Showing posts with label Delaware State University. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Delaware State University. Show all posts

Saturday, June 03, 2023

Biden-Harris Administration Announces Grants to HBCUs Disrupted by Bomb Threats

The U.S. Department of Education (Department) today announced Project School Emergency Response to Violence (Project SERV) grants to four Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) that were disrupted by bomb threats last year: Texas Southern University in Houston, Texas was awarded $191,962; Delaware State University in Dover, Delaware was awarded $217,000; Claflin University in Orangeburg, South Carolina was awarded $440,000 and Howard University in Washington, D.C. was awarded $203,000.

Project SERV provides short-term funding for local educational agencies and institutions of higher education that have experienced a violent or traumatic incident to assist in restoring a safe environment conducive to learning. The Department expects additional grants to be awarded in the coming weeks and continues to work with additional impacted HBCUs to support them in the grant application process and expedite the processing of applications once received.

“The bomb threats last year that targeted several Historically Black Colleges and Universities traumatized their campus communities, disrupted learning, and drained resources by prompting costly campus lockdowns, class cancellations, and law enforcement activities,” said U.S. Secretary of Education Miguel Cardona. “The Biden-Harris administration will always stand by HBCUs and unequivocally condemn racist efforts to terrorize Black students and educators and deprive them of their right to safe, welcoming, and nurturing environments for teaching and learning. The Project SERV grants announced today will help four HBCUs directly impacted by these bomb threats to better serve students, faculty, and staff by increasing access to mental health and wellness services and improving other vital supports.”

Texas Southern University (TSU) will use its Project SERV funds to provide access to in-person and tele-mental health services for one year, including through access to behavioral health providers. TSU will also use funds for a project coordinator to manage and oversee the project.

Delaware State University (DSU) will use its Project SERV funds to develop a Mental Health First Aid Education Program. DSU will also pay for overtime expenses for counselors, social workers, and law enforcement officers to help address safety and health concerns, and to train employees to serve on the Campus Mobile Crisis Team.

Claflin University will use its Project SERV funds to hire a licensed clinical social worker, as well as to support trainings focused on stress reduction; provide workshops focused on identifying signs of distress in students and coworkers; and other programs to address stress, anxiety, and safety on campus.

Howard University will use its Project SERV funds to hire two case managers who will be responsible for conducting wellness visits and contacting families on an as-needed basis related to student wellness concerns, as well as a full-time field training specialist who will provide security trainings.

Additional HBCUs that have been previously awarded Project SERV grants are Tougaloo College, Fayetteville State University, Southern University Law Center, Fisk University, Coppin State University, North Carolina Central University, Philander Smith College, and Hampton University.

“These funds are critically important to the safety, security, and well-being of our institutions,” said Dietra Trent, Executive Director of the White House Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence and Economic Opportunity through Historically Black Colleges and Universities. “HBCU students consider their campuses as a sacred refuge and home away from home, and it is imperative that we provide them with these resources ensuring that they not only feel safe but are safe. It is also incumbent upon us to ensure that the faculty and staff who are dedicated to educating the next generation of leaders are also able to do so with peace of mind. Since day one, the Biden-Harris Administration has been committed to strengthening the HBCU community and the investments that these institutions will make using the Project SERV funds is another example of the strength of that commitment.”

The Biden-Harris Administration continues to take a whole-of-government approach to support HBCU campuses. For example, to date, the Department of Education has delivered nearly $7 billion in cumulative investments to HBCUs, including:

  • $3.7 billion through the American Rescue Plan and other COVID relief;
  • $1.6 billion in capital finance debt relief;
  • $2.45 million in Project SERV funds; and
  • $1.5 billion in grant funding to help HBCUs and other MSIs expand capacity.

Tuesday, May 10, 2022

Delaware State President Statement on Lacrosse Team Incident

A Message from University President, Dr. Tony Allen regarding the Delaware State University Lacrosse Team Bus Incident

To the University Community:

On April 20, an incident occurred in Georgia when the Delaware State University Women’s Lacrosse Team was returning home from a game in Florida. Traveling by contract bus, Georgia Law Enforcement stopped the team under the pretext of a minor traffic violation. The belongings of the student-athletes, including suitcases in the luggage racks beneath the bus, were searched by police and drug-sniffing dogs. Videos such as this one taken by one of the players clearly show law enforcement members attempting to intimidate our student-athletes into confessing to possession of drugs and/or drug paraphernalia.

