Alumni, interested supporters from the community and students from the state’s four historically Black higher education institutions (HBCU’s) will sponsor a HBCU Matters Pep Rally and Town Hall Meeting from 6-9 p.m. on Feb. 15 at the Masonic Temple on the 1300 block of Eutaw Place.
The HBCU Matters Pep Rally & Town Hall meeting’s objective is to empower and educate the community about the importance of the HBCU equity case currently underway in the U.S. District Court in downtown Baltimore.
DeJuan Patterson, a Bowie State University alumnus and one of the organizers of the town hall meeting, said that now is the time for HBCU graduates and all African Americans who care about higher education in Maryland to get involved.
“We intend to engage students and alumni from the four HBCUs in the state of Maryland to bring greater awareness to the current court case, as well as inform them on how the community can be part of the solution,” Patterson said.
The case, “The Coalition for Equity and Excellence in Maryland Higher Education, et al. v. Maryland Higher Education Commission et.al.,” will potentially change the landscape of higher education in the state of Maryland. The case, now in the remedial phase, is considering how the state’s years-long pattern of duplicating unique programs at its HBCUs can be undone and its impact mitigated.
“At the HBCU Matters Town Hall, we will be requesting people to actively participate by attending the remaining trial dates occurring until February 21, 2017. We will also announce the HBCU Night in Annapolis in March,” said Patterson, who with other recent HBCU graduates has founded the HBCU Millennial Organizing Committee.