Brian Jones: “I rise today to talk about an issue that, quite frankly, I do not think gets enough attention on the floor of the Senate…”

“I rise today to talk about an issue that, quite frankly, I do not think gets enough attention on the floor of the Senate or on the floor of the House of Representatives, and that is the state of historically Black colleges and universities, or, as they are commonly known, HBCUs. Alabama is home to 14 of these institutions, the most of any State in the country. With all due respect to my colleagues, we don't just have the most HBCUs. I believe we have the best. Tuskegee University is the only HBCU with a college of veterinary medicine. The school produces over 75 percent of African-American veterinarians in the world. It has also just hired its first female university president, Dr. Lily McNair. Alabama A&M University is the only 1890 land grant university offering four Ph.D. programs. It is also the leading producer of African Americans with Ph.Ds in physics. Oakwood University is the Nation's fifth highest producer of undergraduate African-American applicants to our country's medical schools. Alabama State University, whose president, my friend Dr. Quinton Ross, has joined us in the Gallery today, is home to the National Center for the Study of Civil Rights and African-American Culture. ASU is currently doing preservation work on some never-before-seen documents, such as court pleadings, bond documents, and other official papers that are connected to the Montgomery bus boycott.…”