Students gathered into Cramton Auditorium, Friday, Sept. 24., to celebrate the annual convocation.
Dr. Michael Lomax, the convocation orator, has been the president and chief executive officer of United Negro College Fund since 2004. Lomax taught literature at Morehouse College and Spelman College, Emory University, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Georgia. For seven years, he served as president of Dillard University.
He immediately excited the crowd, by shouting "Students, Class of 2015, let's hear it. I am deeply honored to be here a part of the 144th academic year beginning."
"As president of UNCF, I am often asked do we still need historically black colleges and I respond unequivocally and forcefully, 'yes we do.' I explained that there are nearly two million African-Americans annually seeking college degrees…so yes we still need historically black college because they continue to outperform the rest of higher education in providing college degrees to African-Americans"
However, Lomax wasn't just speaking to the students. He encouraged alumni to give back. Claiming that 89 percent are just talking and the other 11 percent are actually giving back.
He also encouraged the audience to get more African-American males in college.
"Today black men are thirty to thirty-five percent of our attendees and graduates." Stating that increasing black men in college must be the goal in mind.
He then shifted his focus on getting much more funding for Historically Black colleges. With Federal Pell Grants and direct student funding for example, Lomax claims we are making progress to create ways for African-Americans to have funding for school.
"Unemployment for African-American college graduates remains greater than for whites with college degrees. "
"This economy rewards those with education and punishes those without," said Lomax.
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