Guest Editors' Introduction

This issue of The Review of Higher Education is especially timely because of the need for empirical and exacting research on historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs). Likewise, there is a need for a contemporary body of literature which documents the history and practices of HBCUs. This theme issue, "Research on Historically Black Colleges," provides a much-needed treatment of the extant literature and current research on HBCUs. Some of higher education's leading researchers have joined in providing a balanced examination of the state and place of HBCUs in America.

Historically Black colleges and universities are those institutions of higher learning founded prior to 1964 for the purpose of providing postsecondary education to African Americans. There are 103 public, private, four-year, and two-year historically Black colleges and universities in the United States, plus approximately 54 predominantly Black institutions. Predominantly Black colleges and universities--institutions with more than 50% Black student enrollment--were not founded primarily for the education of Black students and may or may not have been founded prior to 1964. All 103 HBCUs cluster primarily in 19 southern and border states: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, and West Virginia. The remaining schools are located in Michigan and the District of Columbia.

The nation's 103 HBCUs vary in size, curriculum specializations, and other characteristics. Notwithstanding, HBCUs collectively enroll approximately 300,000 students and employ approximately 60,000 persons. Of degrees earned by Blacks, HBCUs award 28% of the bachelors' degrees, 16% of professional first degrees, 15% of masters' degrees, and 9% of doctoral degrees. The historically Black college remains the primary undergraduate home of many Black Ph.D. recipients, army officers, federal judges, and medical doctors.

Despite limited fiscal resources, HBCUs continue to successfully demonstrate their unique ability to educate African Americans regardless of academic preparation, test scores, socioeconomic status, or environmental circumstances. The historically Black college is the prime producer of African American baccalaureate degrees by institutional cohort. Consequently, it is ironic that these institutions have existed for more than 100 years without becoming serious subjects for academic research and/or inquiry. The fact that HBCUs have perennially educated populations of students with whom other institutions have had limited success remains unexplored under the lens of scholarly investigation.

Among the few places research on HBCUs appears is in the extant literature on student diversity, institutional quality, and cost-benefit studies. HBCUs have increasingly come under attack in published research for their perceived lack of student diversity. This premise is erroneously based on the predominance of Black students on their respective campuses. These Black students, however, are not all African American; many are African, Dominican, Jamaican, etc. These Black students are joined increasingly by White and international students.

HBCUs are also being criticized for a perceived lack of quality. This mistaken premise is based on the correct observation that most Black colleges focus on teaching and service rather than research. Additionally, unlike many four-year institutions, HBCUs include a developmental cohort in their student admissions. Consequently, HBCUs' open door places them at a disadvantage when assessed by prestige and selectivity indicators. Finally, HBCUs are often discussed in literature regarding tuition rates where they are cited as reasonable choices for undergraduate degrees. Low HBCU tuition costs are forcing academics to acknowledge that these institutions provide a quality undergraduate experience at a lifelong cost-benefit.

HBCUs are facing new challenges as they concomitantly argue for a higher degree of respect for the success they have had in educating African American students. How can they maintain their vitally important role of historical, cultural, and economic empowerment in the communities they were intended to serve without being considered segregationist? Also, as these institutions have attempted to keep fees low to accommodate the African American students they primarily serve, other students have been attracted to HBCUs because of the fees. A high...