Will Texas’ Paul Quinn become the first HBCU in California?

Dallas’ Paul Quinn College wants to be the first historically Black college in California. President Michael Sorrell, who made the announcement as Paul Quinn celebrated its 150-year anniversary, said on Friday that the school is launching a committee that will explore the idea of expanding the college into the West Coast. California only has one such graduate school in Los Angeles, the Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. “The dream was always to create a network of urban work colleges,” Sorrell said. “That’s what we’re going to do … We will become a system, that’s absolutely where we’re headed.” Officials are specifically considering a campus in Oakland, part of the Bay Area. The school will begin a feasibility study this summer, but officials have not yet finalized the members of the committee.

Loren Taylor, a city councilman in Oakland who is running for mayor, got to know the college while it was recruiting students in the area. Nearly half of students at Oakland Unified School District are Hispanic or Latino and about 22% are Black, according to the latest data from the California Department of Education. And about 40% are from families struggling financially. Before the pandemic, about 58% of the district’s students enrolled in college, compared to nearly 66% of students across California, according to data from the 2017-18 school year. Paul Quinn is known for actively recruiting students from historically underserved, low-income neighborhoods that many other colleges overlook. After getting to know the school and its leaders, Taylor said he’s “overwhelmed” at the way that it leads its students toward success, adding that his constituents will benefit greatly from its presence. Historically Black colleges and universities, such as Paul Quinn, “came about because of the community recognizing that we can’t rely on others who aren’t connected, aren’t deeply ingrained into our community to really educate and take us to that next level,” he said.