The Comfort Level in that environment they are comfortable because theyve grown up in those environments and it can make a difference. One of the major advantages to my no this was good for me when we went to in ccus and the faculty member said to us you didnt do this well enough you cannot blame it on racism, anything but ourselves. It it is interesting when you get challenged in those environments you understand that you need to respond. Respond. Unfortunately into many other environments because of the subtle racism that goes on in this country sometimes students we will wind up saying i did better i got a lower grade. He rarely have those kinds of situations. By and large it is the whole notion of this is an environment in which i am comfortable so i can learn better. Joining us h james williams. Thank you very much. Thank you. Tomorrow more from the washington journal tour. Discussions about the state of hbcus and the future for these institutions. Pres. Beverly daniel tatum followed by our interview with the president of florida a m university hear on cspan2. Washington journal tour of historically black colleges and universities continues with the president of Morehouse College in atlanta. This is 40 minutes. Host cspan continues on in the month of february, taking a look at historic black colleges and universities. This is being in done being done in conjunction today, we make a stop in atlanta. A total of eight colleges ong our list. There is the cspan bus on campus. An onboard our bus president john silvanus wilson, junior. They give joining us. Guest good morning, pedro. Host part of your background includes working with the white house on something called an initiative on bcus. Could you talk a little bit about that initiative, and what the white house policy is doing . . Guest yes, i served under president barack obama as the executive director of hpc you hbcu. I happen to be president obamas appointee. The job of the executive director is to do whatever you can to increase the funding from the federal government to the 105, at that point hbcus. So we worked with the federal agencies, the private sector all in an effort to strengthen the hbcu sector. I thought we got some pretty good results in my time there. The first term of barack obama. Just before barack obama took office, the federal government was channeling about 3. 6 billion in two hbcus. That is from all sources. And by the time i left, we were at roughly 5. 3 billion. So that was significant progress. Host as i understand it, it was your time when the president instituted some changes, when it comes to power grants pell grants. Was that the case . Guest the pell grants were greatly, greatly increased on our watch. As a matter of fact, that increased from 3. 6 billion to 5. 3 billion was largely in the area of grant and loan programs. I think most of your viewers will recall that there is a big change in the policy, the federal policy would we took the banks out of the loop on loans and to direct lending. That gave a lot of money for the administration, and we channel that money across Higher Education. And hbcus having a lot of Financial Aid recipients got a lot to talk of it. Host tell us about Morehouse College. How much of it operating budget comes from the federal government in terms of grants or research and development, that kind of thing . Guest like most hbcus, a lot of our students are recipients of Financial Aid. So we are talking 60 or 70 of our budget comes from students who are assisted by federal loans and grants and support from five it from private sources, as well. So we care a lot about the federal posture towards these institutions, but the main important thing morehouse has really proved his worth. The Obama Administration recognized very early on that the nation cannot be as competitive as it needs to be in this World Without the contribution from hubcus. Morehouse has certainly done its part. But all hbcus are doing a very good job of contributing to the nations competitiveness, and that is why the Obama Administration channeled a lot of support. It was really a good thing for america. Host morehouse is in all male college. Why is that . Guest that is because the founders made it so. We are right across the street from while we are a singlesex institution, it is a coeducational environment. Im a graduate of morehouse, and in a large number of my classes, there was women right there. That we focus on the africanamerican male. We have been well rewarded for that focus, having such distinguished graduates as Martin Luther king junior, obviously, my classmate, j johnson, secretary of homeland security. Martin luther king the third, my classmate. The former secretary of commerce in my class. So we have a number of distinguished men who have made an impact across the world. Morehouses Value Proposition cannot be more clear, and on my watch, it is going to be a lot better. Host the president of Morehouse College joining us as we take a look at historically black colleges and universities. He is on our cspan bus, which is in atlanta today. If you want to ask them questions, we have divided the light. 