Morehouse Pride: Stronger Together or Mission Diluted?

Since we’re nearing the end of Pride Month, I wanted to share this IG post from my alma mater, Morehouse College. It triggered a reaction that reminds me we’re not entirely out of the woods when it comes to “woke” or DEI influences in academia.

Via Morehouse IG

Here’s the caption that accompanied the post:

The House is Stronger Together.

This Pride Month, Morehouse College celebrates the diversity of experiences, perspectives, and identities that enrich our community and strengthen our collective pursuit of excellence.

As an institution grounded in the values of dignity, respect, belonging, and leadership, we recognize the contributions of LGBTQIA+ students, alumni, faculty, staff, and supporters whose lives and work help shape The House. We affirm the importance of creating a community where every individual is valued, every voice is heard, and every person has the opportunity to thrive.

Happy #Pride2026.

'Let's go Brandon' to speak at Morehouse College commencement

Morehouse College 

And there are some objections to this as you will see from this recent NBC Chicago article:

Morehouse College is set to announce that President Joe Biden will deliver its commencement address on May 19, but some faculty members have raised concerns about the decision, according to two people familiar with the matter and an email to faculty members reviewed by NBC News.

“This week, I received an inquiry from concerned faculty about rumors they were hearing about President Biden’s selection as the 2024 Commencement speaker,” Kendrick Brown, Morehouse College’s provost and senior vice president for academic affairs, wrote in the email to faculty members Friday.

Brown said he would convene a virtual meeting Thursday “to extend an opportunity for faculty with different perspectives on the selection of our Commencement speaker to ask questions and make comments.” He said students would also engage with college President David Thomas.

...

A Morehouse faculty member told NBC News administrators are believed to be concerned that faculty members will join students in protest of Biden during the ceremony.

The pushback against leadership’s decision comes amid increasing protests on college campuses over Biden’s support for Israel in its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. The protests since the war began in October have already forced Biden, and other top administration officials, to dramatically scale back appearances at college campuses.

Ah, OK.

I don't believe President Joe Biden is particularly popular anyway. This will give the school necessary attention as probably happened when President Obama delivered his commencement address years ago.

However, with that conflict going on in Gaza, now I see why the protests. What's popular with students on college campuses is protesting in favor of the Palestinians and against the Israeli responses to Hamas' attacks. 

Georgia US Senate runoff - no surprise

 

[VIDEO] Raphael Warnock wins a full term in the US Senate. He defeats former NFL legend Herschel Walker in last nite's runoff election. In the November midterms both men failed to garner 51% percent of the vote.

Warnock who is the pastor of Ebenezer Baptist Church is known for his pro-life positions and has stated as much on several occasions. Walker I just characterize as not very quick on his feet had some baggage during most of the 2022 campaign which includes him masquerading as law enforcements and allegations that he's paid for abortions.

With this said Warnock was the incumbent and was in a strong position anyway and I wasn't sure Walker was going to be able to overcome that. He didn't.

And now we see a congratulatory tweet from Warnock and my own alma mater...

Congratulations to our brother and now 2x Georgia Senator, Dr. @ReverendWarnock '91!! We are proud of the continued example of integrity, service, & leadership that you set for our students, Georgia, and our nation.

Students, your vote ALWAYS matters. ONWARD. #EtFactaEstLux pic.twitter.com/XlvZyjvj8r

— Morehouse College (@Morehouse) December 7, 2022

O'Reilly: President calls former Congressman Cedric Richmond 'boy'

 

[VIDEO] Bill O'Reilly notes in fairness that President Biden corrected himself, however, he noted if it had been President Trump or perhaps any other Republican we might not hear the end of this. The current President Joe Biden may well get a pass for this and I do believe he actually misspoke - thus I will make no reference to any cognitive impairment which is often being discussed with Biden.

With this said before I saw the clip of Biden's remarks which is with regards to the recent hurricane that made landfall in Louisiana with regards his senior advisor Richmond I was just about to get upset. I don't think I'd agree with many of Richmond's ideas I'm right of center and he's to the left. At the same time he's my Morehouse brother and he's due a lot more respect than to just be called "boy".

Also President Biden is known for making questionable racial statements. For example when he became president he claimed Black business people don't have lawyers or accountants. A sloppy statement to say the least....

Prof. Tobe Johnson's celebration of life #Morehouse

I didn't get to watch the livestream of Prof. Tobe Johnson's memorial service which was held on campus this past Friday. So for those of you who are part of the Morehouse community and certainly those of you who may have been his students in the political science department I'm sharing this with you if you just so happened to have missed this.

