HBCU Got Some Love

One of the newsworthy items that slipped my mind last week was the recent donation that given to Xavier University by an unexpected party. I have to give a shout out to the Islamic nation of Qatar. They stepped up big by making a $17.5 million dollar donation to Xavier, the HBCU that was heavily damaged during Katrina. I think that is outstanding, considering such HBCU's tend to be financially strapped these days. Maybe LeMoyne-Owen can get their hustle on and get few dollars, lord knows they need it. Anyway the gist of the donation is as follows.

"Qatar is giving Xavier, which is in New Orleans, $12.5 million to add 60,000 square feet to its College of Pharmacy so it can increase enrollment. The gift has additional benefits, the ambassador said, because it will provide construction jobs and because students from the university work in community clinics. Xavier will also get $5 million for scholarships for students affected by the disaster. "It's going to allow us to help those students to finish their educations," said Norman C. Francis, Xavier's president. "That's important because Xavier is the No. 1 producer of African-American graduates in the natural sciences, and those students then go on to get admitted to medical school." Read the article if you wanna http://www.nytimes.com/2006/05/02/us/02charity.html?ex=1304222400&en=56eaeae1b9dcdec8&ei=5090&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss

Since I am on the topic of black colleges and universities, how would college sports change if the top athletes in the nation chose black colleges over the bigger named universities. These cats make millions for schools like your Michigan's, Notre Dame's, and USC's. How is it that there is no beef by supporters of such institutions when it comes to exceptions made in getting these athletes in school but all hell breaks loose when the discussion turns to exceptions made to allow your average black student into such schools. Aint gonna debate that today, I am just posing the question.