Former Old Dominion Univ. President Co-Authors Book On HBCUs

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter Emeritus
New Journal and Guide

Since 2001 when he retired from the presidency of Old Dominion University (ODU), Dr. James Koch, 82, has been busy in Norfolk writing books, informative papers and being an expert on the economic impact of various legal issues.

For ten years, Dr. Koch was the President of  ODU, one of Virginia’s most diverse urban educational institutions.

Among the books he has worked to create is “Vital and Valuable: The Relevance of HBCUs to American Life and Education” (Columbia University Press), with Dr. Omari H. Swinton, Chair, Director of Graduate Studies, and Professor in the Department of Economics at Howard University, originally published in 2023.

Drs. Koch and Swinton assess the value, role and performance of HBCUs by examining factors such as admissions and enrollment trends, graduation and retention rates, administrative expenses, under-financing, spending on intercollegiate athletics, and student debt.

They emphasize the distinctive features that make HBCUs what they are, considering whom they serve and how these institutions are thought about within the landscape of American higher education.

As of 2021, there were more than 100 HBCUs, with a total enrollment of approximately 300,000 students (about half the population of Wyoming), according to the book.

Many prominent African-Americans historically have attended HBCUs, and the alumi of these institutions have a strong track record of upward mobility and professional attainment.

However, the authors highlight that some of the weaknesses and vulnerabilities of these schools should be admitted and noted as reasons why HBCUs still struggle to fulfill their mission and be respected.

Based on the book’s analysis, Koch and Swinton offer some actionable policy recommendations to help HBCUs address their shortcomings and build on their successes.

Born in Peoria, Illinois, Koch, the son of a Luther Minister and a highly educated housewife, lived in a city with a Black population of about 10 percent. He knew little about the cultural norms of the city’s Black community, or whether any of the town’s Black high graduates enrolled in an HBCU.

Koch says his first significant contact with African-Americans occurred when he played sports at Morton College in Cicero, Illinois, where he played varsity basketball and quarterbacked the school’s football team.

Dr. Omari H. Swinton

There, he developed a respect for his highly talented Black team classmates, an experience that would provide a guide for interacting in a diverse professional and social world moving forward.

Koch said while doing research for a publication on the behavior and strategies of governing boards of many colleges, he managed to garner the first insight into about 78 HBCUs.

Before landing at ODU, he was President of Montana State University. Not the most diverse college.

In 1990, he was hired as ODU’s sixth President in a state with six  HBCUS at the time, including Norfolk State University, which sits five miles from the campus he led.  Others were Hampton University, St. Paul College (now closed), Virginia State University, Virginia Union University and University of Lynchburg.

Koch reached out to the city and school’s leadership, studied its history, and in incognito would attend football games on the campus.

These visits gave him firsthand exploration of the NSU campus. His first impression was the atmosphere generated by the games.

“It was part sporting event, mixed with social and business, something you did not see at majority white schools unless it was one of the big powerhouse institutions,” he recalled. “I understood the event’s purpose to be very unifying and important.”

This experience and continued personal and structured research on HBCUs enabled Drs. Koch and Swinton, in his position at Howard, to paint a balanced legacy of them.

On one front, their book notes that the nation’s racial history has played a role in shaping the character and role of HBCUs and the disparities they face now. They were founded during the era of racial segregation and oppression and for decades, were the only option for higher education that Blacks could access.

According to the authors, Black families and offspring who attended these schools over decades have been impacted by these factors.

Although many college students use loans to pay for school or receive scholarships, many students admitted to HBCUs rely on Federal Pell Grants.

Koch said their scores on the Student Academic Tests (SATs) are lower than Black students attending majority-white schools.

On the bright side, HBCUs enable Black graduates to overcome many economic disparities and ascend to higher financial standing.

However, many HBCU undergraduates do not graduate because of poor academic performance or obligations to support their families financially or in other ways, causing them to withdraw.

Thus, they are denied the ability to fully secure upward economic mobility.   The growing cost of a college education has deterred poor Black and white students from pursuing college degrees.

For many, even if they do achieve undergraduate or higher degrees with loans, they are among the students with the lowest repayment rates, the book says.

This is a burden which hampers their economic attainment to buy a home and avoid other factors that attribute to current economic security gaps.

Yet, the book makes the claim that HBCUs still provide the most significant access to higher education for many African-American college and high school grads.   They and other students of color and low income whites, may secure a quality college education, many times at an affordable price.

HBCUs generally are less expensive than most white schools, but to attract students of all races from low income backgrounds, some white schools will lower the cost of tuition to lure these students.

For instance, Louisiana State University (LSU), a predominately white school, underprices the Gambling State University tuition to compete for Black students in Louisiana. NSU under prices ODU on its tuition cost slightly, according to Dr. Koch.

ODU has a Black student population of 30 percent; more than the 6,000 plus who are enrolled at NSU.

Koch said many Black students who attend predominately white schools come from families with higher academic and income achievement and ACT scores.

Investments in state supported HBCUs such as Virginia’s NSU and Virginia State University (VSU) have created beautiful campuses with competent faculty and staff.

So, many higher income and higher academically performing Black and white students could enroll at HBCUs. But the unfortunate negative and racially biased “perception” held by both Black and white people is that HBCUs are materially and academically challenged which deters them from doing so.

Still HBCU graduates are among the majority of Black professionals in the healthcare field, including doctors, lawyers, teachers, military officers, artists, and political leaders, who are now contributing to the nation’s economy.

Along with the decades-old economic and educational disparities that have stunted Black students, the authors said private and public HBCUs have been historically underfunded or suffered from a lack of government, alumni, or philanthropic support.

Increases in support from all three areas would allow HBCUs to better sustain their operations.

Also, elevations of PELL grant allocations, private and state funding, and scholarship assistance for students from low income and working families would enable them to “Pay and stay” at HBCUs and acquire their degrees, Koch said, and would also be helpful.

They stress that empirical data on educational outcomes is essential to effective leadership of individual institutions and policy decisions that affect HBCUs.

“Vital and Valuable” has been called essential reading for policymakers and experts in higher education, as well as a broader public interested in understanding the contributions of HBCUs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

James V. Koch is Board of Visitors Professor of Economics Emeritus and President Emeritus of Old Dominion University. His recent books include Runaway College Costs: How College Governing Boards Fail to Protect Their Students (2020) and The Impoverishment of the American College Student (2019).