Prof. Tobe Johnson R.I.P.

 When I first started this blog I had a class with Prof. Tobe Johnson and to be honest he had faded me in this course once before. The concepts he expected his students to know to be honest was going over my head, and once I became determined to understand the concepts I had an aha moment and so did he. He knew I got it, and smooth sailing since then and took two other classes with him until finally graduating in 2009.

So I've taken with him "grammar of politics" or scope & methods of political science, urban management and policy analysis, and finally financial management of local government. The one thing I had failed to do then was take him for senior thesis. By the time I graduated seniors in pol. sci. didn't have to take senior thesis, but do a capstone project at the end of their matriculation.

What I can say today is that I survived Dr. Johnson and I actually survived Morehouse College. To be honest it is still surprising to me even now. Just wish I picked his brain more.

And although Rev. Warnock is projected to win the runoff...

 Profs argue Georgia runoffs are racist via Campus Reform.

Are you freakin' kidding me, my Morehouse Brother is projected to win over incumbent Republican Senator Kelly Loefler and this is coming out.

Morehouse College professor Adrienne Jones and Southern Methodist University professor Cal Jillson explained that the history of the Georgia runoff elections is racist in nature. When asked whether the modern runoff system is “undergirded in racist intent,” Jones noted that runoffs continue to be “difficult for black communities.”

In an interview with Boston’s NPR network, Jones reacted to an audio clip of a former state legislator who had lost his seat after the vote was split between himself, another White candidate, and a Black candidate. She said that his comments sounded like President Donald Trump’s phone call with the Georgia Secretary of State because Trump “couldn’t believe that he lost his race” and “demanded a recount.”

Jillson added that after the county unit system — which skewed voting power away from majority African-American regions and toward predominantly White regions of the state — was declared unconstitutional, Georgia added the runoff system.

He explained that this occurred as part of the trend of federal courts outlawing “various elements of the Jim Crow” electoral system, followed by state officials finding new ways to continue Jim Crow practices.

h/t Instapundit

I think the runoffs have debunked this quite frankly but then who knows in these unprecedented times this might prove for those professors to be an exception.

I don't know if there has been any concessions, but with the issues that Georgia had in the 2020 presidential race hopefully we will see recounts which I believe is fair. 

A billionaire who pledged to pay off college students loans could face tax evasion charges...

Remember when Robert Smith last year for the Morehouse College class of 2019 gave each student a grant that would pay off their student loans. Well, I'm sure Morehouse men have something to discuss with this news:

Robert Smith, the billionaire who made headlines last year after saying he would wipe off the student debt of the entire Morehouse College 2019 graduating class, is facing an investigation into potential tax crimes, according to a report from Bloomberg on Friday.

Bloomberg cited four unnamed sources, some of whom said the Justice Department and IRS agents had been investigating him for the past four years.

Federal authorities are said to be examining whether Smith - a billionaire tech investor and philanthropist who is the founder and CEO of Vista Equity Partners - owes taxes on $200 million in assets that were moved through offshore entities.

A key factor in the investigation, Bloomberg reported, is whether Smith was the beneficial owner of Caribbean entities that received proceeds from Vista's private-equity fund.

Some of those proceeds flowed through offshore entities into an American charitable foundation presided over by Smith, who is its founding director, the report said.

The next question is whether or not he let down the Morehouse College class of '19?

Morehouse alum Herman Cain dies of coronavirus

This news really broke this morning, however, I had already published another post by the time it broke.

JUST IN: Herman Cain, a prominent Black Republican who sought the presidential nomination in 2012, has died from the coronavirus at age 74.

— NPR Politics (@nprpolitics) July 30, 2020

I learned later that Mr. Cain had been diagnosed with colon cancer back in 2006 and was reportedly in remission however he attended that Trump rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma last month. At this rally it was also reported that the current Governor of OK Kevin Stitt had also tested positive for coronavirus.

I saw Mr. Cain - my Morehouse brother - speak on campus while at school it had to have been during the time he ran for the US Senate seat then held by Democrat Zell Miller in his native Georgia where he lost in the GOP primary to the man who got elected to that seat Johnny Isakson. A main part of his speech to us during a Crown Forum was success as I do remember him using that word many times. I do not recall if he said anything overtly political at the time. It was probably a non-political speech to the men of Morehouse at the time.

