By Ariyana Griffin
Special to the AFRO
For over 150 years, Bennett College, a private historically Black liberal arts institution, has advocated for education for women of color preparing them to excel and lead post graduation.
Bennett College was founded in 1873 in the basement of Warnersville Methodist Episcopal Church, which is now known as St. Matthews United Methodist Church. This historical college lies in the heart of Greensboro, North Carolina and was established with the vital goal to provide education to formerly enslaved people. During its formative years, Bennett’s mission was to educate men and women to become the teachers of future generations.
In 1926 the college underwent a significant change and became a four-year women’s college. Bennett became one of two Historically Black College and Universities (HBCUs) solely dedicated to empowering and educating women in the United States, with Spelman College being the other institution.
The college continues to be a hub for Black excellence and innovative ideas, taking their motto, “Education for your future, Sisterhood for Life,” to new heights.
Funding has been a major issue for several HBCUs and Bennett College is one that is also affected. Deemed to have inadequate financial resources, Bennett has been appealing motions for them to lose their accreditation, and the fight has been a long one. The college found overwhelming success with a fundraising campaign and proved to be a resilient institution.
According to Bennett College, on April 28, 2023 the college’s president, Suzanne Walsh, announced that the school was “awarded accreditation status by the Transnational Association of Christian Colleges and Schools (TRACS).”
“If you care deeply about the next generation of women of color leaders, Black women leaders, there are only a couple of places in the country where you can go and really focus on that group. I wanted to see if there was something that I could add to help to begin to address stabilization and matters related to enrollment and accreditation,” said President Walsh who joined Bennett College in 2019. “I didn’t come here to save Bennett— I came to help to think about whether we could stabilize and then to help reimagine this incredible institution, to build on a fabulous legacy of women who are out in the world leading.”
The Bennett College campus is small by design. In 2021 there were 201 students enrolled and it is considered to be a microcollege, meaning having less than 1,000 students enrolled. For the Bennett Belles, in this intimate learning environment, the sisterhood and bond created at the institution continues to be unwavering. The institution also has a 90 percent retention rate and in 2022 the institution was named number one in social mobility amongst all national liberal arts institutions by US News and World Report.
“Our smallness is our strength. It allows us to be nimble and flexible. Bennett College was not built for more than about 840 students. We’ll never be in the 5,000-student place. This is who we are, and we are proud of it,” said Walsh. “Everybody usually focuses on the number as if the number tells them something. But, if you’re not keeping the students or they’re not graduating, something’s not working. It’s not about size, it’s about what kind of services you can provide.”
“A microcollege is about wrapping yourselves around students and giving them all the things that you would want in a boutique environment,” she continued.
The school focuses primarily on leadership, civic engagement, global citizenship, innovation, entrepreneurship and communications. President Walsh explained the importance of these pillars and how they are all needed in order for the institution to run smoothly. The faculty/student ratio of 7 to 1 allows students to get a personalized college experience while building relationships and bonds with faculty and staff.
A smaller campus has a unique advantage of enabling students’ voices to be heard. For example, after the pandemic, students expressed that mental health support was crucial in returning to campus. They created a list of needs, and all were met. President Walsh even added more to the list to ensure the students felt supported and heard. Students also expressed the importance of sustainability and created a “Green Team.”
The institution showed their support by making the campus more environmentally friendly including dining options.
“They have really led the campus in rethinking our energy bills and looking at healthy food choices, including setting up a garden on campus. They are just phenomenal leaders, and those students have been recipients of numerous grants,” said Walsh.
Tiara Allen, a freshwoman from Prince George’s County, Md. explained that when she began researching colleges to attend, she was recommended to look into Bennett by a high school counselor.
“I loved that Bennett is a small college and has a very tight-knit family vibe going on,” said Allen.
Since stepping foot on campus and integrating into the culture, she shared that the feeling of family has not changed. Being the first person in her family to attend an HBCU, she appreciated Bennett’s support during her matriculation, but the sisterhood is something she will forever cherish.
“The sisterhood at Bennett College to be one of the most unique things to ever exist. These bonds hold a very special place in our hearts. Just walking around campus with our sisters, attending each other’s events, and planning things with one another is an experience you can talk about for days and days,”Allen expressed. “ I also really love the way we are so quick to help each other. You can always ask your sister for anything and not be ashamed. As sisters we have our moments where we might not always agree with each other, but we always have each other’s backs on campus and outside of campus. That’s why Bennett College will always be unique when it comes to sisterhood and bonding.”
Kaliyah Henry, a sophmore from Washington, D.C. majoring in journalism and media arts had similar things to say about the sisterhood, and was inspired to attend by her mother.
“I came to Bennett College due to my mother. She attended here and told me how much she loved it here and the friends she made, especially since she even still talked with them to this day,” said Henry. “ On the plus side, I never wanted to attend college in the first place, but I wanted to have that college experience, so Bennett was my first choice.”
To help continue its rich legacy, Bennett College was selected to be a part of the Beyoncé, Jay-Z, and Tiffany and Co. scholarship fund, About Love Scholarship program. This partnership is between Tiffany and Co., the BeyGOOD and Shawn Carter foundations. The program provided $2 Million in scholarships to give HBCUs and Bennett will receive a total of $400,000 from 2021 until 2025.
The school also celebrated the 150th Founders event and announced about $2 million plus investments in Bennett.
“One was an investment from the estate of a woman who did not even attend Bennett,” said Walsh. “ She had been watching Bennett in the news and wanted to make sure that she helped Bennett to continue on a positive path. And that investment is really helpful to support the success of our students.”
Another major investment was $1 million from the state of North Carolina as announced by the Board Chair and State Senator, Gladys Robinson. President Walsh explained the investment was to focus on revitalizing, revamping and rehabilitating our science building.
“Biology is our largest major. Our recent graduates are attending fabulous graduate schools like Columbia, Brown and Duke. Imagine what our students could do if our facilities or infrastructure was up to date,” she shared.
Keeping the support going and raising awareness is major for Bennett College. Helping them continue their legacy can include spreading the amazing accomplishments the students and institution are achieving, supporting monetarily and loaning talent. One of the things they would like to provide for students would be a 24/7 chat box and they are looking for someone to lend a hand in helping them establish it.
President Walsh explained the importance of unrestricted investments to support the college in ways they see fit.
She mentioned,“The flexibility to be able to address the stabilization pillars is really important and it is rare that we receive large unrestricted investments. Unrestricted investments in Bennett College allow us to address things like deferred maintenance or important upgrades that are needed for IT infrastructure, or for addressing the unexpected.”