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  • 2017-06-02 (xsd:date)
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  • Is a Kentucky University Giving Black Students Free Tuition as an 'Apology' for Slavery? (en)
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  • On 25 April 2017, the American Bacon web site reported that Western Kentucky University would be granting free tuition to black students, as an apology for slavery. The story carried the headline University Will Give Black Students Free Tuition as an Apology for Slavery: In a nutshell: The college's student government did vote in favor of a motion that called for full and free access for all black people... to Western Kentucky University. However, the vote was not binding in any way, appears to have been largely symbolic, and the university has confirmed that it will not be implementing it as policy. On 11 April 2017, WKU students Andrea Ambam and Brian Anderson introduced a two-page resolution at a meeting of the Student Government Association. After a lengthy preamble, the resolution stated: At a meeting one week later, the motion was passed by 19 votes to 10, the Bowling Green Daily News reported. The following day, Brian Anderson — one of the authors of the resolution —suggested in a letter to the WKU Herald, the university's student newspaper, that the motion was primarily intended to be symbolic: The President of the Student Government Association, Jay Todd Richey, told the Bowling Green Daily News the motion was a conversation starter. The vote attracted national attention, with articles in Campus Report and the conservative web site The Blaze. On 20 April 2017, Tucker Carlson interviewed WKU student Andrea Ambam on his Fox News show. In that interview, Ambam —who also proposed the motion — told Carlson: The following day, Western Kentucky University President Gary Ransdell confirmed in a statement that the college would not be implementing free tuition for black students. Despite this clarification, NBC News reported almost 10 days later: On 25 April, the American Bacon web site claimed that WKU would give black students free tuition as an apology for slavery. (This is false, as had already been clarified by the university's president.) It is true that the college's Student Government Association did vote in favor of full and free access to Western Kentucky University for all black people, as part of a proposed program of reparations. However, even the authors of the resolution have suggested that it had a largely symbolic purpose, and was primarily intended to spark conversation about the broader issues of racial inequality and access to higher education. (en)
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