This virus is nasty and persistent and it brings home that we're not out of the woods of it yet. I had hoped we would be. As always take your precautions wash your hands, when necessary wear a mask, and maintain social distancing.

While this nation is undergoing unrest - especially Portland - we still got to contend with this very infectious pathogen that we're still trying to get control over.

Via Morehouse College fb

I share this photo because in 2012, Mr. Cain took the reigns of former nationally syndicated radio talk host Neal Boortz' program. This photo was posted to the Morehouse College facebook page at the time and unfortunately saw a number of negative comments directed towards Cain. Whoever administers the Morehouse fb page made such a magnanimous statement with regards to Cain's views:

Our graduates go out and make their marks in the world in business, athletics, finance, the liberal arts, media and politics. Our graduates' political stances or persuasions, whatever they may be, are their own personal decisions and/or beliefs. We are proud of the work that all Morehouse Men do in changing and influencing the world they live in. That is what makes a Morehouse Man a Morehouse Man.

Yes, Morehouse should be proud of his accomplishment regardless of his views.

Rest in power! 

New program from Morehouse to eliminate student loan debt

This is from yesterday according to Inside Higher Ed:

The new Morehouse College Student Success Program will solicit and accept donations made specifically to reduce or eliminate students' debt load. Administrators at the historically black institution say they hope the program "becomes a new model for HBCUs and other liberal arts institutions seeking strategies to offset the stress of student debt on alumni and their families," according to a statement released by the college. A study of student loans among HBCU students found that they are more likely to seek loans from more costly sources and have more difficulty repaying them.

Morehouse's Office of Institutional Advancement is in talks with philanthropists, corporate partners and other supporters who have expressed interest in donating to the new program. College officials did not say whether the new initiative was related to the widely covered announcement in May by a billionaire businessman, Robert Smith, that he would pay off an estimated $40 million in college loans owed by students in Morehouse's graduating class of 2019. (He also gave Morehouse $1.5 million in January to fund an endowed scholarship program.) A spokeswoman for the college said details about the total debt of that year's class, and a formal process for paying off the various types of loans the students hold, are still being finalized.

I just got to do some more digging on this. From Black Enterprise:

In light of America’s massive student loan debt crisis, which has ballooned to a whopping $1.5 trillion, Morehouse College announced a new program designed to help relieve the burden of debt for its graduates.

According to the United Negro College Fund (UNCF), 80% of HBCU students use federal loans to fund their education, compared to 55% of their peers at other private and state institutions. HBCU graduates also borrow nearly twice as much than non-HBCU students, while 1 in 4 HBCU students borrow at least $40,000 to attend college. At Morehouse, the average graduate owes between $35,000 and $40,000 in student loans.

It's great to see some attention given to this subject. What can any higher education institution do to lower the student debt burden of students? And how do we stabilize the cost of higher ed?

#MorehouseGrad2019 Robert F. Smith's pledge to Morehouse's graduates

[VIDEO] I posted this over at Shedd School blog on Monday. It's from the mouth of Robert F. Smith who not only got an honorary degree from Morehouse College, but also pledge a grant for those 400 graduates on Sunday to pay off their student loans. An estimated gift of $40 million that gives them some fuel in their tanks as they begin their lives after undergrad.

And as I said in that post over at that other blog, where was he 10 years ago. :P

Also if you want to watch the full commencement speech, I got it on yet another blog.

Today's big news for Morehouse's #Classof2019

From Atlanta's WSB-TV a billionaire is offering a grant to eliminate the student loan debt for Morehouse College's class of 2019. Where was this man at 10 years ago? :o

Billionaire Robert F. Smith, who received an honorary doctorate at Morehouse College’s Sunday morning graduation exercises, had already announced a $1.5 million gift to the school.

But during his remarks in front of the nearly 400 graduating seniors, the billionaire technology investor and philanthropist surprised some by announcing that his family was providing a grant to eliminate the student debt of the entire Class of 2019.

“This is my class,” he said, “and I know my class will pay this forward.”
...
The gift has been estimated at $40 million.

I just have to see what this man looks like. Here's a tweet from Morehouse College!

"My family is going to create a grant to eliminate your student loans!" -Robert F. Smith told the graduating Class of 2019 @RFS_Vista #MorehouseGrad2019 pic.twitter.com/etG8JhVA46

— Morehouse College (@Morehouse) May 19, 2019

 

Today is the day #Classof2019

I can't believe it's been 10 years for me already. It was a bit of a good stretch of road to get my own Morehouse degree, but happened. Still can't believe it.

