Transcripts For CSPAN2 Washington Journal 20150217

80 of the students would be considered black and universities. There are even a couple of historical black colleges and universities because of the history who actually have student populations that are more predominantly caucasian. They represented an opportunity for blacks at that time to get an education, and overtime has evolved into worldclass institution such as ours. Host as far as the role they serve today, how would you describe that particularly as colleges as a competitive thing and a lot of colleges to compete with . Guest absolutely. We remain competitive. For several reasons. We represent about the percent of africanamerican students in Higher Education. The account for 21 or 22 of all africanamerican graduates from Higher Education in the country today. When you look at that impact as a population, we certainly have a very strong impact in the core group of institutions. I do not think the issue is about relevance, i think the issue is about how excellent we can become. How we ensure that we are doing the best possible. I think you see that today. For example, we provide about 120 programs. When you look to all the landscape of historically, there are 100 and five. You really covered the entire paragon of education in terms of providing that are that opportunity. It is relevant today when you look at socioeconomic factors, in terms of the ability to afford college etc. We still have a very significant role to play, despite the opening up of the opportunity elsewhere. It still represents one that is necessary in our landscape today. Host as far as you getting or recruiting students specifically for howard, what do you sell them on . What sets you apart from the rest . Guest you know, the first thing is the primary reason theyre coming here is excellent education. We believe we will provide students with the best education in any areas we engage them in. The second thing we sell them on is our motto. The one thing is how you see education, you do not get a degree, you come here to get an education. You go out and serve the world around you and change the world around you. We feel very strongly about that. If you look at the history, you get our love, they have gone off and then that with the legacies they have created. We are still building upon the current student body and they are very conscious one. The student body that is very concerned about society around them and making progress. I saw students on the fact that they will get an educational an excellent education at Howard University. Host about 7000 or so undergraduate students and about 3000 or so graduate students. It is located here in washington dc. We are joined by the president dr. Wayne frederick of Howard University. This is part of a bus tour that will go to black colleges and universities. Heres your chance not only to learn about these tops of colleges, but specifics of guest and their universities. We divided the lines differently, if you attended historically like college or university and give your perspective, 2027488000 is the number you call. Everyone else, call 202748 8001. Dr. Frederick, give us a snapshot of Howard University. We talked about the specifics, but dylan the blanks and give us a sense of what the university is like. But still in the blanks and give us a sense of what the university is like. Guest absolutely. We are the only school in the country that has one of its own hospitals. A dental school, debility school, and medical school. Im a professional graphic side, we have a formidable educational product that we are delivering. We have 10,300 students at the university today, as you said earlier. Roughly 7000 in our undergrad population. When you look at the programs we deliver, we deliver about 120 different fields of study. We graduate more africanamericans in the phd program than any other institution in the country. We average about 100 year. Over the past two to three years, we are continuing to do that. No school in the country has most of undergrads. We have done that over the past decade. We have been more prolific than any other school in the nation. So we have been very, very productive on that end as well. We have students from about 44 states and we also have some for many countries. We have a significant makes their of students in terms of cultural background and so on. We think again that provides a very great atmosphere in which one can get an education. We have a formidable faculty of about 1100 faculty members. A significant number of them are also international, but also experts in their field of study. We are recognized throughout the country for producing students with a very, very high achievement in terms of academics. Coming into Howard University as well we have a competitive freshman class every year. We taken about firsttime College Students and we have a significant transfer program into the undergrad campus. Our professional programs are very competitive to get into. We have our medical school and we received many applications. Host because you mentioned the medical school and hospital that was one of the concerns of howard, especially on the financial side. What was going on and what is the plan to fix it . Guest sure. The main issue is having a hospital in todays health care, is a very difficult circumstance. Just because we look at the skills, economy, and ability to purchase things at a cheaper price and deliver health care in an efficient matter with declining reimbursement, all of those things make it very difficult to be and have a small hospital. We have put together Management Service agreements with them. We recently signed a letter of intent with the District Of Columbia to expand our services and take over the operation of United Medical center. Looking at those two we have began to stabilize economics of the hospital so we can continue to need to serve the mission. To provide our kids and those otherwise would not have an opportunity in an underrepresented community, as well as providing medical education that is unique at Howard University. Again, time and time again we have been recognized to go into neighborhoods in