♪♪
(Clock bells chime)
The Howard University experience is unique because we are a
historically black college and university.
HBCU's were created after the Civil War
to afford black students the opportunity for post-secondary education.
HBCU's started in church basements and in people's living rooms.
And it's just fascinating the commitment and the tenacity
that people of color had and still retain
to gain education and make education valuable for
themselves and their families.
It's the culture of the place. And a lot of the Greek
organizations, this is where many of the
black Greeks started.
Looking around and having lots of people look like you
is also a thing that makes it
for African American students
in particular a very unique
experience.
The Morgan State experience is a very unique one
for students. Our institution is rooted in academic
excellence. We have a very strong tradition here
of social activism. So we're very, very proud of what we have
achieved over those one hundred and fifty years.
Giving up is not an option, and that is certainly
a historical value.
we don't give up. We may give out, but we don't give up.
And that's the whole piece, I think, the undergirding of
the HBCU experience, it's the caring for its students.
But the thing I think that makes us quite different is
we are not afraid of our students. We tell them
what they need to hear that might enhance their life
and their career development.
That's what's unique about
this tight-knit campus
where faculty actually -
and staff actually nurture students and inspire them
and correct them when they're wrong.
It's like a big family here, which kind of makes it
that unique experience, because everyone here, they treat you
like family.
You know, underage drinking is a
significant problem, I think, in all college campuses because
if it happens to one student, its one student
too many.
♪♪
It was such a tragic accident.
He was at home during the Christmas holidays on an
interstate here in Maryland. And he was
driving along, doing everything that he was supposed
to be doing. And then a car jumped the median
and hit him head on. And took his life.
And the driver of that car was a drunk driver.
In the first year of my presidency, I had the
unfortunate circumstance of having a student who was not
actively enrolled at the university...die in an incident
of alcohol abuse. Had consumed too much alcohol.
Everyone assumed he was sleeping and by the next morning realized
that he had passed away.
I really don't think that underage drinking on our campus
is any different from anywhere else. But what I think is
different, maybe, is how we approach underage drinking.
And SMART is the acronym for students slash society mobilized
and retooled to transform. And part of that framework is
prevention of alcohol and substance use as well as
irresponsible sexual behavior.
One of the strategies that we employ is the education of our
peer educators and our popular opinion leaders. And we trained
those students around the consequences of alcohol use.
It's kind of like a peer-to-peer educational and support group.
It's kind of like you're more susceptible to receiving
information when its coming from somebody who
you feel can relate better to.
Sometimes you want to fit in with the crowd, you want to fit
in with organizations. And you see people, like older brothers
and older sisters who are doing this stuff. You kind of, like ok
I want to be like that. I want to know that person and know
that person. And so, um, I think that's how another
issue is how people follow after other people, and
they don't think for themselves just because they want to
fit into the crowd.
♪♪
Students on campus are exposed to several programs
that help us with preventing drug use as well as
underage drinking and also promoting even when
students are of age the appropriate use of alcohol
as well as throughout the year.
During Alcohol Awareness Month, we had youth in the
community. They came and did a poetry slam.
And all the poems were based around alcohol use.
And they were very talented kids.
This new phenomenon called day parties. And so oftentimes,
we worry about what the students are doing after
we're gone. Part of what we do now is we have off-campus
housing program and
we do community relations types of things.
And so we really engage the community,
the Metropolitan police, community organizations in
helping us sort of keep tabs on that.
So, every year, Howard throws the big before spring break
party event. So, they hold it here in Blackburn,
and all the students come. What they do is they try to
raise mental awareness and then also kind of push for safety
during spring break.
Prevention is important because you want to stop a problem
before it even happens. Students come to school
to learn, to become better individuals, to thrive
in the communities. And so, when they come to college,
you want to prevent them from going down the wrong path
because it's hard to come back up from there.
We don't believe we have a monopoly on all the good ideas.
We cannot do this alone. And it's going to take a community
partnership effort to do it.
When you talk about HBCUs, just can't get away from
communities of caring.
What works for our school might not work for another school.
For our school, we know that, you know, hip-hop trainings and
engaging the students through music has been a success.
For another campus, it may be having guest speakers or
having celebrities come to campus but knowing your student
population and how to reach them is very important.
Whatever those success stories are, whatever those best
practices are, I think we need to study them,
adopt and adapt them to our institution so that it makes
sense for their population.
♪♪