*In this photo:* DSU President Harry Williams, standing behind President Trump, joins other HBCU presidents for the Executive Order signing. To the right of Trump in yellow outfit is Dr. Cynthia Jackson-Hammond, former DSU chair, now president of Central St. Univ.

On Campus

DSU President & HBCU Leaders Meet With Trump Administration

Wednesday, March 1, 2017

DSU President Harry L. Williams spent Feb. 27-28 at the White House where he joined forces with an army of HBCU presidents to educate the Trump Administration and Congressional Republicans about the value and the needs of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

To view a Thurgood Marshall College Fund video that features Dr. Williams and other HBCU presidents discussing the White House events, see the below video, which is followed by a continuation of the article.

Dr. Williams was among the 88 HBCU presidents who flew into Washington, D.C. for a series of meetings that included Vice President Mike Pence, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, Sen. Mark Rubio, U.S. House Education Committee Chair Virginia Foxx, Sen. Tim Scott, Rep. Mark Walker and others.

The HBCU presidents also met with Trump Administration top officials such as Steve Bannon, Reince Priebus and Kellyanne Conway. Both the administration officials and the Congressional Republicans expressed to the HBCU leaders their commitment to HBCUs.

Later that Monday, the entire group of HBCU presidents was ushered into the Oval Office for a widely publicized photo op with President Donald Trump.

“We had been at the White House before for a meeting with the White House Initiative on HBCUs during the Obama Administration, but this was the first time I have ever known us to be invited into the Oval Office,” Dr. Williams said.

The DSU president was asked to remain in Washington on the following day with a smaller select group of HBCU presidents to return to the Oval Office to witness President Trump’s signing of an executive order concerning the White House Initiative on HBCUs. Also in attendance for the signing were the leaders of HBCU advocacy organizations that were instrumental in making these meetings happen – Dr. Johnny Taylor, president and CEO of the Thurgood Marshall College Fund; Dr. Michael Lomax, president and CEO of the United Negro College Fund; and Dr. Lezli Baskerville, president and CEO of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO).

Dr. Williams said that the invitation to go to the White House to meet with Congressional Republicans and the Trump Administration to discuss the needs and challenges of HBCUs was an opportunity that could not be passed up.

“It was important as HBCU presidents for us to be at that important table and collectively share the importance of HBCUs and why the federal government should increase its investment in our black colleges and universities, and most importantly, in our students,” Dr. Williams said. “We have received a commitment from President Trump and his top administration officials that HBCUs will be ‘an absolute priority.’ Now it will be the responsibility of HBCU presidents and its advocate organizations to do their part to continue the dialogue with this administration and ensure that it follows through on the commitment it has made.”

Dr. Williams added that the executive order that directed that the White House Initiative on HBCUs be moved from under the Department of Education and instead be housed in the White House is a good first step by the new administration.

“This should provide an improved conduit for communications between the administration and HBCUs; with this change, along with the commitments we have heard from President Trump, his administration officials and congressional representatives, I am cautiously optimistic,” Dr. Williams said. “While some have expressed disappointment that no funding was included in that order, this process should not be viewed as a sprint, but rather as a longer race in which there will be some back and forth over a period of time, but through which, hopefully, the Trump Administration will stay true to its word.”

According to Dr. Williams, the HBCU presidents specifically asked the congressional representatives and the administration to:

Increase and extend funding for Pell Grant financial aid to help students during the institutions’ summer semesters as well as during the fall and spring semesters.
For the federal government to invest $25 billion to go toward scholarships, technology and infrastructure improvements at Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
And for greater accessibility for grant providers such as the National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health and NASA to help provide more opportunities for the researchers at HBCUs.

While in Washington, D.C., Dr. Williams also met with Delaware’s U.S. Sen. Chris Coons and the First State’s newest Congressional Delegation member, U.S. Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester. A scheduled meeting with Delaware Senior Sen. Tom Carper had to be postponed when one of the White House meeting extended into that appointment time; Dr. Williams will meet with Sen. Carper in Dover on March 2 to debrief him on the White House event.