What has become of the effort to bring a historically Black college to Oakland?

The Oakland mayor’s office had been working to bring a Historically Black College to the city. That effort is now uncertain, after Oaklanders voted to recall Sheng Thao, who officially left the mayor’s post on Tuesday.

Before her recall, Thao had appointed Deputy Mayor Kimberley Mayfield to lead a task force to bring one of the more than 100 Historically Black Colleges and Universities to Oakland.

Mayfield did not respond to follow-up requests for comment after the election. However, before the November election, she said that if the mayor was recalled, she believed efforts would continue. 

“This is something we believe the community wants,” Mayfield said in October, “I believe the momentum around this initiative will continue.”

Mayfield started efforts to bring an HBCU to Oakland in February 2023 — an initiative that Thao touted at her annual State of the City address in October. 

Mayfield said the task force, which also included City Councilmember Carroll Fife and attorney Kim Thompson, has been considering the recently closed Holy Names University campus, 3500 Mountain Blvd., as the possible site. BH Properties purchased the tract, which is assessed at $58.7 million, after the university closed in May 2023, and put the campus up for lease this year. 

Fife did not respond to attempts to reach her.

A BH official told the San Francisco Chronicle last year that the company expected significant interest in the site from organizations in need of educational space. 

Now the empty campus provides a ripe opportunity to bring a new kind of higher education to the city.

To be considered an HBCU, a school’s primary mission must be to educate Black students, as well as be founded before 1964. 

“When we say bring an HBCU, we really are saying we would like a satellite campus of an HBCU,” Mayfield said, “We’re presenting an idea for a Historically Black College or University to have another campus, but it will be in Oakland.”

Thao’s staff had planned to meet with HBCUs over the next six months to discuss whether they are interested, but it remains unclear what will happen now. 

More support for Black students

About 33% of Black Oaklanders hold a bachelor’s degree or higher, according to the 2022 American Community Survey. Comparatively, 71% of white Oaklanders hold a bachelor’s degree or higher. 

Mayfield sees opening an HBCU in Oakland as a chance for the city to close the gap. 

“This would be a way to stabilize the African American community in Oakland,” Mayfield said. “The HBCU says whoever you are that we admit, we are going to do everything we can to get you over the finish line.”

Some Oaklanders feel the city has lacked sufficient education for years.

Kevinae Bolden, VISTA family resource coordinator with Safe Passages, an organization that supports student success, sees the issue everyday at East Oakland Pride Elementary School, where he works. There, 20% of the students are Black and 90% are students of color.

“I see a lot of these children getting pushed along grade by grade without actually having the knowledge that they need to have,” said Bolden, an Oakland native. “I could not have imagined going through what these kids are going through in these schools.”

For Bolden, establishing an HBCU could revitalize education, as well as hope, in the city. 

“I would be all for it,” Bolden said, “If they can put in something like that at Holy Names, that would be awesome.”

(Photo of the entrance to the former Holy Names University, by Xavey Bzdek)

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