NCA&T, like the majority of other historically Black colleges and universities, is very protective of its students. HBCUs tend to have stricter social rules than most other colleges and often exert more control over student behavior -- administrators refer to it as "more hands-on guidance." Many HBCUs prohibit freshmen from living in coed dorms, for instance. Some of the institutions still enforce rules that prohibit students from having overnight guests of a different gender in their dorm rooms. HBCU students accept this standard as a given in normal times; they've generally acquiesced to the new, even stricter, normal of the pandemic.
HBCU administrators are partly banking on the traditional values of their institutions to help keep COVID-19 infection rates down and protect the health of students, faculty and staff. College leaders are also hoping it will help them keep their campuses open after being hit hard by the financial fallout of the pandemic [2]. Several predominantly white institutions, or PWIs, had to shut down their campuses [3] within days of the start of their fall semesters and switch to remote instruction after major outbreaks of COVID-19. No HBCUs with in-person semesters have yet done so [4].
Total coronavirus infections eclipsed 1,000 [5] at several public North Carolina colleges last week [6] even as some HBCUs in the state were still reporting numbers in the double digits. While the affected institutions are larger than the HBCUs, the HBCU leaders say the size differences are not enough to account for the significant differences in infections and outbreaks.
"Our students may be coming to A&T and to other HBCUs with different mindsets and different expectations about what college means," Simmons said. They come knowing "that the stakes are high and the opportunities to transform their lives are enormous. That may mean they are more ready to police themselves with regard to COVID protection, and that could be an important reason why our campuses are not experiencing big clusters or outbreaks."
NCA&T (at right) is the largest HBCU in the country and one of five public HBCUs that are part of the University of North Carolina system. (There are also five private HBCUs in the state.) NCA&T reported just eight new positive
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