Sorry for being redundant.

When half of the students in multiple entry-level courses at HBCUs receive failing grades (I’ve seen this issue at Jackson State, Talladega College and now at Claflin), the issue extends far beyond academic performance—it is a systemic challenge that demands immediate action. Factors such as inadequate high school preparation, excessive smartphone distractions, financial pressures requiring part-time work, misadvisement in course registration, unaddressed health issues, and outdated teaching methods all contribute to this crisis. Supporting our students is not just an ethical and educational responsibility; it is vital to the financial sustainability of our institutions. We need faculty who are committed to mentorship, guidance, and engagement, rather than those who equate academic rigor with exclusion. Expecting professors to teach 24 to 27 credit hours per year while also cultivating an international reputation is not only unrealistic but detracts from our most pressing priority—ensuring student success.

Helping a student succeed at an HBCU requires far more time and commitment than at the Ivies or Big Ten, where students often arrive with greater academic preparation and fewer structural barriers. Here, success isn’t just about delivering lectures and grading assignments—it’s about actively pulling students through a system that was never designed with them in mind. It means sending reminder emails about upcoming assignments, working with students in class rather than assuming they can complete work independently, texting them to keep them motivated, navigating bureaucratic hurdles on their behalf, and creating extra credit opportunities to provide a fighting chance. It means being more forgiving with deadlines, making ourselves available outside of office hours, and quite literally walking students to the help they need. This level of engagement isn’t optional—it’s essential. And yet, we are expected to do all this while carrying crushing teaching loads and pursuing an international reputation, as if time and labor are infinite resources. If we are serious about student success and the survival of our institutions, we must recognize that faculty cannot do this work alone—nor should they be expected to without meaningful support and structural change. #highered