Presidential Document2024-21447
National Historically Black Colleges and Universities Week, 2024
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
September 18, 2024
Signed
September 13, 2024
Issuing agencies
Executive Office of the President
Full Text
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<title>Federal Register, Volume 89 Issue 181 (Wednesday, September 18, 2024)</title>
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[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 181 (Wednesday, September 18, 2024)]
[Presidential Documents]
[Pages 76393-76395]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2024-21447]
Presidential Documents
Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 181 / Wednesday, September 18, 2024 /
Presidential Documents
[[Page 76393]]
Proclamation 10811 of September 13, 2024
National Historically Black Colleges and
Universities Week, 2024
By the President of the United States of America
A Proclamation
For more than 180 years, Historically Black Colleges
and Universities (HBCUs) have delivered a quality
education to Black students across our Nation. Over 100
HBCUs serve as engines of economic opportunity and make
America more prosperous and equitable. Although they
make up less than 3 percent of all postsecondary
institutions in the United States, HBCUs account for 8
percent of Black undergraduate enrollment and 13
percent of all bachelor's degrees earned by Black
students. During National Historically Black Colleges
and Universities Week, we celebrate the incredible
legacy of these institutions, we honor the quality
education, economic mobility, and opportunity they
bring to so many students--particularly students from
low-income backgrounds and those who are the first in
their families to go to college--and we recommit to
supporting and investing in their success.
HBCUs are centers of academic excellence, shaping the
dreamers and doers who push our Nation forward. Within
my Administration, I have seen firsthand just how an
HBCU education shapes leaders and alumni--including
Vice President Kamala Harris and the Administrator of
the Environmental Protection Agency, Michael Regan.
Eighty percent of our Nation's Black judges, 50 percent
of all Black lawyers, and nearly 40 percent of
Congressional Black Caucus members went to an HCBU.
HBCUs produce 40 percent of all Black engineers and 70
percent of Black doctors. Some of our Nation's greatest
visionaries, scholars, artists, athletes, and leaders
of every sector have credited their success to their
time at an HBCU. And HBCUs educate twice as many Pell
Grant-eligible students as other institutions.
I have always supported our Nation's HBCUs, which tap
into the full talent and diversity of our country.
HBCUs are incredible institutions, but they unfairly
face historic funding gaps and do not have the same
endowments as other universities. My Administration has
delivered record investments in HBCUs--totaling more
than $16 billion. That funding has helped support
students, student-veterans, and staff; improve campus
infrastructure; expand Science, Technology,
Engineering, and Math (STEM) research programs; and so
much more. My Administration also secured first-time
funding for the Augustus F. Hawkins Centers of
Excellence Grant Program, providing more than $23
million in grants to HBCUs and Minority Serving
Institutions to prepare our next generation of teachers
and increase the diversity of the profession.
Additionally, I re-established the White House
Initiative on Advancing Educational Equity, Excellence,
and Economic Opportunity through HBCUs to ensure they
have greater access to Federal funding opportunities.
Furthermore, as Americans, we have to ensure that hate
and hate-fueled violence are given no safe harbor in
this country. When more than one-third of our country's
HBCUs were targeted by dozens of bomb threats in 2022,
my Administration worked to quickly expand the
accessibility of a broad spectrum of Federal security
services, resources, and expertise to support them. We
also deployed over $2.4 million in Project School
Emergency
[[Page 76394]]
Response to Violence grants that have helped restore
safe learning environments and investments in mental
health and well-being for students. I strongly condemn
any threats made by domestic extremists on HBCUs, and I
will continue to do everything I can to protect all
Americans from the threat of violence.
My Administration is also working to make sure college
is more affordable for every American. We secured a
$900 increase to the maximum Pell Grant award--the
largest increase in over a decade--putting funding
directly in students' hands. And we are working on
relieving the crushing burden of student loan debt. To
date, nearly 5 million Americans have received student
loan debt relief, totaling almost $170 billion through
various actions taken by my Administration. We also
fixed the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program
(PSLF) so that public servants get the relief they are
entitled to under the law. My Administration has
already provided relief to 947,000 borrowers through
PSLF. Before I took office, only 7,000 public servants
had received debt relief through this program. And
earlier this year, I announced new plans that would
provide debt relief for more than 30 million Americans
when combined with everything my Administration has
done so far.
This year, as I delivered the commencement address at
Morehouse College, I felt honored to stand alongside
these incredible students, whose legacies will surely
lift our Nation up. These students, like so many others
before them, launched their boundless futures at an
HBCU. During National Historically Black Colleges and
Universities Week, may we celebrate these critical
institutions for all the doors of opportunity they
open. May we honor their dedication to seeing their
students thrive. And may we recommit to supporting
HBCUs, which continue to prove that the American Dream
is big enough for everyone to succeed.
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JOSEPH R. BIDEN JR., President of
the United States of America, by virtue of the
authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws
of the United States, do hereby proclaim September 15
through September 21, 2024, as National Historically
Black Colleges and Universities Week. I call upon
educators, students, public officials, professional
organizations, corporations, and all Americans to
observe this week with appropriate programs,
ceremonies, and activities that acknowledge the
countless contributions these institutions and their
alumni have made to our country.
[[Page 76395]]
IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this
thirteenth day of September, in the year of our Lord
two thousand twenty-four, and of the Independence of
the United States of America the two hundred and forty-
ninth.
<GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT>
(Presidential Sig.)
[FR Doc. 2024-21447
Filed 9-17-24; 8:45 am]
Billing code 3395-F4-P
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</html>Indexed from Federal Register on September 18, 2024.
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