{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://adams.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/despite-calls-postpone-2017-national-hbcu-week-conference-goes-scheduled", "Despite Calls to Postpone, 2017 National HBCU Week Conference Goes On as Scheduled", "2017-09-29", "2017", "2017-09", "Democrat", "House", "NC", "Alma Adams", "A000370", "adams.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Trump did not attend, nor did several HBCU college presidents,\u00a0news outlets have reported. KCCU\u00a0reports\u00a0that only 29 college presidents showed up, according to Michael Lomax, CEO of the United Negro College Fund. There are roughly 107 historically black colleges altogether.\n Johnathan Holifield \n\u00a0\nSome business did get done, however. This week Trump appointed Johnathan M. Holifield, a business consultant\u00a0who played for one season with the NFL, to lead the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.\nHolifield is a graduate of West Virginia University, which is not an HBCU,\u00a0according to\u00a0USA Today.\nRep. Alma Adams, founder and co-chair of the Congressional Bipartisan Historically Black Colleges and Universities Caucus, released the following statement after the Holifield announcement.\n\u201cThis appointment is a first step for the White House as they strive to repair their relationships with HBCU leaders and members of Congress,\u201d said Rep. Adams. \u201cAs co-chair of the Bipartisan HBCU Caucus, I extended an invitation to Mr. Holifield to come to Capitol Hill to learn more about the Caucus and our legislative priorities. I look forward to working with him to advance meaningful change for our HBCUs.\u201d\nThe Los Angeles Times\u00a0reports that Trump hasn\u2019t made any appointments to the President\u2019s Board of Advisors on HBCUs.\n Trump\u2019s Promises \n\u00a0\nAfter his inauguration, Trump had promised to make HBCUs an \u201cabsolute priority.\u201d Although many had ridiculed his meeting with HBCU leaders in February as a photo op, some leaders had hoped Trump would keep his promises.\nBut there is frustration that little headway has been made, especially in light of steep cuts in state financing\u2014which are hurting colleges across the board.\nAccording to Rick Gallot, president of Grambling State College in Louisiana, the state legislature has slashed higher education funding from 55% to 27%, he is\u00a0indirectly quoted\u00a0as saying in KCCU.org.\n(The state must have a hefty prison budget, though, since it is known as\u00a0the prison capital of the world.)\nHBCU leaders and others continue to take Trump at his word. But as John King, president and CEO of the Education Trust said at the Black Enterprise BE Smart HBCU Summit in February, words aren\u2019t enough. Watch what this administration\u00a0does.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://adams.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/despite-calls-postpone-2017-national-hbcu-week-conference-goes-scheduled"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 0.7161658722907305, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}