As future of Kentucky State University seems secure, students are pushing back on potential changes

The state’s only Historically Black College and University faced threats of closure by lawmakers. A new bill passed unanimously by the state Senate would reclassify the school as a land-grant polytechnic institution. But not everyone is on board.

Kentucky’s lone HBCU is in flux.

Student organizers and alums met Monday (Mar. 30) to consider amendments to a recently passed state senate bill that would completely change the identity of the state’s only Historically Black College and University, alter admission requirements and the school’s mission.

Last week, the state senate unanimously passed Senate Bill 185, which would reclassify Kentucky State University as a land-grant polytechnic institution. Other notable HBCUs that are land-grant institutions include Alabama A&M and Tuskegee University, Florida A&M University, Alcorn State University, North Carolina A&T University, Langston University, South Carolina State University, Tennessee State University, Prairie View A&M University, and Virginia State University.

A polytechnic university centers on technical, engineering and science education.

Students at K-State argued that the move to a polytechnic university would be a major change for liberal arts majors. Others believe the move would be a form of whitewashing the university’s history, which dates back to 1886.

“I feel like we are white washing everything and I feel we are going to do the same thing with Kentucky State University,” Kristie Powe, a Kentucky State alum, told WKYT.

The institution faced an intense discussion of closure among lawmakers.

“We became convinced that now was not the time to close Kentucky State, but rather to be a partner in the redefinition of this institution and what it can mean for the commonwealth,” state senator Chris McDaniel said. If passed by the General Assembly, Senate Bill 185 would declare a “state of financial exigency” for the next five years, prompting school leadership to retain only the faculty and staff required to support the enrollment of 1,000 students.

Additionally, the bill requires KSU to offer not more than 10 areas of academic studies, excluding exclusively online programs. It also affects Greek life at the university, requiring fraternities and sororities to reapply for charter recognition. Even as students prepare a protest against the bill, campus leadership argues that the school would remain classified as an HBCU with a focus on STEM.

“Our repositioning along these lines will be part of a much longer history of evolution at Kentucky State. Since our founding in 1886 and our designation as a 1890 land-grant institution just four years later, the University has continued to grow and change in response to the needs of Kentucky,” Kentucky State President Dr. Koffi Akakpo wrote in a letter addressed to the KSU community. “…This moment should be understood not as a break from who we are, but as another chapter in who we are becoming.”