 Continuing our conversation here on HBCU Digest Radio with leaders from the Atlanta University Center on today's announcement of the extension of online learning through the fall semester. We are privileged to be joined by another friend of the show, my dear brother, Dr. George T. French, the president of Clark Atlanta University. And Doc, we were just saying before we got on air, this thing changes and moves every day. But can you, for as much as you can in sharing how you work with your constituents, your board, your faculty, students, alumni, how does Clark Atlanta reach a decision like this? And more importantly, how do you work with the AUC consortium to say, you know what? We got shared space and shared interests. Here's how we're doing it and here's how we put it all together. Well, you hit it on the head. And let me first thank you for your leadership within this space, this sacred space of historically black colleges and universities. To be informed in making decisions is vitally important. And you, Mr. Jared and HBCU Dodgers for years have been a credential, a critical and vital source of information for this sector. So we appreciate you and what you're doing. That is so kind. It's so often I get the words, you're a damn fool. So that, you just, you just really made my day. We all did that too. You made my day with that, but I appreciate you, brother. But I'm serious about that. Okay, now I appreciate you brother. So, so I'm in a unique role because not only do I have the opportunity to serve as president of Clark Atlanta University but I'm the chair of the Atlanta University Center Consortium of course, Morehouse, Spelman, Clark Atlanta University and Morehouse School of Medicine. So as the chair, I had to be fair and balanced and objective in these deliberations and considerations as to whether or not we should reopen on ground for the fall. So I had to do that while taking into account all of my constituents from Clark Atlanta University. We conferred with faculty, staff, students and alumni as to which direction we should go. The good news was unequivocally, there was not just consensus but unanimity in the decision that for the health of our students, faculty and staff we should be fully online. There was also consensus though that the main consideration would be financial. And to be very honest, we will lose millions of dollars because of this decision. However, it was the right decision. And Jared, when I think about this decision and being at the AUC where Martin Luther King walked those grounds, I think about what King said. He said, there comes a time when you must make the right decision because it's the right thing to do. He said that expediency, he said that he said that calculus asked the question, is it safe? Expediency asked the question, is it politic? He went on to say that at the end of the day conscience asked the question though, is it right? And this was an opportunity where we just had to do the right thing. That's what we did. And you hit it right on the head. I didn't mean to cut you out brother but when you talk about the millions, that's something we have to underscore. And I think that the students and the parents have to hear that. It's the position of the boards and the presidents like yourselves that yes, we're doing this thing to maintain safety. Yes, it may be something you don't like. Yes, you may think, oh, I may wanna go to another spot, but we hope that you will stick with us because at some point this is gonna come to an end and we still need a customer base back in the fold giving philanthropically students enrolling and pursuing degrees and changing the fortunes of their family. We still need communities to be behind us. That's correct. And how much work do you have to do to let your constituent base know stick with us? Cause this thing ain't gonna last forever. That's what, and that's the good thing about that's the unique thing Jared about this brand. This brand has Clark 11 University and the other AUC centers. It's such a strong brand. I think we had over 19,000 applications for admission for this incoming class. So the brand is so strong that we're in a solid position that those students are going to come back. I mean, I'm just, I just have no doubt about it. Now, some of our other HBCUs may have more of a struggle, which is why I'm working with UNCF, NAPIO, and Thurgood Marsher to get additional stimulus funds to help them because some of them may have more challenges on the financial side than these AUC center schools have. But yeah, we have to let parents know this is a decision that was difficult because we are going to lose millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars. And, but I have confidence that number one, there'll be additional stimulus funds coming down. And number two, that our alumni bases are going to respond with additional giving to support us. Let's talk about, and I know this is, this is a little bit uncomfortable and I hate to put you in a position, but I think it's relevant. All right, all right, here we go. I don't know. It won't be too tough, I promise brother. So Clark Atlanta is obviously in the center of Atlanta. And I asked Dr. Thomas about this, and he was, you know, he was honest. He said, yeah, I mean, maybe the politics doesn't touch us and push us directly, but politics is a part of how we consider this. Do you agree with that? The politics of reopening, mask wearing, the legislation, you know, the lawsuits going around the state and the city. I know you see all of it. You're politically astute yourself and have been for a long time. How do the politics work into your conversations with your stakeholders? And do they, how much do they matter because Clark is private and doesn't have that much resistance to the kind of plans it wants to make? Well, so I'm chair of the SIC council president of football sports conference. So I had to, in having the same conversation, the privates, we were like, we are going to make up our own minds whether or not we're going to have a football season. Some of my colleagues who were presidents of the state schools, however, were between a rock and a hard place because they couldn't make that decision. When Governor Kemp says, we're going to reopen the school system and we're going to have sports, it's just done. So politically, it really, like you said, it affected the state schools more so than privates, but it influences our decision because people from Arizona and California and Wyoming, they come to Atlanta, they're looking at the politics. And those are concerned that Governor Kemp is not as aggressive as Mayor Lance Martin is on safety measures and social distancing. So that actually affects our enrollment and those students who are willing to come or not come. But again, as you noted earlier, the good thing is we are private, so it's our decision whether