HBCU Digest February 18, 2011 Editorial: Hampton President Dr. William Harvey Envisions New Day for HBCUs On last night’s edition of HBCU Digest Radio, Hampton University President Dr. William Harvey announced what should soon become a major shift for HBCU culture. He plans to organize and launch a national initiative for black college alumni and students to celebrate their institutional heritage and success. 24 hours dedicated to all things HBCU. A national HBCU Day. The strategic outlay was simple; assemble those international celebrities, entrepreneurs, activists and thought leaders with HBCU ties to galvanize HBCU constituents to live all things HBCU for one day. Encourage students and alms to wear collegiate paraphernalia, encourage activation in an alumni chapter, and to support HBCU activity in campus and alumni communities across the nation. Dr. Harvey envisions a space on the calendar reserved to highlight the best of what HBCUs have to offer. One day to make the nation and the world recognize the value and depth of the impact of black colleges on the global community. And for the first time in a long lineage of visions for HBCUs to find a stable niche in American culture beyond Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and the Battle of the Bands, this particular visionary has the reach and the resources to make it reality. Dr. Harvey’s plans ring legitimate because of his acute history of branding and execution on the institutional level. His university, over his 33-year tenure as president, has taken black social culture and American academic culture by unmatched force. Hampton has emerged as an ivy leaguer among HBCUs, training and sending out leaders in an increasingly diverse global market. For any fast-rising or established figure in politics, arts, science and business seeking to find support from the black community for their agenda or ideologies, the ‘Home by the Sea’ has become a crucial port of call for mobilization and engagement. Hampton helps tone to pitch the minority voice in the fields of journalism, higher education leadership and public health, industries severely devoid of minority influence and leadership in the United States. Its ability to engage student and alumni loyalists and to cull affection from local media and state and federal legislature is unmatched by its closest of HBCU contemporaries. And all those closest to Dr. Harvey, professionally and personally, attribute this unique impact to a unique vision that has remained consistent and energized over 33 years. His place in black college lore deserves investment in the idea of a national HBCU Day, even from those who may not immediately see the kind of seismic socio-economic impact a national HBCU holiday could yield for HBCUs across the country. The HBCU Day, if holistically embraced by all HBCUs, has the chance to generate economic impact for all HBCU communities. Just as the chocolate and greeting card industry bank their fiscal success on Valentine’s Day, HBCU bookstores and apparel partners stand to benefit astronomically from a thrush of alumni and students seeking to participate in the holiday. Just as the Fourth of July inspires renewed patriotism and media coverage of classic American endearment, HBCU Day could invoke alumni to commit to financial and personal involvement with alumni associations. As Thanksgiving inspires family bonding and civic unity, HBCU Day could invoke the cultural pride of Black America, with the real possibility of raising HBCUs to a new level of social capital within the culture. But most of all, HBCU Day has a chance to leverage a new brand of progressive, collaborative activism from young and old HBCU constituents alike. Black History Month, for all of its value on Black culture since its inception, has been contorted to suit corporate branding opportunities for black consumer groups. Within those groups, the celebration has served as little more than a looping remembrance of familiar faces and accomplishments so often rehashed, we’ve forgotten their actual value and impact. The intended purpose – to look forward at new leadership and direction within the context and appreciation of those who pioneered – has been abandoned. HBCU Day, with its constituency of HBCU students eager to share the new faces of black history and civil rights in a viral-ready society, stands to become the upgraded edition of black history commemoration. No, it wouldn’t be the 28 days to which we’ve become accustomed, but its one day that could carry far more weight into the present and future vision of black excellence in American culture. All from one most excellent vision. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Program Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<https://mail.lyrasis.org/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> 404.592.4820 Skype:sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree Street NW Suite 200 Atlanta, GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (Lyrasis) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<https://mail.lyrasis.org/owa/UrlBlockedError.aspx> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.