Time Will Tell

“Cheyney University, a historically black college in Pennsylvania’s state system, will partner with a new university in Ghana on a student, faculty, and cultural exchange program, but first it will help the university attain its accreditation by offering expertise on a program it wants to start.” Susan Snyder, The Philadelphia Inquirer July 24, 2021
My wife called my attention to a recent article in the Philadelphia Inquirer that touted a new partnership between our Alma Mater, Cheyney University, and the Oboseke University of Excellence in Ghana.
I was pleasantly surprised but a bit skeptical when I read the article. Reading the article https://www.inquirer.com/news/cheyney-university-partnership-ghana-exchange-20210723.html you discover the Oboseke University of Excellence is not a brick and mortar university, it is an Online platform and presence. Modern technology allows this and offers limitless global possibilities. This is also a unique opportunity for Cheyney University.
That’s not the root of my skepticism. I am familiar with Kwa David Whitaker from his outstanding work with Ali and Helen Salahuddan’s Philadelphia-based African Genesis Institute program. He is from Ohio and is an attorney and Pan-African Afrocentric educator. He sets a high standard and a high bar of excellence.
While this is an excellent opportunity to partner with another university in another country on another continent, I harbor serious reservations based on my dealings with the Walton administration. According to the article, Kwa David Whitaker, the rector or provost of the new university, reached out to Cheyney University Biology Professor Steven Hughes, who created the aquaponics and aquaculture program at Cheyney University to share his expertise in these areas with the new university.
Professor Hughes built Cheyney’s successful aquaponics and aquaculture program literally from scratch, and it is a working model as a teaching tool and an entrepreneurial opportunity. The program raises tilapia, the waste from the fish that provide nutrients to the soil for the herbs that grow in the tanks. The Department sells the herbs to local retail markets. It’s a win-win scenario the students, university, and community all benefit.
Aquaponics and aquaculture would be a perfect fit and partnership between Cheyney and Oboseke University. For me, the critical issue is Aaron Walton. Aaron Walton was sent to Cheyney by the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education to serve as president ostensibly until a search for a permanent president could be conducted. No search was ever conducted. Walton was a member of the PASSHE Board of Governors, the same entity that oversaw the system to the point it now requires major revamping and restructuring to survive, the same entity that for decades deliberately underfunded Cheyney and reneged on agreements with the Office of Civil Rights for the US Department of Education to help Cheyney achieve parity with the other universities within the system. Aaron Walton was a part of that.
I am a founding member of Heeding Cheyney’s Call, an activist advocacy group made up of Cheyney alumni, students, and higher education advocates, who in 2014 filed a federal lawsuit against the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Gov. Tom Corbett, Chancellor Frank Brogan, the PASSHE Board of Governors, US Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and the US Department of Education. In the original petition, I was a plaintiff and Walton as a member of the PASSHE Board of Governors was a defendant. Governor Wolf inherited the lawsuit after he defeated Tom Corbett in the 2014 gubernatorial election. In 2016, as the lawsuit was moving through the process, Governor Wolf asked HCC to set aside the lawsuit in a good faith attempt to work out ways to save the university, which our attorneys and the Heeding Cheyney’s Call Steering Committee agreed to do.
When Walton arrived at Cheyney, in 2017 the university was in crisis. It was facing annual budget deficits, piling debt, declining enrollment, it had a tattered brand, was experiencing troubles with the US Department of Education, and the Middle States Commission of Higher Education had put the school on probation pending a re-evaluation of its accreditation status.
With the help of PASSHE personnel, Walton cut university staff, reduced programs to get the budget balanced and aligned with actual enrollment revenue. The personal intervention of Governor Tom Wolf, who guaranteed the $40 million Cheyney owed the PASSHE reserve fund, helped influence the Middle States to extend Cheyney’s accreditation until 2023. Without Governor Wolf’s direct intervention, it is doubtful Cheyney would have had its accreditation reaffirmed since Walton had no way to repay the millions of dollars Cheyney owed PASSHE and the US Department of Education.
That’s the good news. The downside is many of the initiatives Walton touted did not pan out or last. For example, what happened to the partnerships with Thomas Jefferson University and Starbucks? What happened to the fifty students from India Walton announced were enrolling?
In October 2020, Walton told alumni the Public-Private Partnership and campus monetization initiatives would generate $7-10 million dollars. How much has that initiative actually generated to date? How many paid internships have been generated and created thus far? From what I have gleaned nowhere near that amount of revenue has been collected since the partnership is still in the early stages of development. And there is no word on the actual number of paid internships.
Why did the university drop the ball on the dual-enrollment opportunities with the Chester-Upland, William Penn, and Southeast Delco school districts? Why didn’t Walton follow up on an offer from the Chester County Intermediate Unit Pennock’s Bridge Campus to provide much-needed free PR and media services to the university? Why didn’t Walton pursue an opportunity to create a mortuary science minor? Why didn’t Walton follow up or allow alumni to contact the NFL regarding scholarship or partnering opportunities? Why didn’t the Walton administration follow up on a good faith offer from SCOOP USA owner/publisher Sherri Darden for free advertising and exposure to promote the university? These are merely a few of the examples that I know for a fact Walton dropped the ball on because I was personally involved in many of them. There are additional examples, but confidentiality pledges prevent me from sharing them at this time.
Pray for Cheyney. Pray for its leadership. I’m hopeful the partnership with Obeseke University will come to fruition and that it is a win-win for everyone. Hopefully, Aaron Walton’s pattern of failing to follow through will not continue. Time will tell.