution.

No, that is not why HBCUs were founded. It wasn’t that they didn’t have “equal” access, it was that they were denied access altogether. Whether she realizes it or not, DeVos is drawing a parallel between segregation, which barred black students from the nation’s colleges and universities, and public schools deemed to be failing today. Let’s accept DeVos’ parallel for a moment. The ideal solution to segregation is not to create private school alternatives but rather to end segregation. Even so, the solution to failing public schools is not to create private school alternatives but rather to improve those public schools.

As Secretary of Education, isn’t it DeVos’ job to ensure that public schools provide a quality education for all students? If we buy her parallel, her statement here is the equivalent of a Secretary of Education of a past generation throwing up her hands and stating that segregation is a serious problem that limits black children’s ability to succeed, but that the solution is not to end segregation but rather to create private all-black schools. Say what? No, that is not the solution.

More in a moment, but first back to DeVos’ statement:

HBCUs are real pioneers when it comes to school choice. They were living proof that when more options are provided to students, they are afforded greater access and greater quality. Their success has shown that more options help students flourish.

You cannot create more options if you don’t start with any option at all. Black college students didn’t have school choice because white colleges were by and large not an option. This is perhaps the fundamental problem I have with DeVos’ approach to education—she focuses on giving parents other options (charter schools and vouchers) to the exclusion of any real focus on or investment in public schools. But are parents really given a choice if quality public schools are not an option?

Their counsel and guidance will be crucial in addressing the current inequities we face in education. I look forward to working with the White House to elevate the role of HBCUs in this administration and to solve the problems we face in education today.

That might sound nice if I hadn’t already read Kimbrough’s statement.

I’m quite positive that if the founders of the nation’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities could have, they would have ended segregation and discrimination in the nation’s already-existing colleges and universities. But they could not do so. They were not in a position of political power. DeVos is. She has the ability to provide schools serving disadvantaged students with the resources they need to establish positive, upward school cultures. She is choosing not to do so.

In the end, it looks as though inviting leaders of Historically Black Colleges and Universities to the White House offered Trump a photo op and DeVos an opportunity to fallaciously tie her promotion of school choice to the civil rights movement, without making any actual effort to listen to the leaders of the Historically Black Colleges and Universities she evoked.