this country where it they have underserved populations. Host dr. Frederick, part of the problem is that your Credit Rating has been down. If that is the case, what are you going to do to restore that . Guest we obviously have to continue to make sure that our Operational Efficiency is improving and make sure we are doing the right things financially to improve the system outlook. Our endowment is strong and it is going. We have to increase our finance as we continue to that revenue stream. Philanthropy will be a major part. We have a very aggressive plan that we are looking at how we can use the multiple real estate assets that we all to create Revenue Streams. We are exploring so that we can leverage recent activity that is unique to Howard University that will make a difference in many peoples lives and certainly can provide a significant economic boost for the university. Multiplying our revenue stream is important so that we are doing the things we need to do to provide the best education and the environment in a responsible manner. And simply improving and expanding our efforts philanthropic way. Host joining us, dr. Wayne frederick, the president of Howard University. A call from maryland lewis good morning. Caller hello. Thank you for allowing me to express myself. I attended morgan state and i was the first one of the first black students who attended the university of maryland school. I was the only one in the class of 100 and i was the order black to finish there. In those days i think you for having existed. I thank you you for having existed. One of the first hmos stations in the United States was established in maryland. It gave the poor patients access to private care. Prior to that, they had sporadic care and clinic care. But that Monumental Health plan wasnt saw as a threat to many people in the baltimore area, so we no longer existed. Our hospital liberty, has been torn down. I would think and hope that you do Everything Possible to protect the entity that you have there. It is a very kind valuable asset. To train people in all levels. If you look at television now, we have very few africanamerican physicians. Please do everything you can to maintain Howard University hospital. Host thank you. Dr. Frederick, go ahead. Guest i appreciate your comments. The freedmens hospital was founded five years before the university in 1862. It has been serving an underserved population and has been an incredible Training Ground for lots of prominent africanamerican physicians in the country. To the callers point, we recognize the entity in terms of what it provides, health care for those who otherwise would not be served, as well as to provide an education and so we can provide an education for those who would not have an opportunity. It is critical today. We have to do it in a responsible way, and we cannot simply do it because of the legacy of what has existed. We have to do it in a manner in which we can thrive between business and continue to provide postgraduate training, residency programs, etc. It is certainly a sentiment that he expressed that resonates with me and my ministership. Host anthony in washington dc, you are next. Caller dr. Frederick, good morning. Im a former graduate of howard undergrad and the law school. I was born and raised in the Howard University neighborhood columbia heights. A couple of questions very quickly. I wanted to know, as you mentioned, Howard Universitys real estate assets. I wanted to know if there was a plan in liquidating or if you were looking to create a revenue stream based on the assets. In some ways, could they benefit current and former students in terms of developing homeownership or even property ownership. The second quick question i had in terms of pushing Howard University in the 21st century what type of direction or new programs have been initiated that really reflect jobs that are present today and not necessarily the jobs of the 20th century . Host anthony, thank you. Dr. Frederick, go ahead. Guest an excellent question anthony. You definitely some of the howard along. Alum. We do not intend to liquidate. We believe there is an increasing market value in the areas that we own around the university. We simply intend to get into the types of deals that will create longterm Revenue Streams for the university. As far as ownership and faculty and student is a vacation, we are always looking for those opportunities very. That is the type of business we intend to stay in and intend to grow in. The second issue around programming, you are absolutely right. We are constantly looking at all of our academic offerings. We offer 120 fields of study. We are looking to see what is relevant. What is contemporary, what needs to be could temporize what needs to be contemporary, and what needs to be brought on. Private security we have been looking at and expanding. We think it is pertinent for this day and age. We also look at Computer Engineering as a certainly when we have to expand. Google, facebook, and yahoo in california back in october, we met with them. Those are jobs that are expanding in terms of numbers in the coming future. We definitely think that those are areas that we must get our graduates into in order to ensure they can go of that economic escalator using the education they get at Howard University. It is an ongoing process. It is not a process that has a stopping point. It is one we have to be doing continuously. Host from virginia, lynn. Go ahead. Caller good morning. Thank you for taking my call. I want to ask a quick weston doctor. The quick question, doctor. Why dont more black colleges for economic purposes tried to recruit black athletes to come to black colleges incident taking all the college to a white predominant university . Because athletics is a big moneymaking business and i think black college should be a lot more better served if that town and served would go to black universities. If that talent served would go to black universities. Guest i was introduced to an espn. We had a good conversation about athletics. Obviously he is an expert in this area. He sees a lot of College Sports and has been covering historically black colleges