Not necessarily retiring from professional activity, but transitioning into a lessdemanding role. I plan to spend a lot of my time writing and look forward to that opportunity. But i feel that its really a great time to pass the baton to the next leader because the college is in such a strong position. We have had a very Successful Campaign as was mentioned. Our goal was 150 million. And we raised 158 million. Our alumni have really rallied around the institution. We have the highest alumni Participation Rate ever in the history of the college. Our students are doing great things. Great opportunities have been made available to them. Weve been able to triple our Financial Aid budget. So many wonderful things have been able to take place that i feel like its a Perfect Moment to pass the baton to the next leader because theres a lot of momentum. Lets go to craig waiting in missouri city, texas. Youre on with dr. Tatum. Caller yes, good morning. I want to first thank cspan for the efforts with this tour of historical black colleges and universities. And i want to thank dr. Tatum for her effort and leadership. We have a daughter attending currently at spelman. And she has bloomed. And she has taken on leadership roles. And i wanted to, dr. Tatum to speak to the culture that is there of really the training of young ladies to go out and change the world. And also on top of that really speak to the need for all girls colleges and universities and the counterpart, morehouse being an all male school, do they still have a role in college life when right now many times people are saying that you know, theyre out of date. Thank you. Ill hang up and listen. Dr. Tatum . Sure. Well, i think that there is definitely still an Important Role to be played for single sex institution, single gender institutioning. So womens colleges are wellknown for providing leadership opportunities. As you mentioned your own daughter has really blossomed and is emerging as a leader here at spelman. And the reality is, in a womens environment she has the opportunity to not only be a leader herself but be inspired by women around her who she sees doing things that she might want to do. So every leadership role that you might imagine is something that a young woman at spelman can aspire to. And in fact may see someone who looks like her already in such a role. So theres a lot of opportunity for mentorship a lot of opportunity for inspiration. And as you mentioned Morehouse College is across the street which means we really have the best of both worlds. Theres plenty of opportunity for coed interact if thats what you want to have. But in the classroom, youre at the center of the experience, as i said. And i think that makes a huge difference for young women giving them lots of confidence and the sense that they truly can do anything. And when we look at what our graduates do we see that they are indeed doing anything and everything that you would hope they would be able to do. Lets head up to new york. Carmines waiting new rochelle new york. Caller i wanted you to know that i have a niece who attended a historically black college. But were not africanamerican. Were italian. And her experience was so rewarding and so beautiful. She wasnt just accepted by the college, the students and the president. She was embraced. And she had the most wonderful experience. Well, im delighted to hear that. And im not surprised i have to say. You know, because we are historically black doesnt mean we are exclusionary. We welcome all students who want to come. Our faculty is quite diverse. And so im delighted to know that that was your daughters your nieces experience. But, as i said, im not surprised by that. Because that is the history of our institutions. And dr. Tatum how many students at spelman currently are nonafricanamerican . Its a very small percentage. I would say that, you know less than 5 certainly maybe more like 2 . The reality is that most its the unusual student, its the unusual nonafricanamerican student who wants to be in a majority africanamerican space or a space of africanamerican descent. But we do have students for example. We have Exchange Programs around the world. And we regularly get International Students who come to visit us on exchange from places like japan from the u. K. , from brazil. We have students who come to us from outside the u. S. To matriculate. For example right now we have students from paris, from the continent of africa of course. From south africa, from rwanda from zimbabwe. But the reality is we dont get very many domestic, u. S. Students who are not of african descent, though they are certainly welcome to come. We have students who identify as hispanic. We also have students who identify as biracial. It is a Diverse Community within the context of that population of african descent but there are not very many white students at spellman right now. One piece of breaking news. Democrats have decided to hold their National Convention their 2016 convention in philadelphia. Thats going to be the week of july 25. Of course the week before july 1821, republicans are holding their 2016 convention in cleveland. The news on the Democratic Convention just out this morning. Back to the phones. Aaliyah attended a historically black college or university. Caller good morning. Thank you for having me on the show. I am an alumnus of Spelman College. I want to thank you for all your work on behalf of spelman women. I think in the last 13 years weve seen the efforts to rally the alumni around the school. And were going to miss you a lot. I recently gave birth to twins, one of whom is a daughter. And i hope that she follows in her moms footsteps in 18 years and enters the gates of spelman. Where do you see the future a different environment for when my daughter isattendee . Its hard to project because so much is changing. Not just for hbcus. We hear a lot about Distance Learning and