Sun
Feb 17 2008
11:51 am
Knoxville College
By: R. Neal

The KNS has an in-depth article about Knoxville College today. Can a school with 66 enrollees, $7 million in debt and millions more in maintenance backlogs survive? It sure sounds like they're trying.

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Sandra Clark's picture

Past time

Submitted by Sandra Clark on Sun, 2008/02/17 - 1:02pm.

This emperor has no clothes and has, in fact, been limping along naked for too long.

Shutter Knoxville College. Send the 66 students to Pellissippi State and throw the $2 million annual budget into Project GRAD or Knox County Schools to help kids prepare for college. -- s.

zoomfactor's picture

Except that they wouldn't

Submitted by zoomfactor on Sun, 2008/02/17 - 1:37pm.

Except that they wouldn't have any incentive to go to Pellissippi State, which is oriented to serve local residents. According to the article, the student body of K.C. are all from places other than TN except for two students. A primary attaction of K.C. to the students is the fact that it is an HBCU. Unfortunately, many HBCUs are falling on hard times, such as Fisk in Nashville and its controversial proposal to sell its Georgia O’Keeffe paintings to raise capital.

Somebody's picture

What's the role?

Submitted by Somebody on Sun, 2008/02/17 - 5:33pm.

What is the role of an HBCU in the current educational system? I ask this in all seriousness, not as a politically incorrent provocation. At one time, the role was clear. Smart, ambitious young people were denied admission to most other colleges because of their ethnicity. For all the issues and concerns that still remain, that premise is simply no longer the case. So what's the current mission of HBCUs like Knoxville College? Find a good answer to that, and you have your answer to what the fate of KC should be.

Somebody's picture

"I think one problem is that

Submitted by Somebody on Mon, 2008/02/18 - 10:46am.

"I think one problem is that some big schools like UT are still over 85% white (though getting better or trying to)."

Tennessee.gov reports census data that the African American population in Tennessee is 16.9%. How far off from that is UT? Does having a nearby HBCU help or hurt the effort at equity at the UT Knoxville campus?

R. Neal's picture

Probably doesn't hurt it too

Submitted by R. Neal on Mon, 2008/02/18 - 11:03am.

Probably doesn't hurt it too much, given that the article says there aren't any students there from Knoxville and only a couple from Tennessee. Most are from Michigan or overseas. And there are only 66.

Trivia: I played a gig one time at Knoxville College circa 1971 with the sock hop/dance/rock/pop band I played in when I was in high school.

jbr's picture

Perhaps a combination of

Submitted by jbr on Mon, 2008/02/18 - 7:09pm.

Perhaps a combination of multiple of Pellissippi/Roane State/Walters State/Austin Peay/ETSU/Tenn Tech
could move in and offer 4 year degrees from Board of Regents programs. Grads that are in heavy demand like nurses, teachers, etc.

Anonymous's picture

KC

Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon, 2008/04/14 - 8:43am.

I believe that Knoxville College will only survive if People of all races realize the benefits this college has to offer. There are many great black schools that are receiving funds from HBC However, small schools like Knoxville are not getting any of these funds. I personaly refuse to give to HBC for that reason. There are some black Americans who could help these school out of their defecits.These people are not asking for a hand out;they are looking for a hand up.
Oprah, Jortdan. Cosby. I am not saying that these peolple do not aide other educational projects.but this school has a greater need.

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