Having spent more than a half-century as a faculty member, administrator, and advocate in higher education, I lost count a long time ago of the number of meetings I have attended, as well as the number of speeches and presentations I’ve made, all of which I gifted to the Indiana University Archives. But I recently attended a national event that is indelibly etched in the crevices of my memory. It was not a conference, but rather a summit: the United Negro College Fund (UNCF) Summit For Black Higher Education. This second annual summit, UNITE 2023, convened in Atlanta, Georgia, July 16-20, 2023, and was attended by 1,200 participants from more than 75 Black Colleges and Universities, more than 40 Black college presidents, and 50 corporate and nonprofit sponsors.
To be in the presence of so many Black college and university leaders, faculty-staff members, and trustees, just two weeks following the misguided Supreme Court decision outlawing the use of race in admitting undergraduate students at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and Harvard University, served as a reminder of the contemporary importance of HBCUs.
Dr. Charlie Nelms
No matter how SCOTUS tried to spin the rationale for its decision, race still matters in America, is literally bad for our health, and has an outsized impact on all aspects of our lives, from birth to death, and even from generation to generation. Although the long-term impact of the Court’s decision is uncertain, we have the certainty of knowing that HBCUs are prepared to do what they have always done since their founding: to be engines of opportunity and social mobility where all students are welcome, irrespective of race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, or the financial status of their families.
Anchored by the five guiding pillars that serve as the foundation for HBCU transformation—Institutional Excellence, Student Success, Research and Innovation, Economic Mobility, and Systems Change—participants had access to more than 200 sessions, facilitated by thought leaders and speakers spanning the landscape of higher education and sectors beyond.
In the days since the UNCF summit, I have had the opportunity to reflect on why the event resonated so positively and profoundly with me. Even the most casual observer would have been struck by the elevated level of energy, enthusiasm and engagement manifested by those attending the summit. There are four things that set UNCF’s UNITE 2023 apart from countless other events in which I have been a participant, speaker, or observer since 1968.
First, the summit was planned and executed by UNCF employees spanning primarily two generations: millennials (born between 1981 and 1996), who are typically more progressive, creative and far-thinking; and those from Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980), who exhibit an elevated level of independence, flexibility, and a propensity toward technological adeptness.
