By Macy Meinhardt, California Local News Fellow
To ring in the new year, Black educators and activists across the state are celebrating the enactment of a new law that allows colleges with a track record of Black student success to apply for a Black-Serving Institution (BSI) designation.
“The designation of Black-Serving Institutions establishes an imperative for colleges to dismantle systemic barriers that have restricted access and success,” said San Diego Mesa College President Ashanti T. Hands.
The bill, authored by former state Senator Steve Bradford, was passed within a series of reparation bills signed by Gov. Gavin Newsom last September.
SB 1348 seeks to rectify long-standing disparities in California’s higher education system. Currently, only 25% of Black Californians hold a college degree, compared to 58% of white Californians, based on reports from the Public Policy Institution of California.
In addition, Black enrollment in higher education has decreased by nearly 30% across all U.S. colleges since 2010.
The designation will help with the recruitment of Black students for campuses who have established programs designed to support the educational and economical needs of African American students.
There are specific requirements colleges will have to prove in order to meet the designation criteria, such as:
- Maintaining a Black student population of at least 10% or 1,500 students
- Implementing robust Black student success programs
- Demonstrate clear allocation of resources to support these efforts
- Establish measurable key performance indicators to track Black student achievement
Thirty nine colleges across the state meet this quota currently. Applications for the designation will be reviewed by the California State University Statewide Central Office for the Advancement of Black Excellence. Each designation will last for five years until the campus would need to apply again.
Among entities who are celebrating is the San Diego Community College District, which hosts 5,500 African American students. Three SDCCD campuses will be seeking the designation this year: San Diego City College, San Diego Mesa College, and San Diego College of Continuing Education
“Many of our Black students are veterans, the first in their families to go to college, parents, foster youth, justice impacted, or recent immigrants who are working adults striving to advance their careers so that they can access the middle class and beyond,” said City College President Ricky Shabazz who advocated for the legislation.
The BSI therefore, is a “critical step in ensuring that Black students have the necessary resources and support needed to be successful in their higher education journey,” Shabazz said.
