The headlines about a Black British professor’s death in London and the plagiarism allegations about his work hit too close to home for Emmitt Riley. Jason Arday, the youngest Black professor in the University of Cambridge’s history when he was appointed in 2023, died Aug. 14 after weeks of intense scrutiny of his background and […]
Alecia Taylor
Alecia Taylor is the national education reporter at Capital B.
Posted inHBCUs
Black Colleges Are Building More Dorms Amid Enrollment Growth
Housing has long been a strain on Black colleges, but this summer, several HBCUs flipped that narrative. They are breaking ground on new dorms and announcing housing developments just as enrollment climbs. HBCUs make up just 3% of U.S. higher education institutions, yet they educate more than 10% of Black Americans with college degrees, according […]
Posted inEmployment, HBCUs, Higher Education, The Workplace
A Free D.C. Trade Program Is Connecting Black Students to Higher-Paying Jobs
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Marcus Bruce leaned against the tables where he and his carpentry students paused to answer questions from local middle schoolers on a recent tour of the University of the District of Columbia’s workforce campus. The young students didn’t hold back: “What happens to student loans? Will they take it from your check […]
Posted inHBCUs, Higher Education
Tuskegee Students Say the Dress Code Debate Misses the Real Issues
Payton Arentt didn’t give an extra thought to an email from the Tuskegee University administration announcing a dress code and cellphone policy — but she did wonder why people weren’t talking more about the radio silence around financial aid and housing. As a rising senior, Arentt said there’s always been an understanding on campus about […]
Posted inHBCUs, Politics & Policy
Savannah State Student Keeps Fighting for His Baseball Dream Despite ICE Detention
Savannah State University student Johan Sandoval felt like the world had turned its back on him while he was being held in a New York detention center for two weeks, but God and his love for baseball remained a constant. While in custody, Sandoval and other detainees played baseball using makeshift bases made from sandals. […]
Posted inHBCUs, Higher Education, Student Loans
Hundreds of Howard Students Reinstated After Mass Unenrolling
It’s been a whirlwind summer for the incoming Howard University community. Three months waiting for a housing assignment at her dream school. Unenrolled along with more than 500 other students. And days later reenrolled. “My balance just kept changing, and it wasn’t consistent,” Flanders said. “I paid everything I had to pay, then they just […]
Posted inEducation, HBCUs
Lawsuit Alleges Ohio HBCU Failed to Stop Deadly Underground Hazing
Hours after Wilberforce University freshman Savanna Jones texted her friends that she was “lowkey scared” to join an underground social club, a picture of her passed out on a bed began circulating across the campus. On April 29, the 18-year-old was set to join the Turtles, which she described in text messages to her friends […]
Posted inArts & Entertainment, Culture
How Go-Go Is Reaching a Generation That Didn’t Grow Up With It
WASHINGTON — On a recent summer day outside Dunbar High School, Jamiya and Jamiyan Simmons reminisced about early-morning Sunday rituals. The 17-year-old twins would wake up to go-go classics like UCB’s “Sexy Lady” and clean the house with the music blasting from their grandmother’s stereo. For nearly 50 years, go-go has been more than music […]
Posted inCourts, Culture, Politics & Policy
World Cup Joy Gave Way to Deportation Fears for Haitian Families
For one night this past Wednesday, Miami’s Little Haiti forgot to be afraid. Haiti was on the field — its first World Cup appearance in more than half a century — and the neighborhood came alive in the way it used to: loud and together, Ruth Jeannoel recalled. Then Thursday arrived. The U.S. Supreme Court […]
Posted inEnvironmental Justice, HBCUs, Technology
As Fisk University Moves Forward With Data Center Proposal, Opposition Grows
When Naimah Muhammad heard that her alma mater, Fisk University, planned to build a data center on campus, she was annoyed and confused. The announcement came just days after the spring semester ended. There were no hearings, town halls, or meetings with students or residents of the majority-Black neighborhood in north Nashville, Tennessee, she said. […]