and universities for decades. There are several things that provide differences here in terms of recruitment that we have to look at. Given where we are with social media and the media in general the attraction for a lot of highprofile athletes is that they can make it to the professional level and they see college as a stepping stone. The reality is, very few of them would make it to the next level less than 1 . We have to compete on another platform, which is on the educational product. We have to convince these athletes that the primary reason for going to college is to get an education. We think we are very competitive there and very aggressive about recruiting. Im looking at our Athletics Program right now. We will put together a plan. We are recruiting a new athletic director. The plan is for us to really make a significant splash around athletics. I think it is a Unifying Force on campus and something to rally around. My experience at Howard University and being the soccer team manager, we went to the division finals. I know it College Athletics look like at a top level concerns of achievement. I know what it did to 19 88 when the entire campus rallied around us. We currently have to compete for those athletes. It is a difficult competition. You have kids that will be on tv every week, and that is what they will be attracted to. We are not quite the area, but we intend to be there. We intend to be a major player in athletics as well. Host maryland is up next. Good morning. Caller good morning. Im a graduate of Howard University, college of medicine. 1978, i am a pediatrician and i was born in that area of d. C. As well as at friedman hospital. I too feel like i have a superb educatio i too feel i had a superb education to open up a pediatric practice. My grown children attended Howard University. Nurturing the education than just they great and that they received at Howard University as i did. I am making a call to make to thank dr. Frederick for what he is doing and also for the wonderful years she has served as one of the leaders as leaders at Howard University. Guest thank you very much. She mentioned a cohen who was secretary of the board. She has been doing that for a couple of decades. On the education side again, i think one of the things we recognize is that we have a strong legacy. One of the things i want to make sure more listeners get today is that Howard University is a college of medicine. One of the things i want to make sure her listeners get is this, Howard University college of medicine is at or above the National Efforts despite the fact we take mcat schools may be one or two points we go to the National Average so the educational part you are getting at Howard University is excellent. We bring an institute who may otherwise have a different type of preparation but they have a call to service and we are making sure that they use every technical competence they need as well as infusing the spirit. So we feel very strong about the educational product and i hope the alum are proud that when they do encounter a recent grad they encounter the best in the business. Host dr. Frederick the Hospital Medical program was affected by the implementation of the aca and what the government does as far as paying out medicare . Guest you know in general i think medicare reimbursements are keeping up necessarily with costs. The Affordable Care act has not affected this negatively in any way. The District Of Columbia government under the stewardship of the prior two years has done excellent job of ensuring citizens in the districts. It has a high rate in the district, a reimbursement rate is in great and thats across the country with the medicare program. It is a battle and we have got to figure out a way to be more cost efficient in terms of how we deal with care. The push is again for more Outpatient Care for us not to have our patients hospitalized for long periods of time but also patients that we can discharge that getting their needs met and therefore their ability to stay at home and recuperate and return to the hospital a short period of time is just not there. Those are some of the programs we have to institute in conjunction with the government in order to make sure we can get the right assistance. They may not have people at home to help provide care or those things that are unique to the Patient Population that its serving and those are the things that will have the fiscal outcome. Host dr. Wayne frederick joining us. Howard from baltimore you are next. Caller thank you cspan a good morning sir. Howard founded by general howard during the civil war after the civil war. Now i am glad we have gotten past the paper bag test and we are into a realistic discussion of our society and how it has done a great job in providing professionals to the general american society. Sir there is a situation that howard right now. I never thought howard would become a part of the profiteering of the Charter School movement. Is howard a part of the lawsuit to increase per pupil expenditures on a Charter School that you have on your campus . Guest two things. Let me just be clear you mentioned are Charter School. That is a middle school that is designated for math and science. Its an independent Charter School and it participates in the Charter School program in general. In 2005 when we started that school we receive students on basically participating in the general lottery to get students. Those students who came to Howard University medical school really were not performing at grade level. They were performing one or two grade levels below twothirds of them. We provided a short instructional project that a lot of them are sophomores in college now. One of the things we must look at as we look at Howard University is a Higher Ed Institutions to recognize the pipeline to our Higher Educational product is one that must be served in a manner that must look back and they must get ourselves involved in k12 education. We do that through dedication that we are also doing that the dual Enrollment Programs and those types of programs that we feel strongly having a middle school on our campus that is a Charter School is an