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Authorizing City Council’s Committee on Public Safety to hold hearings examining ways to create curriculum and degree programs within Pennsylvania’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Cheyney University and Lincoln University, to become feeders of recruitment to the Philadelphia Police Department with the goal of diversifying our police force.
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WHEREAS, Cheyney University was founded on February 25, 1837. First known as the African Institute, the school was later renamed the Institute for Colored Youth. The name “Cheyney” became associated with the school in 1913. As a charter member of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE), Cheyney State College became Cheyney University of Pennsylvania in 1983, the oldest of the fourteen member institutions and the only HBCU in the state system; and
WHEREAS, In 2020, Cheyney University of Pennsylvania had a total of 625 degree seeking students. Most of the school’s students are Black (496) and Hispanic (72), with over 8% of the students enrolled in the school’s current criminal justice program; and
WHEREAS, Lincoln University was founded in 1854. Originally chartered as Ashmun Institute, it was re-named Lincoln University in 1866 in honor of President Abraham Lincoln. During the school’s first 100 years, