Press Release
The Black and Gold Project Foundation
For Immediate Release
Nov. 3, 2022
Contact: James Michael Brodie
(443) 739-3613
The Black and Gold Project Foundation’s Case for Equity at
the University of Colorado Boulder
The commitment of many major institutions of higher learning to educate all qualified students, regardless of where they came from or the depth of their parents’ purses, has long fallen short of the institutions’ collective mission and vision statements.
These institutions have, by design, left out large segments of the population, both statewide and nationally, creating an academic environment based more on cultural preference than on intellectual excellence. This has been particularly the case when it comes to the enrollment, retention, and graduation of African Americans as students, as well as in the hiring of African American professionals.
The attached whitepaper, titled “The Case for Equity at the University of Colorado Boulder,” authored by the Black and Gold Project Foundation, focuses on the University of Colorado Boulder. The Foundation notes that the situation discussed in this paper reflects similar circumstances all over the United States.
The United States Supreme Court is hearing a case that seeks to eliminate affirmative action programs in higher education, focusing on Harvard University and the University of North Carolina. The conservative Court has signaled that it intends to end the programs.
The Foundation’s argument has never been about enrolling lesser qualified students. Rather, we stand in opposition to enrollment policies that reward wealthy, white, and/or legacy students, who are academically less qualified than the African American students routinely overlooked by these institutions.
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The Black and Gold Project Foundation is a nonprofit organization. Members include graduates of the University of Colorado, current and former faculty/staff, current and former students, and friends and supporters.
The Foundation envisions the significantly increased presence of African American students, faculty, staff, and administrators on the University of Colorado Boulder campus.
Our mission is to hold the University accountable to honor its commitment to its own CU Vision Statement which states: “The University of Colorado will be a premier, accessible, and transformative public university that provides a quality and affordable education with outstanding teaching, learning, research, service, and health care. Through collaboration, innovation, technology and entrepreneurship, CU will expand student success, diversity, and the economic foundation of the State of Colorado.”
