The administration was filled with self-important people who were essentially useless, because they had no power and no budget.
There were some fundraisers who did a pretty good job,
Recruiters had a hard job, because the really accomplished Black students could get a full scholarship from lots of better known colleges, and all we could offer was a half scholarship. Years ago, there were many good reasons for majority Black colleges, but in recent years, they are more and more irrelevant, since they tend to attract students that have flunked out of other colleges because they were lazy or did not study enough. When I was working on my BA I spend 15-18 hours in classrooms and labs and 40 hours studying, and most of the time I had a job of some sort. My students mostly only studied before tests. I was considered a hard teacher, but a fair one, because I calculated grades numerically exactly as I said in the syllabus. There are two main activities in leaning a language: memorizing the words (vocabulary), and learning how to use them in sentences (syntax and grammar) To learn either, it requires memorization and practice. No professor can learn words for you.
What does an instructor do when students refuse to buy the book and will not study? I forced them to bring a book by giving pop quizzes that required the textbook. I had students who failed every single pop quiz, but most passed at least some of them.
Other instructors dumbed down the materials to the Jr high level, I am not kidding. As an instructor, you have to pass at least half of the students or you will be out of a job. In high school, everyone passes, because Dade Co. schools tells you that if you fail more than 6% of the class, you need to submit a time consuming form called an "override" To many overrides and you are out of a job. If attendance is 60%, how can anyone justify passing 94% of the class? But they like the job, so they do.
One speech teacher who had taught at a community college followed the curriculum he has used before in Maryland. He failed about 80% of each class. he lasted two years. The problem he had was that students had to present four speeches during the semester. Half the students deliberately missed on the day they were scheduled to speak. Other teachers allowed students to come into his office up to final week and give the speech to him alone, with no audience. This guy refused. He was a bit of a Black nationalist and said that no one should ever get a pass because of race, and not showing up in a class should be treated the same way as not showing up at a job: you don't get paid and there are no second chances. He was a real straight shooter. We all admired him. But in two years, he was gone.