Meanwhile today, under what appears to be clear skies - and I wasn't so lucky 10 years ago - the Morehouse College class of 2019 are having their commencement.

View this post on Instagram

#Repost @vhaftel ・・・ Morehouse commencement 2019

A post shared by Everybody's Somebody (@auccam) on May 19, 2019 at 6:38am PDT

Morehouse College to consider transgender men

The transgender issue has finally reached the halls of Morehouse College. For those of you who don't know I graduated from Morehouse in 2009 with a BA in pol. sci. and it's the only liberal arts college for Black men.

I also want to note what a difference a decade makes as before graduating it was being debated in my religion class with Dr. Aaron Parker any issues with gay students or cross-dressing students. I wrote about it on this blog at that time and while I never offered my thoughts in class I offered my thoughts. It just shows how my views on that issue from that time had evolved. The thoughts in that earlier post doesn't reflect what I think about homosexuality today.

With this said, it seemed that back then the burning social debate a decade ago was whether or not gay couples should be married. Then a few years after graduating we've resolved this issue, and now the burning social issues of our time is transgender rights. Morehouse is attempting to address this with their new admissions policy as you will see below from The Maroon Tiger.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The Maroon Tiger (@themaroontiger) on Apr 13, 2019 at 4:26pm PDT

There's probably a nuance here I don't understand, however, it appears nothing has really changed. If you're a woman transitioning to becoming a man you won't be admitted and if you're a man who decides during his enrollment that he wants to transition to becoming a woman then he won't automatically be eligible for a degree.

It seems as far as whether or not a young man wants to transition into living as a member of the opposite gender a lot of counseling will have to be involved. This I actually agree with one should be able to talk with someone about something I consider an extreme step. I suppose the question to be asked for someone who wants to significantly alter their identity in this way is whether or not they need to stay at a school that wants to retain their masculine identity.

Morehouse College President inauguration

[VIDEO] It's not often that I talk about Morehouse College here on this blog. Bear in mind I created this blog and others in a dorm room (or actually in a computer lab in some instances). This is momentous occasion to see Dr. David A. Thomas officially inaugurated at Morehouse College. The pomp and circumstance of the ceremony to install Dr. Thomas.

An important fact of Dr. Thomas who has been president of Morehouse since just last year, is in fact the first since Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays to have not been a graduate of Morehouse. It would be very interesting what will be an important mark of his tenure.

Just bear in mind that in 2017, Morehouse had faced some major leadership issues that resulted in both the previous president Dr. John Silvanus Wilson and board of trustees chairman Robert Davidson departed from their roles.

I'm sorry to say if you don't like long videos this is about three hours long. If you have time feel free to watch and if you wish fast forward to roughly the 20 min mark to see this ceremony start.

First year student housing issues at CAU

I can relate somewhat with the students of Clark-Atlanta University who are experience some issues with their housing as they began their fall semester:

Clark Atlanta University freshman and sophomores must live on campus to ensure they “receive a strong foundation and create a path of success,” the school’s website says.

But for many students, campus living served as a distracting stressor instead of a stabilizing element on the first day of the fall semester. Sophomore Asma Alamin spent Wednesday morning in Augusta, where she lives, seeking information about temporary housing instead of going to class like she’d planned.

The 23-year-old received an email from CAU in April that included her housing assignment and roommate’s name. When she got to campus on Monday, there was a “huge line” of students waiting for dorm keys.

The students were eventually asked to sign in and wait for a call with more information, Alamin said. The school later told her no dorms were available.

“I feel like Clark needs to be there for their students,” the pre-med student said Wednesday. Alamin said she feels let down, having had higher expectations for the Historically Black College and University (HBCU).

A CAU spokesman said in a statement Monday that students who hadn’t completed the “financial enrollment process are being offered temporary housing.” Alamin said that option wasn’t presented to her.

Alluded to in an article from The Root:

Clark Atlanta’s crisis is indicative of the problems of many small colleges. Institutions that are financially strapped or don’t have large endowments like larger, predominately white institutions that often survive on the revenue from tuition and housing. Because of this, these kinds of issues become prevalent, especially at historically black colleges.

Sara Goldrick-Rab, a professor of higher education policy and sociology who researches college housing at Temple University, says colleges force students to live on campus oftentimes because colleges view housing as a money-maker.

Ahhhh housing is a money maker, but then what excuse does CAU have to not having housing available for students? I wanted to say HBCUs should do better, and why because many of their students are coming from backgrounds which enables them to procure student loans and grants. And if CAU is a lot like Morehouse - a private university - going there isn't cheap.

