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Dancing at the Limen: Wilberforce University-The First and
The Future
When they approach me,
they see only my surroundings, themselves, or figments of
their imagination, indeed, everything and anything except
me.
The Invisible Man
Ralph Ellison
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Elfred Anthony Pinkard, PhD |
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There are few things as soul crushing as being unseen or
seen in ways that belie the truth of who you are. For
colleges and universities, the institutional saga may shift
at various times and if, challenges exist that are deeply
ingrained, the narrative about the institution may be
intractable in the public’s imagination. Even as success is
realized, the prevailing perception and public identity of
an institution will often continue to be shaped by its
challenges. Unfortunately, in the minds of important
constituents, an institution’s triumphs and successes will
likely remain obscured.
The recent Mackenzie Scott gift to 15 HBCUs on the heels of
her earlier gift of over $120M to 6 HBCUs is, without a
doubt, a game changing event for the HBCU sector. Her
interest in investing in HBCUs in a real and substantive way
shines a welcomed spotlight on the value and importance of
the work they do, and have done, in positively impacting the
lives of African American and other students of color they
serve. This astounding generosity is a significant act of
affirmation by someone of such considerable wealth and
influence. As a sitting HBCU president, I am immensely
grateful for this philanthropic largesse and proud and happy
for my colleagues. And I am also keenly interested in how I
might position the institution I serve to gain this
interest, investment, and support.
In a recent article, Ms. Scott outlined the process she and
her team employed to select the institutions she ultimately
funded. At Wilberforce University, this has occasioned an
internal conversation about how we can best and most
effectively tell the story of the work we are doing to
support our students in teaching their academic and life
goals. As the nation’s first, private, HBCU founded by
people of African descent, we recognize our rarefied place
in the history and legacy of HBCUs. That alone, however, has
not rendered us top of mind for the philanthropic generosity
we have recently witnessed; nor should it. Over the past 18
months, we have done the rigorous and disciplined work of
defining our value proposition and outlining a path forward
for a viable and sustainable future. A multi-million-dollar
gift for us would be transformational. Our greatest lament
are the metrics that continue to haunt us and shape our
public self.
Our past challenges have been formidable: on paper we
present a risk that no one with huge sums of money to give
is willing to take. The lag between our current state of
significant progress and our troubled past has not yet been
fully eliminated. Our situation channels a universally
understood motif in the African American community; the
unschooled, single mother with a minimum wage job who sends
each of her children to college which positions each for a
transformed life. On paper, you would not bet on that
mother, in reality, her family outcomes are extraordinary.
Meanwhile we continue to do the work of institutional
renewal with focused precision one day at a time,
ameliorating one issue at a time. We remain forever hopeful
that we are finally seen in the fullness of Wilberforce’s
incredible past, complicated and nuanced present, and
promising future.
This is an inflection point for HBCUs as we confront a
global pandemic, a reckoning of racial and social injustice
and the historic levels of philanthropic support. The entire
sector is lifted by the investment and recognition of these
record breaking gifts. We are all compelled to excellence
and high performance and the hope of attracting additional
donors who will not feel as though they are throwing their
good money after bad.
As a small, special-mission, rural, institution with small
enrollment and endowment, Wilberforce finds itself at a
liminal moment; a place of transition from the old, crisis-ladened
institution with a tenuous future to an expansive, bountiful
future of high performance and growth. We exist at this
limen; a threshold of interrogation, strategic thinking and
action and innovation regarding who we are as a 21st
century University and what we might be capable of and
committed to becoming.
At Wilberforce, resilience is part of our institutional DNA
and we choose to use these historic circumstances as an
urgent call to action to continue our work of institutional
renewal and transformation. We invite partners to support
and invest in Wilberforce University as we honor the work
begun by our founders 164 years ago.
Elfred Anthony Pinkard, PhD
22nd President
Wilberforce University
A native of Miami, Florida, Elfred Pinkard holds a Doctorate
degree from Harvard University, a Masters from Howard
University, and a BA from Morehouse College. Over his more
than 40-year career, Pinkard has served as the Founding
Executive Director of the UNCF Institute of Capacity
Building; Executive Vice President and Chief Operating
Officer at Johnson C. Smith University; Associate Provost at
Dillard University; Chief Planning Officer at Spelman
College; Chair, Division of Social Sciences at Florida
Memorial University. In addition, Pinkard had held faculty
and administrative positions at Miami Dade College, Colgate
University, the College of Wooster, and California State
University-Long Beach.
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