JBHE: Latest News for 5/8/08

Two Universities in St. Louis Look to Bridge the Racial Divide

On one side of Compton Avenue in the city of St. Louis is Harris-Stowe State University where almost all of the 2,000 undergraduate students are African Americans. On the other side of the avenue is Saint Louis University where almost all of the 10,000 undergraduate students are white. The student body president at Harris-Stowe recently told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, “We feel inferior going over there and they feel intimidated coming over here.”

In an effort to bridge the gap, the two universities recently held the St. Louis Dream Keepers’ Fair on the avenue that separates the two campuses. Organizers of the event called for more interaction between students on the two campuses in order to send a message to the wider St. Louis community that racial segregation should be laid to rest.

In addressing the gathering, St. Louis Congressman William L. Clay Jr. said, “Racial segregation stymies the progress of this community. St. Louis better get it. Racial division retards growth.”