we play football, whether we open, whether we close, whether we're hybrid, that's totally our consideration. And I'm thankful though, that on the politics side of it, on the federal level, that there was strong support from Congress in this CARES Act and additional stimulus money, which has really helped all HVC users of nation tremendously. Do you think that it's fair that at least in the higher education industry that black colleges really, really have taken the lead on saying we got to dial back fall sports, we got to think about online learning through the fall because we're not close to, or at least at this point, not close to a vaccine and these numbers are going up. Do you think that that is an opportunity for HBCUs or do you look at that as a burden for HBCUs because we have to do what so many larger, more well-resourced institutions won't do or can't do, which is say, you know what, we're gonna protect all students and more particularly black bodies who are suffering disproportionately from this virus? I think that conferences like SIEC and MEAC were both in coming forth and saying, listen, we care more about our students and their health than we do about finances. Yes, it's going to take a hit on the activities for the fall, on alums returning to our campuses, for homecoming and football games and making donations. We're gonna take a hit, but you can't social distance as between someone tackling a man trying to get into the end zone, breathing through his face, you just cannot social distance that. So we're putting our athletes at risk. Now, we're division two. We're not making money off sports. So I fully understand the distinction as between the University of Alabama and Clark Atlanta University, University of Alabama, and they can still have televised games with no one in the stadium and make tens of millions of dollars. So I totally understand that. So our opportunity as division two, though, is quite different because we're not making money. Most HBCUs actually lose money. I just break even with football being the variable that allows them to just break even. So we're not really losing income with this decision and we're protecting our athletes and our students. And I asked you this question specifically because you come from an entrepreneurial background, you did it with Miles when you were in Fairfield and you thought a lot about economic development and workforce development in and around with a campus being the anchor for a way that a community can grow. That's not the same thing in Atlanta, so to speak, but you could say that it's the same thing for the West End in a lot of cases. Do you have to work with communities and the business community around the AUC when you make a decision like this to kind of brace them or to prepare them like, hey, you know that student traffic you're used to every fall and that won't be here. Is that a conversation you have to have before you do this or you just gotta do what the institution does and you will work with the municipal partners after it's done? Well, and I have a great relationship with the business community here in Atlanta. As a matter of fact, Clark Atlanta University, we are the largest land owner in West End. We are working on a $1.1 billion development which is going to be a mixed use, private, public partnership is going to bring up our whole area. And let me say again, $1.1 billion, that's a huge project. So we have great relationships. So formally, I don't confer with the business leaders about decisions like this, but informally I do. I get phone calls, I make phone calls, this is what's about to happen and just kind of be braced for. So you're right, and it's important that we have those relationships. Now that being said, we have to realize though that we're in the middle of a food desert. There are businesses that need to come into the West End and they're not there now. So as far as businesses that will really be directly affected by our decision, there are honestly not many, not many at all around us. And then the final question, man, and this is more on a personal note. To transition from Alabama to Georgia and more specifically the economic episode into the South really. And to deal with this, a historic global pandemic. Obviously nobody saw it coming. Obviously you take this with a very optimistic view and you couldn't have predicted it, but do you look at this as an opportunity for you and for your personal leadership story? Or do you say, you know what? My story so to speak is on pause. Not that you're pausing your work, you're still leading your institution in your community, but you're saying all my focus and all my love at this point is to keep these babies and these faculty and staff healthy. And then we'll get on with what I want to do with Clark Atlanta University. You know, you were very perceptive. You really are, you're very perceptive. I was on a senior leadership call with my team this morning and I was thanking them for their leadership because we've been working around the clock 24 seven. And when I say around the clock, I mean, we're on the phone at midnight often. We'll call Saturdays and Sundays always. And I emphasize to them my appreciation for them because I had to depend on, I have cabinet meetings when we're on ground once a week, 10 o'clock on Monday morning. Had I had just 10 o'clock Monday morning meetings once a week with this team, we would be nowhere near as close as we are as dependent upon each other as we are because we had to meet every day, day and night, all day. And now I was stronger as a team. So while it was a crisis and is a crisis, it was an opportunity for us to really jail. It was an opportunity, quite honestly, for them to depend on me and allow me to quarterback. Had this situation not happened, I'd still have leaders on campus determining whether or not they were going to support me and let me lead. But since it's a crisis, I did. And this is really the third. We had a, before I even arrived in Atlanta, in August, August 18th, that was shooting in front of the library, not on our campus, but in front of the library right there by our campus. So I had to quarterback that from Birmingham. Then I arrived and we had the tragedy of a lecture class of one of my precious students that was murdered. And I actually performed her eulogy, ministered to the family and ministered to the campus. They depended upon me right away for that leadership. So these crises had caused the campus community to allow me to quarterback, to do what it is that I do, that I love, which is to quarterback and orchestrate because I've got a great team here. But no matter how great your team is anywhere, if they don't succumb and willingly support your leadership, it does not matter. But this crisis has allowed them to view and support my leadership and my compassion for my community and my university.