Friday, February 14, 2003

Senators Hear Testimony Favoring a $250-Million Technology Program for Minority Colleges By DAN CARNEVALE Washington Colleges that serve minority students need better digital and wireless infrastructures if they're going to prepare young people to join the work force. That was the message five presidents of minority-serving institutions brought on Thursday to the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation. The presidents were called to testify on a bill proposed by Sen. George Allen, a Virginia Republican, that would create a grant program to help historically black colleges and universities, Hispanic-serving institutions, and tribal colleges develop wireless capabilities and other campus technologies. The bill would authorize spending of $250-million on the grants over five years. A newly established Office of Digital and Network Technology at the National Science Foundation would handle the grant program. Senator Allen said at the hearing that students need to be trained to use technology while they're in college if they hope to compete for high-paying jobs. "It provides our young people a key to the future and economic success," he said. "Students who do not have access to information-technology skills are at an increased disadvantage." The Rev. Floyd H. Flake, president of Wilberforce University, told the committee that the bill would help universities like his catch up to wealthier institutions that entice the best and brightest students with state-of-the-art technologies on their campuses. Wilberforce, a historically black institution, is located near Dayton, Ohio. "What is described by some as a digital divide is more like a gaping technological canyon that has far-reaching implications for communities across the nation," Mr. Flake said. "If this chasm is not closed, the nation will suffer untold consequences. Ultimately, our national competitiveness will be undermined." Included in Senator Allen's bill, S 196, is a requirement that recipients match at least one-fourth of the grant money they receive. That requirement would be waived for institutions with endowments of less than $50-million. Wilberforce, for example, has an endowment of about $2.3-million, Mr. Flake said. Ricardo R. Fernandez, president of Herbert H. Lehman College of the City University of New York, said that officials there are trying to update the technology in campus classrooms but that the college is having trouble affording the project. Lehman, which has an endowment of about $6-million, serves mostly Hispanic students. "Providing fiber and copper cabling, switches, and routers to every building and classroom is simply very expensive for us and cost-prohibitive," Mr. Fernandez said. "At the pace that we are moving, the technology may well be obsolete before the project is finished." The most obvious obstacle facing the proposed grant program is the tight federal budget that Congress will confront when it comes time to appropriate money. But Senator Allen noted that Sen. Ted Stevens, the Alaska Republican who is chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is a cosponsor of the bill. Mr. Allen said he hopes Mr. Stevens will help the program get the funds it needs. Background articles from The Chronicle: Expert Say Technology Gap Among Colleges Perpetuates 'Digital Divide' in Society (6/21/2002) Does 'Digital Divide' Rhetoric Do More Harm Than Good? (11/9/2001) Easy-to-print version E-mail this article

Congressional Democrats assail Bush's stance against affirmative action in Michigan cases Colleges intensify security planning in wake of heightened warning on terrorism Minority-serving institutions join in urging changes to Higher Education Act Senators hear testimony favoring a $250-million technology program for minority colleges Southwest Texas State U. creates a digital map of trees on campus