To be clear, nothing illegal was discovered in this search, and all of our coaches and student-athletes comported themselves with dignity throughout a trying and humiliating process.

Our student-athletes, coaches, and the subcontracted bus driver are all safe. I have spoken with many of them, and in the course of investigating this incident in conjunction with our General Counsel and Athletic Director, I have also reached out to Delaware’s Governor, Congressional delegation, Attorney General, and Black Caucus. They, like me, are incensed. We have also reached out to Georgia Law Enforcement and are exploring options for recourse—legal and otherwise—available to our student-athletes, our coaches, and the University.

We do not intend to let this or any other incident like it pass idly by. We are prepared to go wherever the evidence leads us. We have video. We have allies. Perhaps more significantly, we have the courage of our convictions.

News of this incident has hit social media in response to a May 4 article published in The Hornet Newspaper. Written by sophomore Mass Communications major and lacrosse player Sydney Anderson, the piece is thoughtful and well-written, supported by one of several videos taken of the incident. We have already begun to receive inquiries from local reporters. I would not be surprised if this story eventually extends beyond local coverage.

It should not be lost on any of us how thin any day’s line is between customary and extraordinary, between humdrum and exceptional, between safe and victimized. That is true for us all but particularly so for communities of color and the institutions who serve them. The resultant feelings of disempowerment are always the aggressors’ object.

This past January and February during the spate of bomb threats made against HBCUs, it was made clear then that personal nobility, individual virtue, and communal excellence do not exempt us from oppressive treatment. In fact, it seems the opposite holds true; too many people of color in this country, our students among them, experience what W.E.B. Du Bois dubbed “double consciousness,” a wasteful predicament in which people of color live doubly: in talented pursuit of their dreams and in self-conscious defense of their mental and, too often, physical safety.

However, as I said in January, we will never be bullied into believing anything other than what we are— Americans, learners, teachers, builders—useful and honorable people ready to soar. I am proud of our student-athletes, their coaches, the athletic department leadership, and the reporters and staff of the University newspaper. Our mission is a critical one and is as much a part of the American story as any.

Again, I say, “We shall not be moved.”

Together,

Tony Allen, Ph.D.

President

Monday, January 31, 2022

Several HBCUs received bomb threats Monday

For the second time this month, at least six historically black universities and colleges have received bomb threats.

Howard University, Bowie State University, Bethune-Cookman University, Southern University, Delaware State University and Albany State University have all reported potential threats Monday.

Thursday, July 09, 2020

Delaware State Univ. to make historic acquisition of Wesley College

Delaware State, a historically Black university, has signed an agreement to take over financially struggling Wesley College.

Under the deal announced Thursday afternoon, Delaware State would become the first historically Black college or university (HBCU) to acquire a non-HBCU school. That’s according to former DSU president Harry Williams, who now heads up the Thurgood Marshall College Fund.

“This is an unprecedented landmark in the long history of HBCUs,” Williams said. “I am not surprised that Delaware State University is leading the way.”

The acquisition would fill DSU’s long-time need for campus presence in downtown Dover and would allow for more growth for the school that’s seen enrollment increase by 40% in the past decade. That growth has bucked the trend for HBCUs nationally.

The takeover fits in with current President Tony Allen’s mission to make DSU “a substantively diverse, contemporary and unapologetically historically Black college or university.” Wesley College is classified as a minority-serving institution and 63% of its student body are students of color.

The agreement calls for the two schools to figure out a path forward for an official takeover by June 2021. Part of that discussion will be about tuition. DSU’s tuition for the past school year was $3,519/semester for Delaware students and $8,258/semester for out-of-state students. Wesley students paid $13,467 per semester for the 2019-2020 school year.

[SOURCE: WHYY]