{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://adams.house.gov/media-center/in-the-news/johnson-c-smith-president-not-happy-trump-s-initiative-black-schools", "Johnson C. Smith president not happy with Trumps initiative on black schools", "2017-09-29", "2017", "2017-09", "Democrat", "House", "NC", "Alma Adams", "A000370", "adams.house.gov", null, null, "legacy", "Ronald Carter, president of Johnson C. Smith University, said he\u2019s seen just what he expected to see so far from President Donald Trump\u2019s initiative on historically black colleges and universities \u2013 nothing.\n\t\t\u201cThere\u2019s a statement attributed to a French philosopher who said that \u2018The eyes cannot see what the mind doesn\u2019t comprehend,\u2019 \u201d said Carter, the outgoing head of the Charlotte university. \u201cThey haven\u2019t begun to comprehend even who we are to see what can be done.\n\t\t\u201cThey do not comprehend who we are, what we\u2019re doing, and the value that we have for the country\u2026 otherwise we would not be having the inane conversation we\u2019re having about what they have not done,\u201d he added.\n\t\tCarter made the comments after he appeared on a panel Thursday on the state of the nation\u2019s 100-plus HBCUs organized by Rep.\u00a0Alma Adams, D-Charlotte, as part of the Congressional Black Caucus Foundation\u2019s annual legislative conference in Washington.\n\t\tHBCUs are any black college or university established before 1964 with the principal mission of educating African American students. Collectively, they enroll nearly 300,000 students and receive money from the federal government through grants, contracts, appropriations and financial aid.\n\t\tCarter gave a more succinct answer when panel moderator April Ryan, White House correspondent for American Urban Radio Networks, asked Carter if a much-publicized February meeting with Trump that he and more than 60 other HBCU presidents and chancellors attended met his expectations.\n\t\t\u201cA one-word sentence: \u2018No,\u2019 \u201d he said.\n\t\tCarter was equally unsparing in his assessment of\u00a0Johnathan Holifield, a consultant and former National Football League player who Trump tapped Monday to serve as executive director for the White House HBCU initiative.\n\t\tBeginning next month, Holifield will preside over an HBCU portfolio that will be moved from the Department of Education and into the White House as a sign of Trump\u2019s commitment to the nation\u2019s 100-plus black colleges and universities.\n\t\t\u201cI don\u2019t know who he is,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI\u2019m clueless about who he is. I\u2019m trying to understand what the connection is. So I think it\u2019s the responsibility of the White House to help us understand what the connection is.\u201d\n\t\tHolifield is an author, speaker, and cofounder of\u00a0ScaleUp Partners, a consulting firm that provides \u201cexperienced insight and expertise to unleash a diverse pipeline of qualified workforce and entrepreneurial talent,\u201d according to the company\u2019s website.\n\t\tHolifield\u2019s\u00a0LinkedIn page\u00a0lists some HBCU experience as a content contributor and adviser to an HBCU conference on innovation. He worked with the Obama administration\u2019s White House initiative on HBCUs, the Commerce Department\u2019s Minority Business Development Agency and others to produce a concept paper titled \u201cStrengthening the Technology Transfer Capacity of HBCUs.\u201d\n\t\tLike Carter, North Carolina A&T State University President Harold Martin, Sr., doesn\u2019t know much about Holifield, who was a star running back at West Virginia University and played briefly for the NFL\u2019s Cincinnati Bengals in 1989.\n\t\t\u201cHe seems to be a bright man, well-educated, and I\u2019m going to give him the benefit of the doubt at this moment,\u201d Martin said. \u201cWe\u2019ll see if he\u2019s able to deliver on our behalf. Bring him on board, and I\u2019m prepared to work with him.\u201d\n\t\tTrump vowed to outdo Obama, the nation\u2019s first black president, in supporting HBCUs. He signed an executive order in February in an Oval Office ceremony with black college presidents surrounding him.\n\t\tBut black college leaders and advocates were dismayed after the administration failed to quickly follow through on the order, including taking seven months to name a head for the HBCU initiative.\n\t\tSeveral black college presidents and chancellors were criticized by their students, board members, and alumni for attending the meeting and for a hastily arranged photo of the executive order signing ceremony.\n\t\tCarter attended the February meeting and said he has no regrets that he did. \u201cI made a decision to go there, and what I thought would happen happened,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was a photo-op.\u201d\n\t\tBut now Carter, who leaves the Smith presidency in December, wants more from the White House.\n\t\tHBCUs received $4.7 billion in federal financial assistance in 2013, according to the latest report available. That sum accounted for 2.8 percent of federal dollars awarded to all higher education institutions.\n\t\t\u201cWe want a direct conversation with the director of the White House initiative to all of the agencies that can impact what we do in our living-learning communities,\u201d Carter said. \u201cWe want them to be sensitive to the needs for federal financial aid for our students. That\u2019s extremely important.\n\t\t\u201cAnd we want them to engage us on what the future of this country is going to be with the new population of students who must sing \u201cMy Country \u2018Tis of Thee.\u201d", 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/johnson-c-smith-president-not-happy-trump-s-initiative-black-schools"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 4.256610060110688, "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"}