important part of our participation in the pipeline. It must be part of what we do but we also participate strongly in the d. C. Public school system. We launched a dual Enrollment Program of two high schools in the district which would bring those high schools students as juniors and get an opportunity to graduate earlier. We are looking at an entire landscape of what k12 education looks like in looking for in a collaboration for young and underrepresented students. Host the caller mentioned the founder of Howard Jennifer general oliver howard. Dr. Frederick a few more details about this man. Guest general howard had a distinguished service for the u. S. Army and after his service he along with a few other men got together and is described by the caller decided it should be an Educational Institution to help freed slaves coming from the south south get an opportunity to be educated. The petition to the federal government at that time and the Defense Bureau and they got funds to start the school. They started the smaller charter signed in 1867 and the land was obtained to build a school on and in 1871 the First Medical School faculty as an example had two black faculty members long before any law was passed for tuition. The first graduate with a degree in pharmacy. That progressed throughout the decades with us expanding those opportunities and creating more Educational Institutions. There have been lots of debates as to what we should focus on. Booker t. Washington and w. E. B. Dubois had a very interesting debate as to the direction of Howard University going from the 1800s into the 1900s. They were concerned about whether there would be enough people for jobs versus higher ed so that continues and we continue to participate in what i think is one of americas greatest Educational Institutions. Host we have set aside land for those who attended an hbcu and all others. Jack from South Carolina who attended the university you are next. Good morning. Caller good morning. Thank you very much for taking my call. I just had a question to ask you in reference to veterans children. I wanted my son to go to more house and because more house is a private school he wasnt qualified to get the funds unless he went to a dashed school or state school. He did go to private school so i wanted to ask a question. Has anyone in the historical black colleges plan to work with the government to let the children of veterans who want to go to a Historical College qualified for founding . Host thanks caller. Guest yeah shourd, an excellent question. The economics are a big factor. Let me be very clear about that. We are private institution. 60 of the students attending Howard Universitys underground undergrad or Pell Grant Eligible which means they come from the lowest socioeconomic background. 22 have an expected family contribution of zero and qualify for the maximum program to work. What we have done at Howard University is i started what is called the grace programmer students in their sophomore to senior year to maintain a 2. 5 gpa or greater and youre also on track in terms of the program to graduate on time we cover their tuition. That is one down payment on trying to afford the opportunity for students who otherwise wouldnt have it. The other thing we are doing this year we will give rebates on tuition in the last semester for students who graduate on time or finish before. We will return 50 of the cash they have paid in the last semester to the students recognizing in economics we have to equalize the economics. We have to create an opportunity ultimately were students who may be in a lower socioeconomic circumstance had the opportunity to, the last thing i would say when you look at the performance on s. A. T. For africanamericans who come from families with incomes greater than 200,000 about 981. For white americans who come from family incomes of less than 20,000 the average s. A. T. Scores 978. Its three points difference so we have to recognize that trying to work with the system where the standardized tests we use regardless of what the economics are does not seem to be on a level system. We have to make sure we are providing an opportunity for those who otherwise may not be able to afford it and not just look at the test scores or the ability to pay but look at the overall holistic impression of what the person is bringing to the table and what they can potentially go out and do. Host more house colleges on her slate of colleges that will be profiled during this month and we will speak to the head of Morehouse College in and other colleges as well. Today Howard University over to georgia. You are up next. Hello. Caller good morning pedro. Good morning dr. Frederick. Guest good morning. Caller i. Caller i am a black young man and i have a debate with my friends all the time about the relevance of age hcb use in todays time and they save people are more successful today in black kids are doing good in the school like the university of georgia and whatnot so my question to you dr. Frederick would you say to people who argue that hbcus are no longer relevant in the 21st century . Thank you. I will say a couple of things. One is that although we account for 3 of the africanamerican population we have called for 22 of the africanamerican grads from higher ed so that first thing i would say it is in terms of relevance its clear. Theres an article out yesterday that is examining the population of black students at many schools in the south including georgia the university of florida etc. The numbers are promising. At the university of florida over the past four years 50 of the black population terms of the incoming class that is how much it is dropped. At one point they had just under 1000 students coming in the freshman class and currently i believe they have just under 500. In terms of where the opportunity is and where the students are going to go these students need every opportunity and every type of institution to have its doors flung open for them and traditionally they have provided that opportunity. The last thing i would say is the quality of the education you get at a historically black college and i can speak