Online Learning but i do believe that places like spelman will still be doing well and strong, vibrant institutions 20 years 50 years hopefully 100 years from now. We, i believe that theres a real important place in Higher Education for the small residential, liberal Arts Education that of the kind that spelman offers. We know that affordability and access are critical questions and that we have to continually strife to ensure that we are providing an education that is affordable and accessible to our target population. But the quality that is being provided by our faculty, the global experiences that our students are having the opportunity to do undergraduate research and be wellprepared for the workplace and the graduate or professional school environment, those character ris particulars i expect to be solidly in place 10, 15, 20 50 years from now. And i hope your daughter will indeed make a choice to change the world and come to Spelman College like her mom did. Dr. Tatum you talked about fundraising at spelman. One of the major donors in the past at spelman has been the cosby family. Bill cosby providing 20 million in the past to Spelman College. In light of his recent legal allegations that he is facing what is spelmans kurns relationship with the cosby family . We have a statement on our website regarding this matter, and im going to refer your watchers to that statement. Do you want to pairraphrase it for us now to give a chance about what that statement says . No i think its very concise. And anybody who wants to know about it will be happy to refer to it. I think when we think about spelman today, we think about the 12,348 new donors who contributed to our campaign in the midst of the worst recession. We celebrate that, and we know that spelman is moving forward in a wonderful direction. So i thank you for the opportunity to talk about it. Appreciate this opportunity to lift up hbcus and thank cspan for the tour that theyre doing. Got time for a few more calls. Just a few more minutes before the house comes in. He tinas attended an hbcu. Caller good morning dr. Tatum. Good morning. Caller its a pleasure speaking to you. I am a black student who attended a black college and my college was jackson state in jackson, mississippi. Although i really love Spelman College, my family, my parents could not afford to send me to spelman, but i wholeheartedly admire the spelman women and you can tell them they stand out. They are really different from a lot of everybody else. So congratulations for all that youre doing for the women no matter what nagtionality they are. Thank you very much and congratulations. Thank you. Thank you for those kind words. And marks waiting as well, columbia, south carolina. Good morning. Caller good morning. My question is, i have a 5yearold granddaughter. And right now she hasnt started school yet. Trying to guide her and put spelman in her head at this point and the problem is how do we get from to get to the route to get to the college . Right now theyre saying that oh, shes possibly going to need medication, da, da, da, da. But shes a very bright child, very independent. Can it be done . And i say it in a way that financially, i would like to start now to help her save to where she wont be a burden at least financially to go to school. Starting early, i think its a wonderful example as a grand parent or a parent to say you know i want my child to go to college when she is ready and i want to start saving now. Whether you use a 529 plan to do that or some other method but setting dollars aside to make sure that that opportunity is available to her i think is a wonderful thing to do. I know that there are many young people who are sometimes rambunctious, and thats often a sign of intellectual curiosity. I would just say continue to encourage her to explore her intellectual interests, to create those opportunities to expand her horizons, and absolutely, save those dollars so that when shes ready youll be ready to support her ma tricklation, perhaps in spelman. Wed love to see that happen, but any institution. I think there is Nothing Better than a family can do than to prepare early for that college education. We know it makes a difference in the longterm success of a young person to have access to Higher Education. Ronda is in woodbridge virginia. Good morning. Youre on with dr. Tatum. Caller hi good morning dr. Tatum. I am calling you because my daughter insisted that i come home early to see dr. Tatum on cspan. She doesnt know that im calling on her behalf. Shes applied to spelman. Her name is danielle lyle. And she is so excited about the possibility of hopefully being accepted at spelman. And shes pretty much always gone to white schools, private schools, but she has her heart set on going to spelman. Weve been out there several times. Her godmother lives in atlanta. And every day shes on twitter after school. And if she could have taken off school to be here to watch your program she would be but shell be watching it. But im just calling to find out, what is the possibility of her being accepted at spelman. Thank you. Well, certainly youre making a great case for her. I want to congratulate you for your efficacy, and i cant, obviously comment on her application. I havent seen it and cant comment on the air about it, but certainly i want to thank you for your encouragement of her. And well keep our fingers crossed for danielle. And what advice would you give to students who maybe are looking to apply next year or years beyond to get in to spelman . Well, i would just say, take the most challenging curriculum you can in your high school. We encourage students, if they have access to ap courses or honors courses to take those courses. We know that not every high school is created equally. So theres not, every school doesnt have the same offerings from city to city. Community to community. But wherever you are in your school we want