Unpopular Opinion: Bennett College is screwed

[TexasTowelie]

Things don’t look good for Bennett College, Greensboro’s 145-year-old private HBCU. On Tuesday, governing bodies announced that, in its second year of probation for enrollment and financial issues, the school will lose its accreditation at the end of the year. The decision has been appealed, with a final call scheduled for February, but it doesn’t look good.

Bennett College, founded in 1873 as a teacher’s college for freed slaves, became in 1926 one of just two colleges in the country exclusively for black women — the other is Spellman College in Atlanta.

Think about that: In Greensboro, at the height of Jim Crow, they were giving college degrees to black women. That sort of enterprise — along with the Underground Railroad near Guilford College and the civil rights warhorse that is NC A&T University — is woven into the fabric of the city. Bennett Belles were integral to the Woolworth Sit-Ins, and so many have gone on to public service in the Triad it’s impossible to name them all, but the list includes Yvonne Johnson, who was Greensboro’s first black mayor and sitting councilmember, and Carolyn Payton, the first African American to head the Peace Corps.

But the allure of the school has paled in recent years — currently there are just 469 students, and while nearby A&T, which is a state school while Bennett is a private one, has undergone millions of dollars in upgrades, there has been no significant new construction on the campus for decades.

Read more: https://triad-city-beat.com/unpopular-opinion-bennett-college-is-screwed/

[littlemissmartypants]

1. Sad to see this. Thanks for the post, TT. ♡ eom

[TexasTowelie]

2. You're welcome.

With the predicted decrease in the number of college-aged students, along with additional options such as online courses which results in fewer students living on campus, it leaves the residence halls at less than full occupancy. The universities that are struggling financially are going to be winnowed out by the accreditation boards. It's a shame that the accreditation boards are dismantling the smaller universities with their financial requirements. That phenomenon is going to appear more prevalently at universities such as HBCUs and all-women universities because of societal inequities.

Hopefully, a benefactor will come to the rescue of Bennett College. From what I've read, it does offer STEM degrees so I hope that means that there are some alumni that might be able to save the college.

[littlemissmartypants]

3. I love your positive outlook and I hope that your ideas are prescient. eom