My experience at Morehouse especially during the first decade of the 21st century gave me a lesson about how Morehouse ran their affairs. There were points where I feel as if the prestigious institution could've done some things more efficiently especially registration, housing or financial aid. Perhaps make it more easier for students and their families to understand the process. I often felt Morehouse had nothing on the community college I left behind to go to Atlanta.

Then someone shared this article which shows it's not just HBCUs that have this problem. Evidently this is a problem at UC Berkely, having more students than beds to provide for them - especially if they must stay on campus the first two years of college.

There has to be a solution. Perhaps stop enrolling more students than they can accomodate. Perhaps make some changes to their procedures in situations like this. Perhaps find ways to accomodate the demand and that might mean you'd have to create some housing in the surrounding neighborhoods which during my time at Morehouse didn't exist.

What can we do about it?

Univesity transfer students are now sought out...

As stated in another post I was a transfer student to Morehouse College from the City Colleges of Chicago in the last decade. While I think this is good news for transfer students - especially since the Ivy League Princeton University had accepted 13 for the first time since 1980 - there is a reason for this:

Transfer students, who make up 38 percent of all students in higher education, have always helped a university’s revenue by replacing students who leave after the first or second year. But behind the new interest in courting them lies one stark reality: Undergraduate enrollment is declining and has been for six years, according to the National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit education research organization.

That is because of a demographic shift as the number of high school graduates is projected to decline over the next decade, particularly in the Midwest and Northeast. In addition, when the economy improves, the job market becomes more attractive to some high school graduates than college.

As if that weren’t enough, fewer international students are enrolling in American colleges, after years of intensive growth, partly because of the nation’s more restrictive views on immigration and partly because English-speaking countries such as Canada and Australia are luring away such students.

Transfer students can offer the racial, ethnic and socioeconomic diversity schools are seeking. Of the 13 Princeton accepted — 10 of whom are enrolling in the fall — eight served or are currently serving in active duty in the military and eight, as the university put it in its news release, “self-identified as people of color.”

So this is as much about keeping enrollment at a university at a decent level in addition to looking into diversity. Not only racial diversity, though certainly for diversity of backgrounds such as military.

I must say, I wish the economy had been much better when I graduated from high school. Indeed I wish I had been more of a figure it out as I go about not just jobs, but as far as finding a job. Better yet sometimes I wish the schools had been a lot better with getting students ready for the real world college or not.

Of course there is more to it than that so read the whole thing.

Morehouse College President moves into a dormitory!

As an alum of Morehouse College who never had the opportunity to attend New Student Orientation as a transfer student, I would do exactly what President David Thomas is doing. While he is moving into a student dorm, I presume he's also participating in some of the aspects of orientation.

Joining our @Morehouse freshmen in moving into my room in historic Graves Hall to start #MorehouseNSO. First, unpacking my bags before I'm to attend a mandatory resident hall meeting! pic.twitter.com/AN1lQcFal0

— Dr. David A. Thomas (@MorehousePrez) August 7, 2018

Here's an article on this from the Atlanta Journal Constitution.

Want an example of NSO you should find in your local library a documentary called Morehouse Men. Hopefully you all still have VCRs and hopefully there is actually a DVD copy or perhaps some very ingenious individual has created a digital copy by now! 

Stossel: The College Scam

[VIDEO] Bryan Caplan who is introduced in this recent video from John Stossel as a professor who is the author of The Case Against Education talks about "the college scam". He states something that I have actually stated for years in his words we need to get back where college actually distinguishes you. I would say college shouldn't just be treated as another high school diploma.

He takes it further, and say college shouldn't be so readily accessible. I suppose I have to read his book to see what he means by this. Although I can discuss my experience having gone to Morehouse which had few of the amenities during my time there as seen in many of the colleges listed in the video. For example, Morehouse probably still doesn't have a wall to climb up...

I could say more, however, right now I want you to watch this video...

Where is Tim Cunningham? #Blackandmissing

[VIDEO] Tim Cunningham - graduate of Morehouse College - has been missing for two weeks. A officer with the Atlanta, Georgia police Major Michael O'Connor discusses the details of this missing person case.

BTW, I have seen some other videos on YouTube regarding his disappearance. Some of them seem to suggest a conspiracy especially since Cunningham works for the Center for Disease Control. At this point I'm sure what his family wishes for is his safe return.

Again here's an instagram post from Morehouse College