1. FROM: http://rattlernation.blogspot.com/2010/02/rivers-public-hbcus-under-attack-for.html
In accordance with Federal Laws provided For Educational and Information Purposes – i.e. of PUBLIC Interest
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Rivers: Public HBCUs under attack for role in Obama victory
In a recent Orlando Sentinel op-ed, FAMU alumnus
Larry O. Rivers weighed in on the HBCU merger debate. He believes the merger proposals are more about
election politics than budget constraints:
Every major civil-rights victory elicits a backlash; and, few are as overtly discriminatory as reactionary state laws
and practices designed to put black voters "back in their place." The South's history is full of examples. Poll taxes,
literacy tests, grandfather clauses and whites-only primaries followed the 15th Amendment. Gerrymandering
diluted the influence of heavily black population areas after the 1965 Voting Rights Act. Faulty felon purge lists
disenfranchised thousands of eligible black voters in 2000, obstructing a wave of increased black election turnout
partially sparked by court rulings that had led to new majority black congressional districts in 1992.
And now, following the inauguration of America's first African-American president, a backlash is brewing against
a critical stronghold of his black Southern support base: historically black colleges and universities.
HBCUs occupied a prominent place in President Barack Obama's election strategy.
Back when many wealthy political donors considered his candidacy a long shot, he raised sizable contributions
from his appearances at HBCUs such as Howard, Florida A&M, Hampton and Xavier.
Obama also led rallies at North Carolina Central, South Carolina State and Mississippi's Jackson State ahead of his
Democratic primary wins in those states.
In the general election, three Southern states with vigorous HBCU "get-out-the-vote" initiatives — Virginia, North
Carolina and Florida — went from red to blue.
Even in the southern states that Obama lost to GOP nominee John McCain, the rise in black turnout — widely
mobilized from HBCU campuses — presented a serious problem for many Republicans locked in tight legislative

2. and congressional elections.
Recently, two powerful GOP officeholders in Georgia and Mississippi (states Obama picked up in the primary)
introduced proposals to weaken their states' public HBCUs. Georgia state Sen. Seth Harp wanted to merge two
HBCUs, Albany State and Savannah State, with nearby predominantly white schools. Mississippi Gov. Haley
Barbour, the politically ambitious chairman of the Republican Governors Association, asked his state's lawmakers
to strip Alcorn State and Mississippi Valley State of their autonomy and make them extension campuses of
Jackson State.
The timing of these propositions was no coincidence. Another huge black voter turnout for Obama in 2012,
coupled with the reapportionment processes driven by the 2010 Census, could trigger shake-ups in numerous
Southern legislatures and congressional districts.