202 7488000 for if you have attended in hbcu. 202 7488001 for all others. If you want to send us an email, you can do so at journal cspan. Org. Over the last several series, we have been talking about the majors offered. Tell us a little bit about your majors. Do you see a shift in what can of majors you offer . Guest well, we have three three main divisions. One is the business division. And we have a number of distinctive graduates who have come out of that division. We happen to be channeling many business graduates into the top business schools. I think we have two or three at Harvard Business school at any given time. On the other top business schools. So we have a strong business division. I was a business major at morehouse. We also have a strong Humanities Division. That division has come a lot of our political graduates, as well as our religion majors. I would say the three top hope its in this country are all headed by morehouse men. Kahlenberg in new york trinity in chicago, and right here in atlanta. He is the head of the same church that Martin Luther king used the head up. So our Humanities Division is right strong. And then our stem division is also strong. That is going to be an episode an emphasis for me. I brought on a mathematician to strengthen our stem division. We are spending significant time in Silicon Valley on my watch is president for the past three years, and looking for great relationships there pointing at our stem division. We are even considering requiring all students who attend morehouse to know how to code by the time they graduate. So stem is a real focus for Morehouse College, and you will see evidence of that as we strengthen thats division. Host the president of Morehouse College stoning us. Christina from washington dc your first up. Good morning. Caller good morning. I amex are watching for my desk here on capitol hill where we ask the work on these issues. I attended majority universities. First, great job. I think my question is, i have a daughter who is getting ready to graduate and we are looking at hbcus and other colleges. My frustration is, since i graduated, the only information i get back from the hbcus is on attending events. I received but i dont to the reach back. And also, are other issue is the leadership. We have had several president s. I know morehouse has better reputation that way, but it affects the alumnis relationship with the school. Can you talk a little bit about how you are dealing with the leadership level, beyond the actual education, and how your reaching out to alumni to kind of keep that cycle and keep that passion for the hbcu going . Host thanks, christina. Guest thanks, christina. That is a great question. As i said, im a graduate of Morehouse College, and i attended morehouse for four years. And then i spent six years at harvard university. Getting to masters and a doctorate from harvard. I echo what you just said. I have moved from atlanta to boston to d. C. And i think i had mail waiting at my home whenever i made my moves from harvard by the time i got there, by the time i relocated. So they know how to do that well. On my watch at morehouse, we have we are strengthening that. We are strengthening our Advancement Office in general, and our alumni outreach in particular. It is a priority. Now, i havent a know your current president at howard university. I think he is determined to make it a priority, too. This is something that we, as hbcus, can do something about. I know that we have evidence of it at morehouse, and i know there is some evidence of it at howard so i think, christine, that the issue is leadership. And i think we have the right leadership in place right now to do something about it. Host fort lauderdale, florida. Jonathan, youre up next. Caller yes, how are you doing . I actually have two comments. I know that at morehouse come you guys do a great job of stressing kingss legacy. What are you guys have a community or college Wide Movement to do an Antiwar Movement . Or stress the american system of economics . That is what king stood for. He stood for uniting the people. I kind of see more like people on the divide. Everything being more divisible, as far as, like, using the black culture events and the police. It should be more unified, Antiwar Movements, which is what is going on in russia and ukraine tonight the union two unites the union movement. Using not prop up black communities and making sure that those who are in poverty can raise their standard of living. Host caller, thank you. Guest ok, so that was a little complex. I think i got the gist of it, but what you need to know about morehouse on that issue is we have, for many many years basically from the start emphasized servant leadership. Servant leadership. So we dont have a narrow concern. Obviously, we have a concern about the experience of the africanamerican male. We believe the image of the africanamerican male has been distorted towards a brokenness narrative. So we are always going to be concerned about that and want to do something about it, but we have never been narrow. Dr. King, obviously, wrote about chaos over community. That was not a local viewpoint. That was not a georgia viewpoint, or regional, or even an american viewpoint. It was global. Concern about the global community. So we have set out graduates all over the world who have concerns for social justice. And to weigh in to servant leadership. So, i think your question about that kind of thinking and that kind of reach may be appropriate for other institutions, but morehouse, i think emma we are doing quite well in that area. Host there was an oped piece by david knight out of harvard university, talking about lack mail issues. Many black males get this message they are at danger vulnerable, when they are much younger. Guest well, it is sobering. And it is grounded in some data did we know that 86 of africanamerican boys are below reading proficiency by fourth grade. That ratifies for the rest of much of their lives. The new combined with that the kind of devastating educational statistics, the perceptual challenges that we have, where we are perceived as negative. Then that compounds the problem. So i understand where the writer is coming from. Morehouse is the antidote to that. Morehouse is the answer to that. We believe that with more investment and more college youre going to see that narrative shift of a very negative narrative, a problematic narrative, into a positive narrative where more africanamerican males are automatically perceived as forces for