You Do Know There Are More Than 6 HBCUs, Right?
Mackenzie Scott’s $1.7 billion donations are appreciated by those who received, but what about the 100+ universities that didn’t?
Nuance is lost on Twitter, so of course, MacKenzie Scott’s $140 million donations to six historically Black colleges split the social platform into factions. On one side, grads and supporters of Howard, Hampton, Morehouse, Spelman, Tuskegee, and Xavier universities, the HBCUs getting windfalls out of Scott’s overall $1.7 billion in charitable donations, rightfully celebrate the gifts and reject criticism that the cash wasn’t spread around enough. On the other hand are alumni of other HBCUs (there are 107 in operation), who argue that because wealthy, white donors are mostly ignorant about Black schools, their goodwill mostly goes to the most famous ones, which perpetuates a vicious cycle of inequity among the institutions.
Neither camp got it entirely right. The recipients of Scott’s largesse are famous, private institutions with more muscular fundraising…
