Atlanta HBCU Morris Brown College’s enrollment totals only 35 students after the school’s reputation was tarnished by embezzlement charges of the college’s two top officials.
In 2003, thousands of college students sought education elsewhere as the school lost its accreditation after millions of student financial aid was embezzled and used for other purposes.
The college, founded in 1881, now has a massive debt totaling $35 million. Morris Brown rejected a $9.7 million dollar offer from the city to help relieve its debt. But according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, the school may have a change of heart, after public records revealed Morris Brown officials contacted Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed in early March to gauge the city’s interest in renewing talks on a deal. The original offer allowed the college, which is mostly boarded up, to continue its classes, while selling and leasing out parts of the 37 acre campus to local churches.
Morris Brown professor Makisha Funderburke is among the handful of educators who remain to teach without pay to help the college stay afloat.
“I just think Morris Brown should be given a chance,” she said.