[Weekly Compilation of Presidential Documents Volume 32, Number 39 (Monday, September 30, 1996)]
[Pages 1830-1831]
[Online from the Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]

<R04>
Proclamation 6921--National Historically Black Colleges and Universities 
Week, 1996

September 20, 1996

By the President of the United States

of America

A Proclamation

    Since the Reconstruction period, when 24 private black colleges were 
founded within 10 years, our Nation's Historically Black Colleges and 
Universities (HBCUs) have played a central role in providing access to 
higher education for many Americans. Growing steadily after this early 
burst, HBCUs fought a hard struggle for survival over many decades, 
ultimately proving themselves to be not only factories of learning, but 
also bastions of the core American ideals of freedom, diversity, and 
enterprise.
    Today, more than 100 HBCUs throughout our country serve a unique 
role in educating African Americans. Although as a group they make up 
only 3 percent of American institutions of higher learning, they award 
one-third of all bachelor's degrees--and a major proportion of the 
graduate degrees--earned by African Americans each year. Their alumni 
rolls include scores of leaders in fields ranging from law to the 
sciences, and from the arts to medicine. Often working with limited 
resources, these institutions have earned a reputation for achieving 
``the most with the least'' public dollars--consistently keeping tuition 
costs affordable, for example, or accepting higher numbers of students 
who need special educational or financial assistance.
    Our Historically Black Colleges and Universities are an enduring 
beacon of hope offering thousands of our citizens a critical opportunity 
to achieve their full potential. HBCUs give these students not only 
access to a quality education, but also a supportive environment in 
which to learn and positive role models whose lives they can strive to 
emulate. In addition, these institutions con- 

[[Page 1831]]

tribute to the pluralism of American education, giving students a 
broader choice. Ultimately, they also help instill and preserve the 
African American cultural heritage, in the process educating all 
Americans to the richness of the Black experience.
    The future of HBCUs is as bright as their past, and they are busy 
developing ways to meet the challenges of a new century: special 
outreach initiatives designed to spread their wealth of resources into 
the communities that have grown up around them; cutting-edge projects in 
science and technology involving corporate and governmental 
partnerships; and international educational efforts spanning the entire 
globe.
    They will continue at the creative forefront of American education, 
offering the tools and skills necessary to prepare students for today's 
competitive and technological society. In this coming week, let us honor 
the contributions--past and present--of Historically Black Colleges and 
Universities, and let us treasure forever the rich resource they provide 
to our Nation: a proud tradition of well-educated Americans, eager to 
make this a better world for all of us.
    Now, Therefore, I, William J. Clinton, President of the United 
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the 
Constitution and laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 
22 through September 28, 1996, as National Historically Black Colleges 
and Universities Week. I call upon the people of the United States, 
including government officials, educators, and administrators, to 
observe this week with appropriate programs, ceremonies, and activities 
honoring America's black colleges and universities, and their graduates.
    In Witness Whereof, I have hereunto set my hand this twentieth day 
of September, in the year of our Lord nineteen hundred and ninety-six, 
and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred 
and twenty-first.
                                            William J. Clinton

[Filed with the Office of the Federal Register, 8:45 a.m., September 25, 
1996]

Note: This proclamation was published in the Federal Register on 
September 26. This item was not received in time for publication in the 
appropriate issue.