Let the “Chips Fall” where they may

Last week I saw an announcement about my Alma Mater, Cheyney University launching a Life Science and Technology hub. Subsequently, I saw essentially the same article in the September 14th edition of the Philadelphia Tribune and also Online at WHYY.org. While it is good Cheyney is getting much-needed publicity, I was stunned when I read, “Cheyney University has announced plans to launch a Life Sciences and Technology hub. The news comes as the enrollment for students majoring in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has been growing at the nation’s first HBCU…Cheyney has recently seen an increase in students majoring in STEM from 13% in 2017-18 to 25% entering the fall 2021 semester.” The article makes it seem as though Cheyney University grants degrees in technology and engineering.
I was shocked because I know Cheyney University does not have a full-fledged S.T.E.M. degree program. S.T.E.M. is an acronym; it stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. Cheyney University as the article states has a Department of Natural and Applied Science that grants degrees in mathematics, biological, and computer science. But the university does not have degree programs in technology or engineering. There are no university course offerings in technology such as coding and gaming, artificial intelligence, systems design, robotics, data management, 3 D printing, or cyber-security. There are no engineering courses in civil, mechanical, electrical, applied technology, or aerodynamics, for example. Most people know S.T.E.M. to be an integrative word where all the various courses and degrees exist usually in separate departments within a college, university, or technical school.
Over the years since he’s been at Cheyney, I’ve noticed a consistent pattern; President Aaron Walton often misrepresents the university in his statements and promises. For example, at an alumni general membership meeting, he told us the public-private partnerships on campus would generate between seven and ten million dollars and provide paid internships for Cheyney students.
At the June virtual Council of Trustee meeting, I asked the university CFO Cynthia Moultree how much money the public-private partnerships had generated to date and how many paid internships had been created. She told me she didn’t have those figures. Yet during her report, when she gave totals of all the revenue, donations the money in the Vanguard Fund, and a category she called asset monetization, she quoted a figure slightly in excess of one hundred thousand dollars.
Obviously, she had the figures, but they are nowhere near seven to ten million dollars. This is not a serious problem since the programs are just getting started and are not fully operational; but why did they misrepresent? Why the need to be disingenuous. Don’t they realize this could be disastrous? It puts the university’s credibility at risk and could create distrust and even ridicule? Just say you have a rigorous science program offering interdisciplinary paid internships (once you establish them) and leave it at that; unless there are plans in the works to add technology and engineering courses or degree programs.
Parents and students looking for genuine S.T.E.M. programs will do their due diligence and check the course offerings, and when they see there are no technology or engineering programs, they’ll look elsewhere. Don’t advertise what you don’t have.
In an article I wrote entitled HBCU Best Practices, I said “The worst thing an HBCU president can do is lie to his administrative staff, faculty, alumni, constituents, and the general public. The second worst thing is to exaggerate the college or university’s situation. Honesty is the best policy.”
In the 1990s, when I first started writing for Renaissance Magazine, which is no longer in existence, Suzanne Holliman, the publisher made all the writers purchase a compact cassette recorder and turn in the tapes from every interview along with our hard copy. She also made us familiarize ourselves with the Associated Press Stylebook and Libel Manuel, aka the journalist’s Bible. I still have my copy.
When I wrote for Henry DeBernardo’s hard-hitting Black Star newspaper, which like so many Black newspapers, is no longer in existence, our banner motto was “Let the chips fall where they may.”
As a journalist, podcaster, and a Cheyney alumnus, I know the value and importance of truth, accuracy, and accountability. I know how important positive news and press are. Relationships with the media and press are vital. I, as well as all loyal Cheyney alumni, want and expect best practices from my Alma Mater. That article about the science hub was unsettling for me.
In this situation, I find myself in the same position as the little boy in the end of Hans Christian Anderson’s story, The Emperor’s New Clothes, where amidst all the pomp and pageantry of the emperor showing off his supposed new clothes, the little boy shouts out, “Look the emperor is naked.” Tell the truth and let the chips fall where they may…