Struggling Cheyney U given new life
Will be part of race and diversity institute
One of the nation’s oldest historically black colleges, beset in recent years by enrollment and financial woes, might soon enjoy a renaissance as a center for study of contemporary issues of race, ethnicity, access and diversity in America.
That, at least, is the goal of officials including Gov. Tom Wolf, who traveled to Cheyney University in suburban Philadelphia on Tuesday to announce creation of the Institute for the Contemporary African American Experience.
Establishing ICAAE was recommended in May 2017 by a university task force assembled by the State System of Higher Education’s board of governors to identify a new business model for Cheyney. The campus has 755 students and is one of the State System’s 14 member universities.
Officials say they hope the institute will fuel community and academic endeavors including research. It also is intended to create opportunities for students to study in disciplines including the STEM fields of science, technology, engineering and math.
Thomas Jefferson University and Epcot Crenshaw Corp., a research and development firm in West Chester, Pa., are among the initial partners in the initiative, officials said. The Starbucks Foundation is also expected to work with the institute on future research.
“Cheyney University is the perfect location for this new initiative that partners the oldest historically black university in our nation with Thomas Jefferson University — one of the oldest medical colleges in the country,” Mr. Wolf said in prepared remarks. “This new institute will provide the kind of STEM learning and training that Pennsylvania needs to create a well-educated and skilled workforce and drive our economy forward.”
The school’s president, Aaron Walton, hailed the development on his campus.
“This is an exciting new initiative for Cheyney University, one that will produce enormous benefits, not only for our campus community, but also for the larger region and the entire country,” he said.
Cheyney’s pre-Civil War founding in 1837 as The African Institute and later the Institute for Colored Youth predates another nearby Pennsylvania institution, Lincoln University. But that school says the Commonwealth Charter it received in 1854 makes it the nation’s first degreegranting Historically Black College and University (HBCU).
Cheyney’s graduates have gone on to distinguished careers in fields including education. Among those alumni are the state’s current education secretary, Pedro Rivera, ‘01, and the late Ed Bradley, former correspondent for CBS’ “60 Minutes.” and a member of the class of 1964.
More recently, Cheyney has struggled mightily, and to some it represented the worst case of inequities across the State System, whose member schools and the central office in Harrisburg underwent a sweeping organizational review last year.
Since 2010, Cheyney lost more than half its enrollment of 1,586 and reached insolvency by 2017, kept alive by loans from other system schools. But it since has mustered two consecutive enrollment gains, including a 1 percent increase to 755 students last fall.
It received a year’s extension to correct accrediting and other issues.
Cynthia Shapira, chair of the State System board of governors, said the institute’s development will expand the university’s role in Pennsylvania and beyond.
“Cheyney is a university already rich in tradition; the establishment of the ICAAE will help secure its future, while providing students exciting new educational and enrichment opportunities; which, in turn, will help to ensure their success, both while enrolled at Cheyney and beyond,” she said in a statement.
The State System has 102,000 students. In addition to Cheyney, it includes Bloomsburg, California, Clarion, East Stroudsburg, Edinboro, Indiana, Kutztown, Lock Haven, Mansfield, Millersville, Shippensburg, Slippery Rock and West Chester Universities of Pennsylvania.