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W. R. Allen
SOCIOLOGY AS A SCIENCE: NEW CHALLENGES OF THE 21st CENTURY
DOI: 10.14515/monitoring.2018.5.09 Правильная ссылка на статью:
Аллен У. Р. Высшее образование в США: история, современное положение, тенденции // Мониторинг общественного мнения : Экономические и социальные перемены. 2018. № 5. С. 81—90. https://doi.org/10.14515/monitoring.2018.5.09. For citation:
Allen W. R. (2018) Higher education in the USA: memory, status, and trends. Monitoring of Public Opinion:Economic and Social Changes. No. 5. P. 81—90. https://doi.org/10.14515/ monitoring.2018.5.09.
W. R. Allen
HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE USA: MEMORY, STATUS, AND TRENDS
HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE USA: MEMORY, STATUS, AND TRENDS
Walter R. ALLEN1 — Ph.D., Distinguished Professor
E-MAIL: allen@gseis.ucla.edu
1 University of California, Los Angeles, USA
Abstract. This article examines how and why Blacks continue to be severely un-derrepresented in United States colleges and universities. Longitudinal analysis of Black student enrollment and degree completion at public, four-year institutions reveals the proportion of Blacks in state populations is consistently below the proportion Blacks attending state
ВЫСШЕЕ ОБРАЗОВАНИЕ В США: ИСТОРИЯ, СОВРЕМЕННОЕ ПОЛОЖЕНИЕ, ТЕНДЕНЦИИ
АЛЛЕН Уолтер — Ph.D., заслуженный профессор, Калифорнийский университет в Лос-Анджелесе, Лос-Анджелес, США.
E-MAIL: allen@gseis.ucla.edu
Аннотация. Основная исследовательская задача статьи состоит в том, чтобы разобраться, как и почему количество афроамериканских студентов в высшей школе США не соответствует в пропорциональном отношении количеству афроамериканского населения страны. Лонгитюдный анализ статистики поступивших и окончивших четырех-
universities. The number of African American students at flagships has declined; but more Black students attend Black- Serving institutions, and Historically Black Colleges and Universities. The theory and research of the great twentieth century intellectual W. E. B. DuBois helps to frame and explain the barriers to Black access and success in U. S. higher education.
Keywords: Blacks, higher education, inequality, W. E. B. DuBois, IPEDS data, Flagship Universities, Black Serving Institutions (BSIs), Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs)
летние программы обучения в высших учебных заведениях показывает, что число афроамериканских студентов в элитных университетах постоянно уменьшается. В основном афроаме-риканские студенты обучаются в «исторически сложившихся негритянских» колледжах и университетах США. Теоретико-методологические схемы, разработанные известным интеллектуалом 20 века У.Э.Б. Дюбуа, служат основанием данной работы.
ключевые слова: афроамериканцы, высшее образование, неравенство, У. Э. Б. Дюбуа, элитные университеты, службы содействия обучению афроаме-риканцев, «исторически сложившиеся негритянские» колледжи и университеты
This article 1 appropriately probes the influence of W.E.B. DuBois over my life, my scholarship and the study of Blacks in US higher education. So in this sense my paper will be a movement in 3 parts, perhaps like a European Classical Symphony—but more likely closer to an American jazz composition. I hope you will find and follow the core structure of the key points I make in the midst of the many riffs that will play backward, sideways, forward and around the major themes.
I. W.E.B. DuBois «On My Mind»: His Intellectual and Scholarly Influence Over my Life
I will reflect in this article on DuBois' profound influence over my intellectual development and trajectory as: an undergraduate and graduate student; and as a scholar, researcher, professor and policy analyst. I will also share my amazement at his prescient commentary on the current status of Blacks in US higher education. Not only did DuBois predict, «The Problem of the twentieth century is the problem of the color- line,—the relation of the darker to the lighter races of men in Asia and Africa, in America and the islands of the sea.» [DuBois, 1903: 16]. He also correctly predicted the problems of race now faced by higher education institutions in the United States.
