N.C. HBCU Students organize at the State Capitol to advocate for and protect their schools
Student leaders from HBCUs all over North Carolina met at the state capitol this Wednesday to lobby their respective legislators on issues at HBCUs including gerrymandering, protesting rights, and funding.
Organized by Common Cause N.C., this HBCU advocacy day allowed students to directly influence and understand the decisions of house and senate members of N.C. General Assembly.
North Carolina A&T was represented by 6 students and spoke with three legislators: Senator Gladys Robinson, Majority Leader Senator Phil Berger, and Representative Pricey Harrison.
Sen. Gladys Robinson, an A&T alumna, expressed her commitment to allocating HBCU funding for the past 22 years, with the recent 12 years in the Senate. She highlighted her sustained work in getting the state of North Carolina to match the federal funding that A&T receives.
“I take credit for A&T finally getting its financial match because NC State always got the state match,” Sen. Robinson adds. “North Carolina A&T never got it til last year and it took me 10 years to keep pushing.”
Students asked her take on House Bill 40, a proposed anti-protest bill that could infringe on black and brown communities' basic rights and needs. Before her busy schedule pulled her away, Sen. Robinson gave a take on the bill and highly recommended that we speak to Republican representatives about it.
“That’s a bad bill, it really takes away your basic rights,” Sen. Robinson insists. "It's fine to meet with us, but you gotta meet with the Republicans.”
And so, the 6 A&T students did. With the help of Common Cause’s Tyler Daye, students were able to fit into the busy schedule of Senate Majority Leader, Phil Berger. Sen. Berger who has served 12 years in N.C. Senate represents Guilford and Rockingham counties.
Sen. Berger was surprised by the geographic representation that A&T had, as students shared their hometowns. After introductions, students were straightforward in their curiosity about Sen. Berger’s stance on House Bill 40. When asked about how he feels about the people’s right to protest, he responded:
“I think that people have the right to protest, I’m not that familiar with that bill, I’ve not read it, so I don’t know the details,” Sen. Berger adds. “I do know the rationale that’s animated the bill itself and that was the situations when some of the protests got out of hand and you ended up with people being injured, property being destroyed that sort of thing.”
Sen. Berger also expressed his understanding of the concern about how to define the lines of what’s considered peaceful protesting, but he has voted to pass a similar bill in the past.
In response, the A&T students brought up the direct negative effects that this bill would have on its community and more efficient ways of protecting peaceful protests if rogue protestors go violent. In response, Sen. Berger said this:
“I think it’s important for us to look at ways to dissuade folks from having protests that get out of hand like that. Now whether or not this bill actually strikes that balance or not, I think reasonable people can disagree, but again to the extent that the bill is similar to the bill that passed before I supported that bill, I anticipate that I will support this bill.”
Before the next meeting, an A&T leader asked Sen. Berger if they could follow up with his take on the bill after he’s done more research. Sen. Berger informed that the way he votes will be public record.
The last scheduled meeting with Rep. Pricey Harrison allowed students to advocate for House Bill 9: The Fair Maps Act, affordable housing, and learn ways to make our voices more heard.
House Bill 9, primarily sponsored by Harrison, proposes a fair citizens’ redistricting commission, with the purpose to end gerrymandering in North Carolina. Rep. Harrison was already aware that HBCUs experience gerrymandering, as she knew the A&T voting district was recently split in half and lost their early polling site, contributing to voting limitations.
“Y’all are doing it. Y’all have got a very active democracy group, I mean North Carolina A&T is known for its advocacy and protecting our democracy,” Rep. Harrison recommends. “I just think continuing to educate the students and contacting your elected officials and telling them how important it is to you.”
As well as legislators, when it comes to election sites, Rep. Harrison suggests contacting the Board of Elections and speaking to individual board members. In response to her take on the affordable housing crisis, she explained why she thinks North Carolina is headed in the wrong direction:
“Now the Republicans are wanting to push a law that will make it easier to evict families with no notice and just lock them out of the room”, Rep. Harrison says. “What we could be doing more of is more funding and just fair housing policies and right now we don’t have them. We have some guidance from federal statutes but there’s not a lot of sympathy or empathy here in this legislation.”
Considering this, Rep. Harrison assures that it will be fixed by us students voting and sending better people to Raleigh. An A&T student was also able to give an efficient solution to qualify more people for affordable housing, suggesting that local government adjust the standards so that more people receive funding.
After private meetings, student representatives from all HBCUs in the state gathered with legislative members of the nation's first state legislative bi-partisan HBCU caucus. This new caucus is charged with educating all members about all 10 NC HBCUs to best advocate for and engage both private and public HBCUs.
Rep. Zack Hawkins, Sen. Robinson, and Rep. Kelly Alexander are the chairs of this caucus and led powerful discussions among students. A few key takeaways from this convening are listed below:
Regarding the $2 million out-of-state student capacity fine that A&T received last year, we as students have the power to contact the Board of Governors about how this affects us.
“The most important thing is that bi-partisan faction for the HBCU caucus and to extension for the Black caucus is we have to work in concert to ensure that no matter who’s in power those issues are at the top of the agenda. So that not only am I, Senator Robinson, and others are looking to file bills, but we have our Republican colleagues, our non-African American colleagues doing the exact same.” – Rep. Zack Hawkins
“We’re doing it all together, and together we can get it done.” – Sen. Gladys Robinson
“You have to remind folks that there is no such thing as a non-political decision” – Rep. Kelly Alexander
Lastly, 1 student from each HBCU gave a press release that highlighted the personal stories of black excellence and the importance of HBCUs in fostering their talents.
This story is just from the lens of what A&T students covered, all while 9 other HBCUs led their torches of leadership through the NC Georgia Assembly on Wednesday. Lobbying elected officials are proficient and essential to protecting our democracy and amplifying marginalized votes.
When you think of student leadership, think of HBCU leaders, think of Aggies. This is what Aggies do.
A&T Students and Staff outside of N.C. State Capitol.
