As we know, Florida A&M University has been going through the crisis from hell: Institutionalized hazing, which led to the death of a marching band member, that will continue to play out legally. It also has prompted a no-confidence vote in the beleaguered FAMU president, James Ammons.
New higher-education data, however, has diverted attention recently. Alas, the diversion is otherwise unwelcome.
We now know that FAMU’s four-year graduation rate is 12 percent. No, that’s not a typo. Cite any factors you want–including a high percentage of students qualifying for federal Pell grants–none are mitigating enough. Even those who graduate statistically come up short when it comes to passing professional examinations–such as the bar exam for law students. And this from an institution that had initially requested a 15 percent tuition hike.
Moreover, the average amount of student debt at FAMU is the highest in the state university system–with nearly 84 percent of students having debt of almost $30,000. Nothing like hitting the career-ground stumbling without even a degree to show for the burden of debt.
This is not the Jim Crow South where standards for historically black institutions were necessarily customized and compromised to allow for extenuating circumstances borne of racism. This is not an era where opportunity is otherwise unavailable. This is not “post-racial” America, to be sure, but to countenance this sort of higher-education parody is to practice an ironic form of racism. The racism of insultingly low-to-negligible expectations.
Any changes shy of a house-cleaning would only perpetuate the FAMU problems that are disgracefully–and obviously–endemic.