In the first aspect, over my academic career as a student W. E. B. DuBois was my salvation, a lifeline who saved me from drowning in a sea of White, Euro- Centric scholarship (and Whiteness) that dismissed, devalued and denigrated Black people. I can't remember exactly how or when I found my way to The Souls of Black Folks [DuBois, 1903], but I can tell you it was a revelation! In this short, epic book DuBois spoke
1 Revised from the 2018 W. E. B. DuBois Award Lecture for Research Focus on Black Education, Special Interest Group, American Educational Research Association, New York City, April 2018.
the richness, complexity, value, victories, defeats and contradictions of my life as a Black person in America. While the U. S. Supreme Court case, «Brown v Topeka Board of Education» 2, may have outlawed «separate and unequal» on the books, I grew up across the river in Kansas City, Missouri, where «Jim Crow» racial segregation kept Black people firmly on it hooks. DuBois recognized and reported our dignity AND degradation as a people struggling, striving and thriving under the cloud of White Supremacy. His affirmation of our «Souls» [DuBois, 1903] quickened my Spirit and placed my feet on the higher ground of activist scholarship and teaching.
The sociology program at Beloit College (Wisconsin) made no mention of DuBois, instead we studied the «Great» European thinkers in sociology — Karl Marx, Max Weber, Emile Durkheim and Sigmund Freud; spending 15 intensive, in depth weeks reading original works and commentaries on each of these scholars. Aldon Morris' recently published brilliant book, A Scholar Denied: W.E.B. DuBois and the Birth of Modern Sociology, [Morris, 2015] will thankfully spare future generations of Black students the frustration I felt due to the missing «Black voices.» His book provides a powerful «counter-story» that recognizes DuBois' rightful place among the discipline's founders.
Over the years after college, I sought out and read DuBois with great admiration and enthusiasm. I was enthralled with The Philadelphia Negro [DuBois, 1899] as a perfect example of the kind of rigorous, expansive, empirical research I aspired to conduct. I struggled to understand his sweeping historical, political economy study: The Suppression of the Atlantic Slave Trade and Black Reconstruction (DuBois, 1896). I plodded through his historical novel, Quest for the Silver Fleece [DuBois, 1911] and was impressed by its skillful incorporation of literary and social science perspectives. But most importantly, I embraced DuBois' [DuBois, 1903: 3] concept of «Double Consciousness,» describing Blacks as a unique people who embodied the contradictory identities of «African» and «American;» «Old» and «New» World; «Slave» and «Free;» these distilled the complexity of Black life in Canaan—»The Promised Land.»
My «mixed methods» dissertation used Census data, neighborhood surveys and personal interviews to study mobility aspirations among Black and white male high school students and their parents. As my research focus shifted from Black families to Black college students, I attempted to honor DuBois' insistence on the wisdom of multiple data points, recognizing that quantitative, qualitative, historical and even literary perspectives combined to help us better understand the complex story of race in America. I also learned from DuBois the necessity to share empirical research findings, «In A Different Key,» that is to match messaging to audience, to write differently for Ebony Magazine 3 or the American Educational Research Journal 4. But always in my research and writing facing the «North Star,» 5 (i. e., the North Star led escaping slaves to freedom in Canada) with the ultimate purpose of understanding and uplifting Black communities.
2 Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) URL: https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940—1955/347us483 (accessed: 08.10.2018).
3 Ebony Magazine (2018). URL: https://www.ebony.com/ (accessed: 08.10.2018).
4 American Educational Research Journal (2018). URL: http://journalssagepub.com/home/er (accessed: 08.10.2018).
5 North Star Newspaper (1847). Frederick Douglass. URL: https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-North-Star-American-newspaper (accessed: 08.10.2018).
To this day I vividly recall a boisterous argument with the most powerful, senior professor in the University of North Carolina — Chapel Hill department of sociology. He had the temerity, audacity— the arrogance to dismiss W. E. B. DuBois, despite my determined objections. Eventually this Professor lost all decorum and screeched, «DuBois was not a sociologist, he was a journalist!!» Of course I refused to yield the point; I continued to disagree vigorously, even to the point of questioning this Professor's intellect and possibly his ancestry...I forget, you know heat of the moment and all.
