Hampton History
When providing an even closer look at the educational environment of historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs), one will gain a clearer understanding of its purpose in society and also its setting for which student resistance to its educational model originated. William Watkins explained how with the creation of HBCU's more specifically, Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute (now Hampton University) "played no small role in creating a comprador class for the twentieth century.

Black compradors have anchored the Black South. They have been pious, conservative, obedient, and loyal to the sociopolitical order. They have supported gradualism, incrementalism, and non-violence over revolution. They have provided a sometimes prosperous middle class without which the capitalist economy could not have stabilized. They have acted as a buffer in the South, providing business services, education, religion, fraternal orders, and hope to a people battered by slavery, sharecropping, violence and four centuries of oppression."

An avid proponent of this as an educational model that creates these pseudo-progressive results was the founder of Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, General Samuel Chapman Armstrong. Armstrong's true feelings of blacks should not go unmentioned due to how these beliefs guided him in administering education to blacks.

Armstrong felt the black "does not see 'the point' of life clearly; he lacks foresight, judgment, and hard sense. His main trouble is not ignorance, but deficiency of character; his grievances occupy him more than his deepest needs. There is no lack of those who have mental capacity. The question with him is not one of brains, but of right instincts, of morals and of hard work."

Armstrong placed blacks in the category of "savage races" that were "mentally sluggish" and "indolent." Character training was/is the only way blacks could be salvaged. This is why Hampton University's educational model is so significant. It is not just schooling, but also it was/is, as Watkins puts it, "saving a race from itself."

The most prominent black advocate for this model was Armstrong's neophyte Booker T. Washington. Because blacks faced oppression and political repression on a daily basis, W.E.B. Du Bois felt this reality should not go ignored. He pleaded with Washington to address these realities by stating "It is wrong to encourage a man or a people in evil doing; it is wrong to aid and abet a national crime simply because it is unpopular not to do so… We have no right to sit silently by while the inevitable seeds are sown for a harvest of disaster to our children, black and white."

In saying this, Du Bois draws the line between himself and supporters of Armstrong and Washington's form of education and indoctrination. When black students rebel against the existing social order, they are looked at as deviant because they buck an educational model that truly does not function in their favor.

Student Resistance Through the Years
At Hampton University in 2005, this student resistance has been more intense perhaps than ever before. In the wake of such social atrocities as the Katrina disaster, black students have achieved a much higher degree of political consciousness than in previous years. The student activist group at Hampton, whose members are now being threatened with expulsion, has worked tirelessly for years promoting consciousness on social issues and providing ways for students to become involved.

In the Fall of 2002, students attempted to get Dr. Taye Wolde-Semayat, a former political prisoner in Ethiopia and President of the Ethiopian Teachers Union, to speak on campus. He had been released following a five-year campaign by Amnesty International, the National Union of Teachers, and teachers' unions around the world. Hampton University refused to allow him to speak on campus.

The Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Bennie McMorris, signed a form which would allow for Dr. Taye to speak on campus but later rescinded his signature and refused to allow the event to take place on campus. The students got a local church as a venue for Dr. Taye to speak. These students also organized massive carpooling for students to attend the event. Over 200 people, including community and church members, students, and faculty attended the event which was held two miles away from the campus.

After this event, our organization continued to fight to be a recognized organization on campus. We were met with an administration that repudiated the idea of recognizing an organization that sees as its mission advocating, promoting, and mobilizing people to fight for human rights.

Each year we applied for recognition and have been consistently denied access to the democratic process to which we are entitled. Not only has our organization been denied recognition, but other socially conscious and politically aware groups have also been denied. To date, there are no progressive groups on the campus of Hampton University.

Securing the Future
That has not stopped us from organizing. We've managed to have our meetings in random classrooms on campus through developing really good relationships with campus workers. Many students see the need to address social justice issues through activism and education.

Even though the University does not provide an environment conducive to activism or allocate any resources to our group, we've managed not only to function, but to grow. Our membership has increased exponentially and the members are more passionate than ever. The administration is now attempting to stifle this growth by singling out the next generation of activists and trying to scare them into committing themselves to the Hampton Model.

When the HU police and administration stopped our gathering, some of the members of our group felt demoralized. We thought that the intimidation of students by the Campus police and Administration meant that we had failed. But seeing how energized the campus became after the incident helped us change the way we saw the situation.

Although the police prevented us from making the point that we intended to make, the students ultimately were made conscious in a much deeper way that could not have been achieved through our speeches and poetry. The students saw what their school's administration was really for by seeing what it was against. Students saw first hand what happens when students stand up for human rights and social justice. So many students openly express their anger with the way Hampton handled the situation.

Students have been very supportive and sympathetic with what we are doing at Hampton. Students who wouldn't have normally been involved are now compelled to be active after watching their school reveal its "true colors". The administration was so arbitrary and ruthless that it threatened an unaffiliated supporter with expulsion. It seems that even moral support for activism is a grave violation to Hampton's administration. These recent events have exposed the true nature of Hampton University, its educational model, how it fits into the rest of society, and above all else, why it should be resisted.

As students face administrative hearing that promise to be as grossly undemocratic as the proceedings thus far, it is imperative that we send a message to Hampton officials that they cannot get away with this. We have gotten much support from students on campus, as well as individual and groups outside the school who share our passion and recognize the interconnectedness of our plights. However we still need a lot more.

By singling out the younger activists, the school figures it can "nip activism in the bud" and it is thus our duty to make it clear that they can do no such thing. It is vital that African Americans are able to express their concern about the issues that so uniquely and disproportionately affect our community. This remains true despite the large sums of money the university receives from the military and other places for maintaining a docile student body.

We aim to act not defensively, but counter-offensively in our resistance. It is not enough to just ask the administration to leave us alone in this one instance. We intend to illuminate problems that have perennially plagued the campus of Hampton and we therefore DEMAND that Hampton University drop all charges against the five students and change its general policy toward social justice-oriented groups on campus. We will not accept this denial of democratic procedure, nor the school's betrayal of the black community.

We are black students and we will no longer be cajoled by the flattery of a dishonest administration nor proselytized to the ways of the corporate elite. We will not forget about our people. We will not be intimidated. Fight not for us, but with us because the actions of the Hampton Administration and the increasingly frequent campus repression happening nationally ultimately threaten us all.

Call the school! Let Hampton administrators know how you feel. Tell them to drop all charges against the students, recognize the activist club as an official student organization, and craft a free speech policy that doesn't criminalize dissent.

Dr. Bennie McMorris,
Vice President for Student Affairs
757-727-5264
bennie.mcmorris@hamptonu.edu

Woodson Hopewell,
Dean of Men
woodson.hopewell@hamptonu.edu
757-727-5303

Jewel Long,
Dean of Women
jewel.long@hamptonu.edu
757-727-5486

John Robinson is an organizer at Hampton University. He is one of the students charged in violation of the Hampton University Student Code of Conduct. He is a senior sociology major from Washington D.C.

Brandon King is also both an organizer at Hampton U and one of the students charged in violation of the Hampton University Student Code of Conduct. He is a senior sociology major and a native of Chesapeake VA.

For updates on the situation unfolding at Hampton University go to
http://www.campusantiwar.net
http://www.traprockpeace.org/hampton_university_students,
http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/hampton/bbk66srv7wtwik
And for support please send email to hamptonsolidarity@yahoo.com

© November 2005 By Afromerica Staff
Compliments of Elizabeth Wrigley-Field
Coordinating Committee, Campus Antiwar Network

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