Calvin Butts on Public Education | Big Think

Calvin Butts on Public Education

New videos DAILY

Join Big Think Edge for exclusive videos

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Calvin Butts discusses SUNY Westbury and why more people should consider higher education at public institutions.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts:

Reverend Dr. Calvin O. Butts, III, is Pastor of the Abyssinian Baptist Church in Harlem, and President of SUNY College at Old Westbury. Rev. Butts was one of the founders, and is the current Chairman of the Abyssinian Development Corporation, a comprehensive, community-based nonprofit responsible for over $500 million in housing and commercial development in Harlem. He was also instrumental in establishing the Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change, a public, state-of-the-art, intermediate and high school in Harlem. Dr. Butts earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Philosophy from Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia; a Master of Divinity Degree in Church History from Union Theological Seminary; and a Doctorate of Ministry Degree in Church and Public Policy from Drew University. He has been an Urban Affairs instructor, and served as Adjunct Professor in the African Studies Department at City College, New York. He also taught Black Church History at Fordham University, and continues to give lectures and speeches to colleges, universities and various organizations throughout the United States and abroad. Rev. Butts is the recipient of the Man of the Year Award from Morehouse College Alumni Association; The Morehouse College Candle Award; The William M. Moss Distinguished Brotherhood Award; and The Louise Fisher Morris Humanitarian Award. He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, The Prince Hall Masons (having received the 33rd final degree in Masonry), and was recognized as a "Living Treasure" by the New York City Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

TRANSCRIPT:

Question: What are you trying to accomplish at SUNY Old Westbury?

Rev. Butts: Well, now, I’m trying to make sure that the budget cuts that we have to endure in the State of New York do not hurt the progress that we’ve made. We’ve taken the college with some 40 plus majors, 46 plus majors and added at least 8 graduate programs. We are the most diverse college. We are one of the most diverse colleges in the nation and we are certainly the most diverse college in the SUNY system and I want to maintain that diversity. When you come to SUNY Old Westbury, you’ve got white, black, Latino, Asian, but you’ve got everybody else also. You have Muslims, Christian, Jewish, Catholic. It’s a very wonderful community. It’s a microcosm of the 21st century world. I want to continue to build on that. I want to continue to increase the number of students. We are now at about 3,500. I want us to remain a small college, but I’d like to get our headcount up to about 5,000. We’re on 605 acres of land and I want the beauty of that land to attract particularly young men and women from urban settings, not only in the 5 counties of New York City but also from upstate New York, you know, Buffalo, [Utica], Syracuse, but I also want to attract from around the state in terms of increasing our population. Most important, as we continue to shine this jewel and make it sparkle, we’re doing great now, you’re welcome to come and visit us. I want to make the case for public education. It cost too much money for something that should be a right. I’ve got young men and women. We have young men and women in our country who are bright, but they can’t afford $20,000, $40,000 a year, $20,000 a semester, plus you got to add on room and board and books. I can give, when I say I, the State University of New York can give a young men and or women a quality education. I’ve got a wonderful faculty, wonderful faculty for right now, room and board, tuition $14,000 a year. That’s what I want people to understand and especially poor people and particularly black people. I’m a graduate of a HBCU Historically Black College and University, Morehouse College, I love it. I love all the HBCU’s but I can give you a better education than HBCU at half the price or quarter the price. Come. That’s what I want to do. I want men and women who are struggling everyday. I mean, this mortgage crisis is terrible. You’re seeing, you know, Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch being sold. Lehman Brother is failing.

Read the full transcript at