Wampum

Faulty intel and HBCUs

Well, we now know that Mr. Bush isn't exactly the creative (or fact-checking) force behind his own State of the Union addresses, but one would hope that he would be a little more willing to take responsibility for all those executive orders he signs. Take the one he signed last February on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), as described in this Department of Education press release:

President Bush Signs New Executive Order On HBCUs
FOR RELEASE:
February 12, 2002
At a signing ceremony today at the White House, President Bush signed a new executive order that aims to strengthen our nation's Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and increase their opportunities to participate and benefit from federal programs.

The executive order establishes the presidentially appointed Board of Advisors, as well as the White House Initiative on HBCUs, located in the Office of the Secretary. It calls on executive departments and federal agencies to identify and carry out programs and activities to enhance the HBCUs and asks each agency to develop an annual plan to accomplish their goals.

The 21 new members of the President's Board of Advisors on HBCUs were sworn in today at the White House following this mornings signing ceremony. (A list of board members can be found in the Feb. 5 press release.) Today's ceremony was part of a two-day conference hosted by the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and attended by more than 50 HBCU presidents and chancellors. Conference speakers included Education Secretary Rod Paige, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge, and William Gray, president and chief executive officer of the United Negro College Fund.

In his radio address last Saturday, President Bush discussed Black History Month and reiterated his support for the work and mission of our historically black colleges and universities. He said they have "opened the door to knowledge, when other doors were barred. And today they offer exciting opportunities to young people to contribute to their country."

During his comments to the assembled advisory board members and college and university presidents, Paige said, "As an HBCU graduate, I know the importance of your schools and the programs you offer to our community. This administration's commitment to your schools in serious and genuine."

President Bush has pledged to increase funding for HBCUs and Historically Black Graduate Institutions (HBGIs) by 30 percent between 2001 and 2005. The administration's proposed budget for fiscal year 2003 keeps the funding increases on track, calling for increases of 3.6 percent for both HBCUs and HBGIs, to $213.4 million and $50.8 million, respectively.

Well, how things change in eighteen months.

Bush opposes plan for minority grants
By David Lerman Washington Bureau

July 23 2003

WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration declared its opposition Tuesday to a bill pushed by Virginia lawmakers that would create a grant program for computer technology at historically black and other minority-serving colleges and universities.

Breaking months of official silence, the administration said such a program would duplicate current efforts and would raise "constitutional concerns" because of the use of race in determining a school's eligibility for grant money...

[C]ritics of affirmative action, such as the California-based American Civil Rights Institute and the Virginia-based Center for Equal Opportunity, have protested the awarding of grant money based on a school's racial make-up instead of economic need.

Coming down on the side of critics, the Department of Commerce, which would run the grant program, sent a letter Tuesday to the House Science Committee registering its opposition.

Back in May, I noted that the Administration was swiping at HBCUs, tribal colleges and Hispanic-Serving Institutions through a SAP (Statement of Administration Policy) on pending House energy legislation. At the time, though, I suspected that the affirmative action criticism of HBCUs was sop to the rabid Right and a cover for the Administration's attack on other more important issues, specifically Disadvantaged Business Enterprise programs. I guess HBCUs were in fact the target after all.

So, did George Bush not have all the "facts" when he signed last February's executive order on HBCUs? Was he not briefed that HBCU stands for Historically Black Colleges and Universities? Or did he misunderstand that to mean the institutions are all painted black, or that the students all mope around dressed in black, with Morrisey blasting on their MP3s. Did he just not have good intelligence information on a subject so obviously foreign to him? HBCUs? WMDs? Should we really expect him to have figured out all those darned acronyms & abbreviations?

Posted by MB at July 23, 2003 09:47 AM | TrackBack