Shortly after this exchange of ideas, I decided it would be best to leave Chapel Hill, so I moved to a position in sociology and the Center for African American and African Studies (CAAS) 6 at the University of Michigan. CAAS offered a broad focus on Black culture and institutions across the African Diaspora, so it was the interdisciplinary embodiment of DuBois' scholarly perspective and world view. This rich environment assembled a veritable «Who's Who» of leading historians (e. g., Thomas Holt), psychologists (e. g., Phillip Bowman), sociologists (e.g., Aldon Morris), architects (e. g., James Sandifer), artists (e. g., Jon Lockard), Africanists (e. g., Ali Mazrui), anthropologists (e. g., Niara Sudarkasa) and creative writers (e. g., Gayl Jones) in synergistic exploration of different aspects of the African Diaspora. Added to this «Who's Who» of academics and intellectuals were amazing students who taught faculty as much — if not more— than they learned from us. The rich intellectual soup at CAAS greatly expanded my mind and horizons, rooting me even more firmly in W.E.B. DuBois, as I witness how these stellar scholars embraced his scholarship and perspectives. Professor Karida Brown has written a «love letter to W.E.B. DuBois,» acknowledging his profound impact on her development as a scholar [Brown, 2018]. In this respect I follow Dr. Brown's lead and share my own personal «love story» with the scholarship of this major figure in intellectual history.
II. Status and Trends in Black Higher Education: A Fifty Year Retrospective
It would be a decade after «Brown v Topeka Board of Education» 7 before White campuses — operating «With All Deliberate Speed»— finally began to accept Black students in any substantial numbers [Allen, 1992]. Under pressure from the Courts and Federal enforcement agencies; AND in response to hundreds of urban uprisings, or «race riots,» that threatened the very survival of our nation; Traditionally White Colleges and Universities reluctantly opened their doors to Blacks. By 1975 the majority of Black College students attended White, Institutions, a literal sea change occurred from the 1960s when the majority of Black college students attended Historically Black Colleges and Universities. [Allen, 1992]
As DuBois predicted in 1941 the greatest national expansion in higher education was represented by public universities.
«The demand for high school and college training on the part of the mass of youth in the United States rapidly outran the facilities which private institutions supported by private endowments could furnish, and there arose the public town and city high school
6 Center for African American and African Studies, University of Michigan. URL: https://lsa.umlch.edu/daas (accessed: 08.10.2018).
7 Brown vs Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954) URL: https://www.oyez.org/cases/1940-1955/347us483 (accessed: 08.10.2018).
and the state university ... by the twenty first century the problem of higher education is going to be primarily a problem of the state.» [DuBois, 1973: 129]
Given the heightened importance of a college degree in today's society, higher education has become a critical battleground for racial equity. Forces have mobilized nationally to actively resist and subtly undercut Black progress towards equity in higher education. As DuBois expected much of the growth — and conflict—has been centered in public institutions. Public universities account for a substantial share of U.S. college graduates—this is especially true for Blacks. Therefore, it is imperative to conduct extensive empirical research on the status, trends and prospects of Blacks in U. S. higher education.
As a young assistant professor I read DuBois' impressive Atlanta University research reports. He outlined a 100 year research program to study all aspects of Black culture, life and institutions. I embraced his notion with a necessary modification that pursues this end by a different route. I resolved to graduate 100 Doctoral Students devoted to the study of Black people, who would each later graduate 100 more PhD's, with the pattern repeating and extending into the future. I have implemented this model with great pleasure and result over the 40 plus years of my career. I am proud of this multi-generational, multi- cultural legacy, an army of talented, accomplished academics dedicated to enriching our understanding of Blacks across the Diaspora. This is my greatest career achievement, in an academic career and life well spent. I am eternally grateful for my students, their students and their students' students.
I now briefly share findings from an empirical study of Black enrollment and degree completion in U. S. higher education over 40 years. My graduate student collaborators and I published, «From Bakke to Fisher: African American Students in U. S. Higher Education over Forty Years» [Allen et al., 2018] in a Russell Sage Foundation volume [Gooden, Myers, 2018] commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Kerner Commission Report on the 1960s urban riots 8. We used Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) 9 to examine enrollment and completion trends for Black college students since 1975, across four-year, public universities in the 20 states with the largest numerical Black populations ([Allen et al., 2018], Table 1). In each state, we focus on: 1) the state flagship university, 2) the most prominent Traditionally White, Black-serving institution (BSI), and 3) the most prominent Historically Black College and Universities (HBCU) — if present. Readers can follow the link below to the article and data 10.
Flagship Universities have designated leadership roles and emphasis in state public higher education systems. Traditionally White «Black Serving Institutions» (BSIs), with lower academic prestige have greater representation of Black students, e. g., Georgia State University and Chicago State University, are prominent in the production of Black college graduates. Finally, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), e. g., Morgan State University (MD) or Savannah State University (GA) that were once legally
8 The National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders (1968). [2016] The Kerner Report. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
9 Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System/ IPEDS (2018). URL: https://nces.ed.gov/ipeds/ (accessed: 08.10.2018).