you to demonstrate that youre committed to your own intellectual growth and that you have worked hard to do as well as possible in the context in which youre living. We also very much encourage students to demonstrate their leadership capacity, to volunteer, to be involved in their community. Community service is a core value here at spelman. We expect our current students to participate in the local community and when students have already had those experiences we look very well on that as well. So were looking for women who want to make a difference in the world and have already started to do that as high school students. Lets go to dawn in vallejo california. Caller good morning mrs. Tatum. First, id like to know about your curriculum at your school. Are you allowed to teach black history before slavery . And to know that we were the black jews of america and that the hispanic and nativeamerican go right along with us. We are the jews of america. And scattered all over the earth. So im wondering, are you all teaching our black people socalled black people because we are hebrew israel iets jews. But the rest of the tribes are port reeken, spanish and nativeamerican descent. Do you teach this curriculum in your school . Dr. Tatum any thoughts . Well, let me begin by saying that we are a private institution. So of course our curriculum is not determined by the state but by our own faculty. Im pleased to say that we have a firstyear seminar that every student takes known as africans in the diaspora and the world which really does take a global perspective on the experiences of people with african descent and helps students understand there was history before slavery. In the world of the african continent, and certainly the places across the world that our populations have been distributed. So that information is part of every students experience. And many students say that that course, we call it adw for short, is one of the most Transformative Experiences they have at spelman, because it introduces them to information theyve not been exposed to previously in their education. And i think thats one of the benefits of a college experience, to broaden your horizons and your understanding of yourself and the world around you. Dr. Tatum the house is about to come in but well see if we can get in juanita whos waiting here in washington, d. C. Can you make it quick . Caller i can. Thank you dr. Tatum for your work and efforts in our community. You are an example to black women and americans in general. Thank you so much. Thank you for your kind remarks. Dr. Tatum we appreciate your time on the cspan bus this morning as we continue our washington journal tour of hbcus. Thank you for having me and we are delighted to be a part of your series. So thank you so much. On the next washington journal, representative mike conaway discusses the president s proposal to use force against isis. And then ted lew. Washington journal, live every morning at 7 00 eastern, and can you join the conversation with your phone calls and comments on facebook and twitter. The Political Landscape has changed with the 114th congress. Not only are there 43 new republicans and 15 new democrats in the house and 12 new republicans and one new democrat in the senate, theres also the first africanamerican woman in the house. Keep track of the members of congress using congressional chronicle on cspan. Org. It has lots of useful information there, including Voting Results and statistics of each session. Cspan radio and cspan. Org. Next, a former political prisoner testifies about Human Rights Violations in cuba. This House Foreign AffairsSub Committee hearing also looks at proposed changes to u. S. Cuban relations. Chris smith chairs this hearing. Good morning to everyone and welcome to this very timely and important hearing on human rights in cuba. We are here to examine the state of human rights which is a very timely topic indeed given the Obama Administrations change in policy towards cuba announced the end of last year. We are here to ask whether in undertaking this change in policy the Obama Administration used the considerable leverage that it wields to seek to better the condition of the cuban people, or whether as i fear as one opportunity squandered in haste to achieve a diplomatic breakthrough and even create a legacy for the president. Thus it is not only about castro regime accountability but also the Obama Administrations role in reminding the world that the cuba remains a communist dictatorship. And i would underscore an estimated 178 political dissidents in the last month alone. And one whose Cadeo Raul Castro would not change in response to the Obama Administrations recessions. This regime continues to harbor fugitives from the justice. Such as joann chesmarch whose convicted of march of a state trooper in my own home state of the new jersey. The officer was gunned down gangland style after she escaped from prison. And yesterday Roberta Jacobson appeared before the committee and i asked what the response was when she raised the issue of joann to justice . She replied the cuban government stated it was, quote, not interested in discussing her return, closed quote. That is unacceptable. I have a statement i asked to be submitted for the report from christopher bergos of new jersey. Where it states on behalf our jersey state troopers that, quote, we are shocked and very disappointed that returning a convicted kill ore after state trooper was not already demanded and accomplished in the context of the steps announced by the white house regarding this despotic dictatorship. I also point out as an aside that president bergos and new Jersey State Police superintendent rick fuentes both wanted to be here and i look forward to hearing from them in a followup hearing. And fortunately it is a tremendous honor and privilege to have with us today three extraordinarily brave and uniquely qualifie