* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
INTRODUCTORY*
CITY OF BALTIMORE
COUNCIL BILL R
(Resolution)
Introduced by: President Rawlings-Blake
A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Honoring Baltimore City’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities in Celebration of 2009 National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week
FOR the purpose of joining the President, the United States Congress, and the U.S. Department of Education in acknowledging the significant contributions that Historically Black Colleges and Universities have made to the nation and expressing appreciation and pride in the contributions that Baltimore City’s Coppin State University and Morgan State University have made to our children, our City, our State, and our nation.
body
Recitals
In proclaiming August 30th - September 5, 2009 as National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week, the President of the United States issued a statement that reads, in part: “For generations, education has opened doors to untold opportunities and bright futures. Through quality instruction and a personal commitment to hard work, young people in every part of our Nation have gone on to achieve success. Established by men and women of great vision, leadership, and clarity of purpose, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have provided generations of Americans with opportunity, a solid education, and hope.”
“For more than 140 years, HBCUs have released the power of knowledge to countless Americans. Pivotal in the Civil Rights Movement, HBCUs offer us a window into our Nation’s past as well as a path forward. Graduates of HBCUs have gone on to shape the course of American history – from W. E. B. DuBois and Booker T. Washington, to Langston Hughes and Thurgood Marshall. Today, in twenty States, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, these colleges and universities are serving hundreds of thousands of students from every background and have contributed to the expansion of the African American middle class, to the growth of local communities, and to our Nation’s overall economy.”
A U.S. Department of Education report shows that the nation’s HBCUs hold a 130-year record of “significantly increasing the percentage of black Americans who are able to attend college, effectively creating cohorts of black leadership, and helping achieve economic mobilization of African-American communities. HBCUs play the critical role of awarding more than 19% of bachelor’s degrees earned by African-American who receive degrees in physics, chemistry, astronomy, environmental sciences, mathematics and biology and producing nearly 50% of the African-American public school teaching force.
Baltimore City is home to 2 of the nation’s 105 HBCUs recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Coppin State University is a model of an urban, residential liberal arts university located in the northwest section of the City. Coppin, founded in 1900, at what was then called the Colored High School (later named Douglass High School) on Pennsylvania Avenue, provides academic programs in the arts and sciences, teacher education, nursing, graduate studies, and continuing education. Coppin has a culturally rich history as an institution providing not only quality education to its students but also providing community outreach services to the surrounding community. Fulfilling its unique mission of primarily focusing on the problems, needs, and aspirations of the people of Baltimore’s central city and the immediate metropolitan area, Coppin took over the nearby Rosemont Elementary School in 1998, and became the first and only higher education institution in Maryland to manage a public school.
Morgan State University, Baltimore’s other HBCU, was founded in 1867, as the Centenary Biblical Institute by the Baltimore Conference of the Methodist Episcopal Church to train young men in the ministry. It later broadened that mission to educate both men and women as teachers. By the time Morgan became a public campus in 1939, the College had become a comprehensive institution. Until the mid-60s, when state teachers colleges began the transition to liberal arts campuses, Morgan was one of only 2 public campuses in the state with comprehensive missions. In 1975, the State Legislature designated Morgan as a university, and, in 1988, the state authorized an independent governing board and strengthened Morgan’s authority to offer advanced programs and designated the campus as Maryland’s Public Urban University. Morgan is one of only 2 public baccalaureate-granting institutions authorized to have their own governing boards. In 1988, the legislature strengthened Morgan’s authority to offer advanced programs and designated the campus as Maryland’s Public Urban University.
At the close of the 2009 National HBCU Week Conference, in Washington D.C. August 30 – September 3rd, hosted by the President’s Board of Advisors on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the staff of the White House Initiative on HBCUs, the U.S. Education Secretary remarked: “I want to conclude by suggesting that HBCUs, despite their modest resources may be better positioned than some institutions of higher ed to develop a stronger culture of accountability in the years ahead. During their 130-year history, HBCUs have often accomplished what seemed impossible, educating generations of ill-prepared students on shoestring budgets.”
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That this Body joins the President, the United States Congress, and the U.S. Department of Education in acknowledging the significant contributions that Historically Black Colleges and Universities have made to the nation and expressing appreciation and pride in the contributions that Baltimore City’s Coppin State University and Morgan State University have made to our children, our City, our State and our nation.
AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the President of Coppin State University, the President of Morgan State University, the CEO of Baltimore City Schools, and the Mayor’s Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
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