10 https://www.rsfjournal.org/doi/abs/10.7758/RSF.2018.4.6.03.
segregated by race, continue to play significant roles in Black participation in higher education ([Allen et. al., 2018], Table 2).
Importantly, our sample includes states like California, Michigan, Mississippi and Texas that were prominent in national struggles around Court cases to desegregate state higher education systems (e. g. Adams v. Richardson (1973) 11, United States v. Fordice (1992) 12, Ayers v. Fordice (1999) 13) and Court cases that challenged the operation of Affirmative Action policies in state universities (e. g. Bakke vs. U. C. Regents (1978) 14, Gratz vs Bollinger (2003) 15, Grutter vs. Bollinger (2003) 16 and Fisher vs. University of Texas at Austin (2013, 2016) 17).
Across the 40-year period studied, the overall proportion of Black students enrolled at public flagship institutions has remained persistently low ([Allen et al., 2018: 49—55], Table 2). Black undergraduate enrollment at flagship institutions is significantly below the representation of Black people in the state. The most striking example, in 2015, Blacks were nearly 40 percent of total state population but only 13 per cent of undergraduate enrollment at the University of Mississippi [Allen et al., 2018: 48]. Black undergraduate enrollment at the University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and University of Texas, Austin was 4 percent or lower in 2015. This, despite the fact that Black people were 7 percent of California's total population, 15 percent of Michigan's, and 13 percent of Texas'. Black percent undergraduate enrollment only reached double digits at five state flagship institutions nationally: University of Alabama, Louisiana State University, University of Maryland, College Park, University of Mississippi, and State University of New York-Albany (highest percent at 16.6). ([Allen et al., 2018: 49—55], Table 2)
Over the period, traditionally White, «Black Serving Institutions or BSIs reinforced their prominent roles in educating Black college students ([Allen et al., 2018: 49—55], Table 2). This seems to support anti-Affirmative Action arguments that Black students excluded from Flagships will simply «cascade» down to lower ranked institutions, better suited to their academic qualifications. In fact, this pattern of «displacement» represents substantial overall net losses in Black undergraduate enrollment. For example, not only was Black enrollment in California down at University of California flagships Berkeley (4 percent in 1976 to 2.1 percent in 2015) and Los Angeles (5.3 to 3 percent), it also declined at the BSI California State University, Dominguez Hills (33.8 to 12.4 percent). [Allen et al., 2018: 49]. Black undergraduate enrollment also dropped on several other BSI campuses: from 28 percent in 1976 to 16 percent in 2015 at Wayne
11 Adams vs Richardson, 356 F. Supp. 92 (DDC 1973) — Case Law, Justia. URL: https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/ district-courts/FSupp/356/92/1892620/ (accessed: 08.10.2018).
12 United States vs Fordice (1992). United States Supreme Court 505 U.S. 717. URL: https://www.oyez.org/ cases/1991/90-1205 (accessed: 08.10.2018).
13 Ayers vs Fordice, 40 F. Supp. 2d 382 (N. D. Miss. 1999). URL: https://www.oyez.org/cases/1991/90-1205 (accessed: 08.10.2018).
14 Regents of the University of California vs Bakke, 438 U.S. 265 (1978) URL: https://www.oyez.org/cases/1979/76-811 (accessed: 08.10.2018).
15 Gratz vs Bollinger (2003) URL: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-516 (accessed: 08.10.2018).
16 Grutter vs Bollinger (2003) URL: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2002/02-241 (accessed: 08.10.2018).
17 Fisher vs University of Texas at Austin (2016) URL: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2015/14-981 (accessed: 08.10.2018).
State University; 33 to 15 percent at City University of New York, City College and 19 to 12 percent at Temple University [Allen et al., 2018: 51, 53, 54].
Some HBCUs grew in Black proportion enrollment (e. g. Florida A&M University, Lincoln University of Missouri, and Central State University) since 1976, however the majority of HBCUs (11 of 14) decreased between 2.5 percent and 20 percent ([Allen et al., 2018], Table 2). This trend is distinct from the large increases for most other public institutions. The disproportionate growth between BSIs and HBCUs was striking in Georgia, Savannah State University's Black undergraduate enrollment dropped 5 percent (89 to 84 percent by 2015), compared to Georgia State University's 25 percent increase, 16 to 41 percent [Allen et al., 2018: 50].
