Over the years, no consortium of educational institutions has produced Black talent like the Atlanta University Center. Consisting of Morehouse College, Clark Atlanta University and Spelman College, the AUC has produced the likes of Bakari Sellers, Bomani Jones and Keisha Knight Pulliam in the last 20 years. Unfortunately, one institution has been missing from the area in recent years, Morris Brown College. At the turn of the century, Morris Brown College lost its accreditation and suffered a major economic downturn. Fortunately, Morris College President Kevin James has the university on the right track. This week, the university is set to regain its accreditation, which will allow students to use federal loans at the institution.
After regaining accreditation, James said that he was "elated" about the school's future. He calls the news a "new day" for Morris Brown College.
"We intend on making history as the first HBCU to regain its status after a 20-year hiatus and the first HBCU to have a flagged hotel on its campus for a hospitality education program," James said.
"These achievements have sparked other closed HBCU’s to try again. Without the resilience, support, and prayers from the Board of Trustees, African Methodist Episcopal church, faculty, staff, alumni, and the community, we would not be here. We have so many amazing projects coming up in the pipeline that will prepare our students for academic success and jobs."
The resurgence of Morris Brown College is important to the health of HBCU community. Morris Brown College holds a special distinction of being the only HBCU in the area to be founded by a Black person.
The next step for James and his colleagues will be to secure more funding. At its peak, the school hosted nearly 3,000 students, but it dropped to 42 students in 2019.
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