Rumor has that HBCU, Delaware State University is making a power move. The Delaware College for Colored Students, now known as Delaware State University is one of the nations thriving HBCU’s. The school was established May 15, 1891, by the Delaware General Assembly under the provisions of the Morrill Act of 1890 by which land-grant colleges for Blacks came into existence in states maintaining separate educational facilities. With the appointment of an inaugural six-member Board of Trustees, that governing body used part of the initial $8,000 state appropriation to purchase a 95-acre property north of the state capital of Dover to establish the new college.
Fast forward many moons later, DSU is looking to purchase some more property and make history while doing it. Delaware State University is poised to sign an agreement hopefully by the end of this week to purchase Wesley College in an unprecedented deal that still has several obstacles to overcome.
If the deal goes through, it will get a 50-acre, 20-building campus with an appraised value of $33 million. Wesley is a private institution of higher learning, but received millions in state funds in recent years. The once fairly popular school had reportedly been placed on a federal monitoring list due to its financial woes and has experienced declining undergraduate enrollment. Its enrollment for the fall of 2019 was 1,035 – down from 16 hundred in fall 2013.
Since I personally believe in speaking in the affirmative and speaking things into existence, let’s go ahead and give a congratulations to Delaware State University for making such a bold move.