Where is Black Student’s Place at a PWI? 

In 1954, the United States Supreme Court decided that all public schools must be desegregated and since then African Americans have been attending public institutions across the country. On social media there are many conversations about Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) versus predominately white institutions (PWI). These conversations have led some students to wonder if they have a place at their PWI.  

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MTSU sophomore, Mekayla Harris says, “Coming to a PWI wasn’t my first choice. I was afraid that I wouldn’t like the community at MTSU.”  

Harris is not alone. Some students have had similar feelings when it comes to the atmosphere and community at MTSU. Feelings of unfairness, not having a safe space, being overlooked, etc. 

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Being at a PWI means that there are mostly white students, faculty and staff. For some students it is harder to connect with their professors who may not have the same cultural background as them.  

A previous MTSU student, Josh Truman, says, “It’s human nature for us to want to connect with people who look like us and are similar to us. It was hard trying to find allies with the faculty and staff.” 

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A lack of diversity in the staff is a problem for some students. Their desire to have professors that have similar experiences is a struggle because of the staffing demographics at MTSU.  

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 MTSU has a Factbook full of statistics every fall. The faculty profile details how many professors, associate professors, assistant professors, lecturers and instructors per each college. According to the 2018 Factbook, there are 312 professors, lecturers and instructors in the college of Liberal Arts and only 22 are black. The college of Basic and Applied Sciences has 217 total and only 14 black educators. The college of Media and Entertainment has a total of 71 educators and the college of Education is also a smaller sized college with 48 educators and there are only 4 black educators in both colleges. 

 

The student demographics at MTSU are somewhat similar with 19,251 undergraduate students. 64.7% identify as White, 19.6 % as African American, 6.4% as Hispanic, 4.6% as Asian and 4.7% as Alaskan Natives, American Indian, Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islanders, not specified or two or more races.  

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Although the campus is not diverse in numbers there are many attempts from the students and faculty at MTSU to add diversity to the community. One way this is done is by having organizations on campus that are ran by and for African Americans. Organizations like NAACP, Black Student Union, The Collegiate 100, Sweet Melanin, Ladies for a Change, and the NPHC fraternities and sororities are all student ran organizations with a main audience for black students. 

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MTSU junior, Isaiah Johnson says, “I think that it’s really important to have black organizations at a PWI. If we didn’t have them then the small percentage of black students wouldn’t even know each other.”  

Black students often find themselves making their own spaces at PWIs because they seek to fulfill their own desires of a community at their school.  

There may be some internal challenges when black students go to PWIs but there are also external challenges.  

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Some of the challenges that black MTSU students have had to face were hate group fliers from, Identity Evrpoa, being posted around the campus and another instance where black history month posters were vandalized with racist and antisemitic content. While also facing white supremacy groups as they rally into Murfreesboro. 

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These kinds of external and internal challenges can lead students to not feel valued and could possibly discourage them from furthering their education.  

MTSU junior, Alyse Osby says, “It was kind of surreal to see racist flyers being put over black history month flyers. It’s crazy that people are comfortable with insulting other people who just want to celebrate their heritage.”  

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PWIs were not built to accommodate African Americans or other minorities but most institutions do acknowledge that programs, scholarships, organizations and much more are steps in the right direction to make students of color feel welcomed at their institution.