An Academic Emergency at Clark Atlanta University

Clark Atlanta University, the historically black educational institution in Georgia, announced a new faculty, administration, and student initiative to tutor students who are experiencing academic difficulty. The initiative was announced after it was revealed that 4,900 course grades of D or F were assessed at midterm of the fall semester. There are 4,300 undergraduate students at the university.

The poor performance was attributed to reduced enrollment, a hiring freeze, and a chaotic course registration period which made many students miss classes at the beginning of the semester.

In a letter to the campus community, Carleton E. Brown, provost at Clark Atlanta, stated, “The faculty and administration has made it clear that academic standards will not be lowered or compromised.”

Copyright © 2007. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.