Frederick V. Engram Jr., EdD., is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education at Fairleigh Dickinson University. Dr. Engram teaches courses in the history of higher education, critical race theory, and diversity and social justice in higher education. His research is rooted in critically assessing the ways that African Americans make sense of their experiences with anti-Black racism within higher education and the criminal justice system. He is also the author of Black Liberation through Action and Resistance: MOVE (2024).
Higher education is often hailed as the great equalizer. It is said to be a direct pathway toward the middle class. For members of marginalized populations higher education still remains one of the best ticket-punching options for exiting poverty. An option that has carried generations of African Americans into the helping professions and away from redlined communities intended to keep them there. Once African Americans and other marginalized group members began attending institutions of higher learning in large numbers, higher education then became a debt creating enterprise. Shows like A Different World aided in creating awareness about HBCU culture and inspired a generation of students to attend, in spite of.
Higher Education is Not for You!
The intentional creation of a debt crisis tied to higher learning would ultimately become an impediment to reaching the middle class. It also placed generations of African Americans, who for some time were advancing steadily, into a financial dilemma. The financial dilemma? Debt! The idea of taking on an insurmountable amount of debt to attend college or a university placed this idea squarely out of reach. People were already having a hard time making ends meet within their homes. Sending a child to college while still needing to provide for the mouths that remained in the home financially burdened families.
However, this did not stop African American families from figuring out ways to exit their redlined communities. My own great-great-grandfather Fletcher Baynard instilled the importance of exiting poverty upon his children. He sent his sons into the military as a means of earning income, maturing, and returning ready to keep and maintain their own homes. Fletcher had a different approach with his girls. That approach was for his girls, my great-grandmother being one of them, to attend school. Fletcher did not intend to only support the uplift of his sons he intended to see his daughters also succeed in meaningful ways.
When considering that many American colleges were built upon the backs of those whom they enslaved, on land stolen from Native Nations. Making education accessible to all without unfair conditions is a noble thing to do. For many, attending a college or university became out of reach as a result of the urging of Governor Reagan, in the 1960s, to make doing so difficult for those considered undesirable. Political figures with axes to grind concerning the uplift of marginalized communities continue to create barriers for exiting impoverished conditions. In spite of all of the obstacles presented during this time the number of African Americans and other marginalized groups enrolling into college continued to grow.
Anti-Black Legal Interventions
There is a great deal of talk about wokeness and DEI hires which seem to operate as a means of belittling the achievements of those considered undesirable. However, the reason that folks are most upset with DEI and affirmative action is because the barriers to entry have become manageable. African Americans, who were already academically thriving, were no longer legally allowed to be excluded. Affirmative action was never about giving the undeserving an opportunity. It was about clearing a path that was otherwise unclear because of anti-Black sentiments in white higher education spaces. The precedent allowed for folks who would already be admitted or hired based upon their qualifications and credentials alone to have an unencumbered chance.
The reversal of affirmative action and initiatives tied to diversity, equity, and inclusion forces each of our American institutions to show their hands. Many American institutions of higher learning immediately reverted back to how they were before affirmative action was set into place. Thus, proving that all of their initiatives were performative at best and fragile at the least. HEIs were far too quick to revert back to times where naming racism, anti-Blackness, or white supremacy made you the antagonist. I am often critical of marginal steps within the fight for liberation because they are used as a point of distraction (see: Juneteenth ice cream and plates).
These initiatives are often a converging interest which legal scholar and law professor Derrick Bell warned us against. Our aim should always be liberatory. Liberatory in that we have removed all barriers legally or socially placed to keep the marginalized from advancing and removing the power and authority of those committed to continuing violent exclusionary behaviors.
Progress Must be Expedient and Deliberate
Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas was believed to be the solvent for the separate but equal doctrine. However, much like the Emancipation Proclamation of 1863, which said that those enslaved in the confederacy were free. However, it did not force all states to deliberately re-write their constitutions and bylaws as it pertained to the system of enslavement with expediency. As such, in 2022, and in 2024 states are still voting to abolish the practice of slavery. As a result of the initial defiance of Brown v. Board of Education I, Brown v. Board of Education II was arguably necessary in that it forced states to hurry up regarding the reversal of their segregation.
What I do believe is a key aspect that should be a roadmap for reversing systemic inequality is to do so without haste. While also placing parameters in place which will allow for the balancing of systems and structures that have gone ignored for ages. We must be as deliberate about combating and resisting the revival of the parts of our history that aim to keep the marginalized oppressed, and the oppressors pretending to be victims. If HEIs and our leadership do not immediately begin to combat the oligarchal rule that is attacking our institutions and their progress, higher education in its current form will cease to exist.
Diversity, equity, inclusion, and affirmative action were never about favoritism. It is then up to the majority of us, white people included, to push back and resist this coming occupation. Racism, sexism, anti-Blackness, and white supremacy are not advantageous to any of us who desire a more progressive society.
What stands before us is an opportunity to capitalize on many of the benefits of diverse institutions. Everyone benefits from having an opportunity to share space with individuals from different backgrounds. Growth exists just on the opposite side of fear. Now is the perfect opportunity for us to embrace growth and the enhancements that it will inevitably bring. Higher education can indeed be the great equalizer, but it is up to us as stakeholders to make it so. Being diverse, equitable, and inclusive is advantageous and provides a clear pathway to the future of higher education where everyone can thrive.