The Gramblinite

Issue date: 9/11/08 Section: News

Spelman College in Atlanta is the top ranked college for Black students this year. Fisk, Yale and Stanford universities also earned spots on the Top 20. Carleton College, a private facility in Northfield, Minn., eked out No. 50 on Black Enterprise magazine's annual Top 50 Colleges for Black Students.

The University of Virginia secured a rank one position higher than Grambling State University.

The place where everybody is somebody, is No. 40. With an average GPA of 2.7, two highly boasted summer programs (High Ability and Bridge-to-College), in-state tuition below $4,000, groundbreaking on-campus housing, and effective student-teacher ratios, Tigers impressed the magazine enough to make the list, a feat unaccomplished by GSU in the 2006 compilation.

Prepare for the chest puffs. After all, now is a great time to be young, Black and educated. Maintenance is a must. Campus powers that be ought to continue the utilization of effective programs until accolades become the norm.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 103 historically Black colleges and universities exist in the United States. Though that hot 100 represents a mere 3 percent of all U.S. "institutions of higher education," HBCUs graduate a quarter of all undergraduate African Americans.

A submission to the Peabody Journal of Education declares that three-fourths of all black Ph.D.s graduated undergrad from Black schools. Numerous other notables paved their success while living the black college experience.

 Charles M. Blow, for example, graduated from GSU with a B.A. in mass communication. He became the art director of National Geographic magazine prior to securing a position as visual Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times.

He is no anomaly. To many, success is the expectation.

With the Top 50 under Grambling's belt, students are motivated by recognition and a climate ripe for change. Sophomore marketing major Irishia Williams explained the lowered expectations and disregard many have for Grambling, but was not dismayed. "It's cool to be recognized for doing something good because Grambling is a great place to go to school," Williams said.

Her sentiments were echoed by sophomore architectural drafting and design major Ronald Clay, who passionately stated, "Students started to work harder on their major because they want to become something in life."

Spoken like someone who is somebody.

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