In general, Black women outnumber Black men in undergraduate and graduate/ professional degree enrollment across all institutional types. However, these gender differences are negligible at select public flagship institutions. For example, in 2015 at University of California flagships Berkeley and Los Angeles, Black women represented 1.1 percent and 1.8 percent compared to 0.9 percent and 1.1 percent of Black men [Allen et al., 2018: 49]. Similarly, at the University of Michigan, only 2.6 percent were Black women, and 1.8 percent were Black men [Allen et al., 2018: 51]. At the end of the day, Black enrollment on these campuses is alarmingly low—for both Black women and Black men.
Black women's percent enrollment in undergraduate and graduate/professional programs at BSIs increased between 1976 and 2015. For example, at the University of Southern Mississippi, undergraduate Black women increased from 7 to 21 percent, and among graduate/professionals, from 7 to 9 percent (Allen et al., 2018:.52). Contrast this with Black women's declining enrollment at City University of New York, City College, undergraduate from 17 to 9 percent, and graduate/ professional from 16 to 8 percent (Allen et al., 2018: 53). Some BSIs saw increased percent enrollment for undergraduate and graduate/professional Black men, including Florida Atlantic University, from 1.5 to 7.2 percent, and 2 to 4 percent ([Allen et al., 2018], Table 2). As well, we find that Black male enrollment declined significantly at California State University-Dominguez Hills, undergraduates from 18 to 4 percent, and graduate/ professionals from 9 to 3 percent [Allen et al., 2018: 49].
The enrollment of Black women varied across HBCUs between 1976 and 2015 ([Allen et al., 2018], Table 2). At Jackson State University, Black women undergraduates increased by from 49 to 58 percent [Allen, et al., 2018: 52]. However, at Alabama State University, Black women graduate/professionals decreased from 70 to 40 percent. Black male percent enrollment declined for undergraduates, 47 to 33 percent and for graduate/ professionals 36 to 21 percent [Allen et al., 2018: 49]. The decreases for Black men at Southern A & M University, were 43 to 34 percent for undergraduates and 32 to 19 percent for graduate/ professionals [Allen et al., 2018: 51].
Our analyses revealed that while Black students increasingly attended lower tier BSIs, Black enrollment at public flagship institutions remained stagnant or declined. Although Black students are mostly denied admission into the ivory gates of flagship institutions, HBCUs and BSIs offer Black students opportunities to attend and complete college. By comparison Black students have mostly lost «share» or declined in numbers at the nation's BSIs. However, HBCUs continue to «punch above their weight,» they
represent only 3 percent of the nation's colleges and universities but in any given year they graduate as much as 25 percent of all Black college BA's.
Unfortunately, our findings confirm the grim picture of inequality for the over one million Blacks in U.S. higher education conveyed by recently published studies [Harper, Simmons, 2018] (see also The Education Trust, 2018 18). W.E.B. DuBois' nearly century old research and reflections on Black higher education help us to better understand the enduring obstacles to Black equality in American society and in U.S. higher education.
III. Wither Black Higher Education?: Where Do We Go From Here?
Recently Black students demanding change at Howard University, a private HBCU in Washington DC, ended their student protest and occupation of the Administration Building (Howard University Student Protest 19). Many of their demands were of the most basic sort —better housing and food; ending sexual harassment and discrimination, and expanding student participation in shared governance. However, the Howard University students also made larger, Existential demands, calling for fundamental changes in the University AND in the society to end racism, sexism, homophobia, poverty and State violence. In this respect the Howard University Student Movement shares tactics and goals with the «Black Lives Matter» 20 Movement driven nationally by young Black and multi- cultural community activists and students. No doubt many of these Howard University students straddle both movements as they demand more relevant education rooted in the real world and seek solutions to the problems that plague their own lives and friends, families and communities.
These young folks remind me of myself at an earlier moment in life, before I became too complacent, too distracted, or simply too tired to speak out and act for progressive social change. I too once dreamed of a new, different world and was determined to risk life, limb and -heaven forbid even career— to realize! Our students point out the inherent contradictions DuBois recognized in 1930 when he asked, «What is the true purpose and value of higher education?» He said,
«—the whole question as to what the education of Negros was truly aiming at... «The matter of a man's earning a living... is and must be important, but surely it can never be so important as the man himself»... The object of education is not to make men carpenters but to make carpenters men.» [DuBois, 1973: 63—64].
