UVI Pride Week: Obama Administration Official To Speak On St. Croix Campus

Dr. George E. Cooper, executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU), will be the guest speaker at the University of the Virgin Islands Pride Week rally Thurs., March 26 at 10 a.m., outside the Melvin H. Evans Center on the Albert A. Sheen Campus on St. Croix. He will speak on the value HBCUs have in higher education and the general community. Dr. Cooper is the first member of President Barack Obama’s HBCU Initiative to visit UVI, one of 105 HBCUs located in 20 states and the District of Columbia. In 2010, President Obama signed an executive order renewing the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, with a goal of advancing equal opportunity in higher education, strengthening the capacity of HBCUs to provide the highest quality education, and increase opportunities for the institutions to participate in and benefit from federal programs. The initiative has since fostered private-sector partnerships...