Boston City Council Hears Public Testimony on Proposal for HBCU Satellite Campus

BOSTON — July 15, 2026 — Boston City Council holds first public hearing on proposal to bring an HBCU satellite campus to the city. The Education Committee, chaired by At-Large Councilor Henry Santana and convened by co-sponsor District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell, gathered more than a dozen in-person and virtual testifiers on Docket 1283, an order introduced with Council President Ruthie Louijeune after Black student enrollment at Boston-area universities dropped sharply following the 2023 Supreme Court affirmative action ruling — from 9 percent to 3 percent at Boston University and from 15 percent to 5 percent at MIT. The most consequential testimony came from Roxbury Community College President Dr. Jonathan Jefferson, a Morehouse College and Cornell alumnus, who announced that RCC will sign an articulation agreement Friday with Johnson C. Smith University that includes "exploring ways to bring a satellite campus of Johnson C. Smith to Roxbury Community College," and argued that RCC — where 80 percent of students are Black or of African descent — is already the region's de facto HBCU. Supporters cited Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation projections that closing racial education gaps could generate $20 billion in tax revenue for the Commonwealth over a decade; skeptics, including several HBCU alumni, questioned whether Boston's racial climate and any satellite arrangement could replicate the cultural core of the HBCU experience.