The tension between «Work and Education» DuBois referred to in his Address during the 1930 Graduation at Howard University continues to plague higher education today. Economic and social inequality challenge the integrity of Colleges and Universities in multiple ways. Students stagger under the crushing burden of loan debt and are frustrated and discouraged as graduates seeking fulfilling, purposeful, economically viable employment. Sadly, as was true in 1930, «We are graduating young men and women with an intense and overwhelming appetite for wealth and no reasonable way of gratifying it, no philosophy for counteracting it.» [DuBois, 1973: 67].
18 Education Trust (2018). The State of Higher Education Equity. Washington, DC. URL: https://edtrust.org/the-state-of-higher-education-equity/ (accessed: 09.10.2018).
19 Howard University Student Protests 2018. URL: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/30/us/howard-university-scandal. html (accessed: 09.10.2018).
20 «Black Lives Matter» (2018) URL: https://blacklivesmatter.com/ (accessed: 09.10.2018).
Universities are also sagging under the economic pressures resulting from government refusal to value and support accessible, quality higher education. It is difficult to accept that society's growing resistance to investment in higher education (or for that matter K-12 education) is unrelated to the fact that the complexion of students served is increasingly non-White. Addressing similar dilemmas in 1941at Lincoln University, an HBCU in Missouri, DuBois concludes
«The new state system of education, therefore, is faced first of all with this question of income... the present educational system is not designed to meet it. It is a system largely determined by the very economic inequality which it seeks to solve; and the power to administer the system lies all too largely in hands interested in privilege rather than in justice and in class advantage rather than in democratic control.» [DuBois, 1973:131] DuBois judged the situation to be «...baffling and contradictory» [DuBois, 1973: 75]. He then poses the question,
«How are we going to place the Black American on a sure foundation in the modern state? The modern state is primarily business and industry.... The world must eat before it can think. The Negro has not found a solid foundation in that state as yet. He is mainly the unskilled laborer; the casual employee; the man hired last and fired first; the man who must subsist upon the lowest wage and consequently share an undue burden of poverty, crime, insanity and ignorance«[DuBois, 1973: 73] DuBois asks how will Black people navigate. «... the double and dynamic function of tuning in with a machine in action so as neither to wreck the machine nor be crushed or maimed by it.» [DuBois, 1973: 77]. He rejects the notion that resolving this inherent contradiction is impossible; in fact he says «... if it is impossible, our future economic survival is impossible.» Rather the solution lies in «.organized far- seeing effort—by outthinking and outflanking the owners of the world today who are too drunk with their own arrogance and power successfully to oppose us, if we think and learn and do.» [DuBois, 1973:77]
Speaking from beyond the grave, DuBois' voice joins those of a youth Movement that is fast gaining strength. These young people challenge higher education to revisit and revamp our approaches in order to emphasize «.training as human beings in general knowledge and experience; then technical training to guide and do a specific part of the world's work» [DuBois, 1973: 78]. DuBois admonishes, «We have lost something, brothers, wandering in strange lands. We have lost our ideals.». We have come to a generation which seeks advance without ideals—discovery without stars. It cannot be done. Certain great landmarks and guiding facts must stand eternally before us.» [DuBois, 1973: 79].
Among the eternal values DuBois lists are the ideals of economic equity, unyielding hard work, rigorous pursuit of knowledge, sacrifice for the common good and appreciation of life's beauty and joy. It is essential that academics and universities join DuBois to recognize «Three great things are necessary for the spiritual equipment of an institution of learning: Freedom of Spirit, Self-Knowledge and a recognition of the Truth.» [DuBois, 1924: 44] Our young, Black student leaders at Howard University and Black/ Multi- Racial/Multi-Cultural youth Movement leaders across the nation do us a great service when they refuse to «drink the Kool-Aid.» 21. These young people rightly demand that we pursue Social Justice in order to rediscover and make manifest our better selves.
21 Jonestown Massacre (2012). URL: http://mentalfloss.com/article/13015/jonestown-massacre-terrifying-origin-drinking-kool-aid (accessed: 09.10.2018).
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