good. We know who we are. And we know we have evidence of great work here in the many graduates we have put into the world. So, whereas the writer summarizes a skewed towards the negative narrative, the brokenness narrative, we are hard at work on the opposite narrative. Youre going to see that amplified on my watch as president of Morehouse College. Host to add to that, sir, you have a program called faces of manhood. What is that . Guest the faces of manhood is work on by our professors and staff to convey the range of africanamerican males in this country. Believe it or not while we are all africanamerican and allmale, there is significant diversity. There is not a sameness to africanamerican males. We have some of the arts. We have some in business. We have some in the sciences. The number one actor the highest grossing actor of all time is a morehouse man. That happens to be samuel l jackson. Have a number of graduates who are in the stem areas. So the faces the faces project is meant to convey to the students at morehouse as they arrive, and to the graduates of my house graduates of morehouse, and to the world, that there is more than one way to be a morehouse man. The key is to be distinctive and productive in whatever field you choose to be an expert in. Host our next call comes from houston, texas. Caller yes, i am in 1969 graduate of university. And i was simply like to thank you for bringing all of your skills and talents to your stewardship and leadership that morehouse. You have a fine history and legacy to maintain. And im confident that your success will continue. Thank you very much. Guest thank you. Thank you for that statement of support. Guest host caller i am the graduate from alabama and a and them and a sister who is the proud graduate of alabamas state and our father is a graduate of Morehouse College so we all have historically black colleges and my family. What you see is the biggest challenge facing historical black colleges and universities in the 21st century and what is the best solution and Going Forward . Great question. I visited all three of those institutions, alabamas state as well as at the white house along with the president there of what i call space pyramid. Most of us are undercapitalized there is not an endowment that is more than four times of what it spends every year to operate state of the art in the business is at least five times talk about harvard and yale then it is 10 times so they have endowments that are 1 billion plus and hsbc see you is spelled and with the ratio of for that the endowment is four times the amount of money of what they spend every year. Most of the others are below one. That is a problem that keeps us from being as competitive as we need to be. But if we can do this much great work with this kind of capital base imagine what more we could do for this country and the world if we had a larger capital base. So what were doing a more house is changing the way we talk about morehouse to put the Value Proposition on the story that we have to talk about it in a different way to attract more investors to Morehouse College. There is already evidence of that but there will be more ahead. The average budget is 140 million. I was wondering how many white students you have that york institution. Nice talking to you i will take my answer off line. Thank you. Guest thank you for the question. Since i graduated 1979 we have had a handful of white students at Morehouse College and we have a handful now. The percentage is pretty small. And the percentage will actually grow. In 2007 the of the the the jury in of Morehouse College was a White American his name is josh. And i became president 2013 and within a few months i visited with joshuas doing quite well on wall street. He is as much j. MoreHouse College me and then any other man i could visit. While we are historically black and majority africanamerican our doors have always been open. All students from all backgrounds, all male students have always been able to apply. And they have then served it is not a racial designation but it ties to their distinctiveness and josh is that way and a number of white students are destined for that same type of distinctiveness. I appreciate the question. Host in Church Teaching faculty all africanamerican . Not even close. For a long time, for years we have had a diverse faculty. I dont know the percentage but upwards of one quarter or 40 non africanamerican we have always had diversity on the faculty. That has been the case from the start when most were white teachers from the north. Caller good morning mr. President wilson. I am the member of spellman college. And i would like to know how our you working on the community . There has ben no lot of violence in advance of also a lot of Violence Toward your students and others at the Atlanta University center and how are you treating your young man to stand up to prevent nonviolence like dr. Martin luther king and how to support each other for the Community Around them and though the women of spellman and the brothers and sisters at Clark Atlanta of the committee of the west and. Guest that is a great question. I will say three things about that. First and foremost, i have a great relationship with spellman. In fact, that was on the board of trustees for a couple of years working with beverly and she advised me on that board. And the only reason i step down is to take the job at the white house. Spellman is a Great Institution and i am so sad that beverly will be stepping down as president after 13 wonderful years and i applaud her and wish spellman well. The second response i have is safety is the number one concern for all the institutions we all Work Together with the more powerful people in the city to make the surrounding environment a lot safer when you do not feel safe you cannot learn. W