Cheyney University News April 2, 2015 US Congressman Clyburn Tells Cheyney Crowd the Time Has Come for an Intervention Congressman James Clyburn (D-6th, South Carolina) kicked off Cheyney University of Pennsylvania's Presidential Lecture Series with a bang Wednesday, April 1, by taking an auditorium full of students, faculty, staff, alumni, and community members on a national historic journey. The self-proclaimed history buff recalled key events, not necessarily the way all of America remembers them, but by the way, he says, it really was. The author of Blessed Experiences (Genuinely Southern, Proudly Black), an autobiography of his role in the civil rights movement and his climb to leadership, spoke candidly and passionately. The Assistant Democratic Leader in the 114th Congress and number three Democrat in the House, began by acknowledging that Cheyney was founded in 1837, 17 years before the US Supreme Court overturned an earlier ruling, thus permitting slavery throughout the country. Ironically, he said, "that dreadful decision meant that a graduate from this school, even a professor from this school, traveling in a southern state, could have been subjected to slavery." Without a single paper or note on the podium, Rep. Clyburn told story after story, weaving in all kinds of history from the 1964 Civil Rights Act and the 1965 Bloody Sunday March on Selma, to the passing of historic legislation creating Medicare, Medicaid, Head Start, the department of Housing and Urban Development, Elementary and Secondary Education, and voting rights for African Americans. We can't sit back and allow lawmakers to pass legislation and the Supreme Court to overturn laws that don't help us, he contended. "We need a renewal," Clyburn declared. "Anything that's out of control can happen again. A lot of people believe that our country moves in a lineal fashion--from point A to point B to point C. The country never has and never will move that way. Our country moves like the pendulum on a clock--right and left and right again. The only thing that stops the movement from left to right is the intervention of voters. How far the country moves right depends on how many voters participate. When you fail to vote, you get what you deserve." Pennsylvania is not immune to this, Clyburn contended, reminding the crowd of the Voter ID law, purported to prevent fraud and keep public confidence in the fairness of the election process, that passed in the Keystone state before the last presidential election. "The person who organized that," Clyburn insisted, admitted in front of TV cameras that he did it, not to really know the identity of who is voting, but that so Mitt Romney could get on the ballot in PA, and he succeeded. "The time has come for an intervention," he admonished. Rep. Clyburn also addressed the elephant in the room. His alma mater, South Carolina State University, the state's only public Historically Black College & University (HBCU) is struggling to survive just like Cheyney, the nation's oldest HBCU, and the oldest of PA's 14 State System of Higher Education institutions, is. "I know the value of these institutions. HBCUs are the most consequential institutions because they nurture like no other institution," Clyburn stated. "Nurturing is the most important. It doesn't matter if you graduate in four years. What matters is if you are successful when you graduate, no matter how long it takes." Rolando Ransom, a junior Psychology major and member of Clyburn's beloved Omega Psi Phi fraternity, agreed. "The nurturing that you get here at Cheyney, I wouldn't have gotten at a larger institution. You get a lot of one-on-one attention here. It definitely makes a difference" especially for those coming from neighborhoods where "maybe one-on-one attention wasn't even in their own home." He called the congressman's message educational and positive. Dr. Frank G. Pogue, Interim President of Cheyney University since November 2014, thanked Rep. Clyburn for "the many, many years you've fought to preserve and sustain our HBCU institutions because they are of value. Your alma mater is experiencing similar things that we're experiencing and that far too many HBCUs are experiencing so your message is very timely. If anything happens to this HBCU, it will send shock waves through this country," Pogue emphatically proclaimed. "Yes, we have a few challenges and a bump in the road, but we're working on it," he insisted, eluding to a number of changes that he's made, including new administrative hires within his leadership team and a newly-organized internal Sustainability Task Force that's addressing the University's challenges, and will make recommendations to stabilize and empower the University "to continue to be successful in providing a much needed quality education for all who wish to learn. This institution is needed more today than ever in its history. We must continue to build on Cheyney's excellence," Pogue stressed. India Cross, President of Cheyney's student government, applauded Clyburn's historical knowledge and all that he's done for higher education and especially HBCUs. "He's a reminder that African American men are successful, powerful and resilient and that these types of African Americans still exist." "In a time when our communities, specifically African American males, are being targeted, it's a pleasure to hear someone who's made great strides in improving the African American community, remarked senior Thomas McRae, himself a product of the DC foster care system, who has beaten the odds. After being abandoned by his parents and living in 22 different foster homes, he is thriving at Cheyney and even worked on Capitol HIll as an intern in the office of Sen. Ben Cardin of Maryland. Following a reception and book signing, Rep. Clyburn toured Cheyney's Aquaponics Facility and the first two new buildings on campus in over 30 years; a state-of-the-art residence hall that opened in 2012 and a science center with a planetarium that opened last fall. He also took time to meet with Cheyney's Honda Campus All Star Challenge team who, just days earlier in CA, took second place in a national brain games competition with 47 other HBCU teams, winning a $25,000 grant. "So many wonderful things are happening at Cheyney on a daily basis," Dr. Pogue told the crowd, "I have a hard time rearranging my calendar so that I can attend them all." He said the Presidential Lecture Series at Cheyney University will now be an annual event. SANDRA M. PHOENIX Executive Director HBCU Library Alliance sphoenix@hbculibraries.org<mailto:sphoenix@hbculibraries.org> www.hbculibraries.org<http://www.hbculibraries.org/> 800-999-8558, ext. 4820 404-702-5854 Skype: sandra.phoenix1 1438 West Peachtree NW Suite 200 Atlanta,GA 30309 Toll Free: 1.800.999.8558 (LYRASIS) Fax: 404.892.7879 www.lyrasis.org<http://www.lyrasis.org/> Honor the ancestors, honor the children.