specifically from my alma mater at Howard University is an excellent educational products. If you look at what we have from vernon georgia the first africanamerican president and the American Cancer Society coming look at the mayor of atlanta and kasim reid and the attorney general in california. I could go on and on. Debbie allen and felicia. [speaking in russian] and the opera singer. We have excellence that we are produced in our alum who have gone to the top of their fields and i think we have an opportunity to do that. The new chancellor for Health Sciences Gene Washington of duke appointed from ucla yet another howard grad so im convinced the educational product we provide is bar none in terms of what you will get if you come to an hbc like Howard University. Host dr. Frederick lawyer running a little short on time but if you could give the viewers a snapshot of how you ended up as president of howard. Guest yeah well i came to Howard University is a 16yearold then enrolled at 16 with an interest in pursuing medicine. I wanted to become a physician and i think what Howard University does is it sees potential way beyond what you bring to the table and what you see in yourself. I think thats the magic of Howard University. I became this is good being after taking a faculty position at uconn. I came back to howard dean to practice my craft and join the faculty and that led to me being a deputy provost and the provost and i was asked to be the interim president and never in my wildest dreams would i think i would become the 17th present of Howard University but this is where i am and this is why a University Like this is relevant today because they can take a 16yearold boy coming from a foreign country and elevates them all the way to the president as a distinguished institution. Host letter from ronald in boston massachusetts. Caller good morning pedro, good morning dr. Frederick. Host go ahead caller. Caller did you hear me . Host you are on the air. Go ahead. Caller dr. Frederick i would like to know when youll be coming up to the boston area. Im located at Roxboro Community College Umass and also m. I. T. Are you going to be coming to the area later on . Theres a lot of snow and i dont think you want to come to this area right away. Guest absolutely. We will celebrate on march 7 and subsequent to that i will hit the road in massachusetts is definitely on my radar in july and my intent is to spend a few days there with as many alum and prospective applicants of Howard University so i look forward to seeing you when i come there. Host omaha nebraska, david up next. Good morning. Caller good morning. Good morning doctor. I want to commend you on a great job you are doing and i would tell you that i was listening to you and focus is power and thats all i want to say. Have a great day and keep loving life as love likes you. Guest thank you very much i appreciate your sentiments and support. Host darrell from Stafford Stafford virginia go ahead. Caller good morning. I have a question about the administrative process. For example i am in the mba program at the seminary. We have to print have to print out the form fill it out and mail it in. I hope you will look into that and its not only that. 2090 Administrative Service is completely out of whack and you need to look into it. I think the people you have up there feel they are not there to serve the public. Every time you approach one of them its like you are bothering them or something so i would hope you would look into that demonstrate the process out. Host thank you darrell. Go ahead doctor. Guest i think that is changed significantly. We certainly are emphasizing Customer Service in my administration. I think we have made great strides. We have a cares program that we have been launching throughout the university where we want people to realize they have to collaborate. We have to be accountable and show respect to our customers. We have to exemplify excellence and make sure everything we underscore is a need to serve others. We continue to do that. I think we are moving along significantly. And with respect to leveraging technology around the students that we do have it is something we are launching. They participate in it and application currently. All of our Registration Services are on line and what you just described in terms of the services for some of our graduate programs is one of those people based but we are moving it on line. We have launched our on line application for the graduate programs a year or two ago and there are a couple of outliers like the one you just described that we have to bring to the floor and we are in the process of doing that now but i appreciate your feedback. Host dr. Frederick we have one minute left. What would you like to see done under your tenure at howard . Guest under my tenure what i would like to do is to make sure we exemplify excellence in service. My intent is to serve my alma mater in a manner in the molding i received as a student is the molding i want to make sure is provided for other students who will calm. I am not students are not here just to get a degree but here to get an education. That means what we do in the classroom will be just as important as what we do outside of the classroom and how we interact society. What i would like to say is Howard University has continued to be recognized as one of not just america but one of the worlds great Educational Institutions for the next 150 years. Host dr. Wayne frederick the present of Howard University the first of many styles we are making in february taking look at historically black colleges and universities. Dr. Frederick thanks for joining us on this very first day. Guest thanks for having me. Host William Harvey the present of hampton university. Dr. Harvey thank you for joining us. Guest is my pleasure to be with you pedro. Host dr. Harvey we are going to talk about university but i want to talk about another whirl you serve that deals with the world at historically black colleges and university. You are the chairman of the president s board of advisers on this. Could you tell us about that organization and what its purpose is . Guest first of all presid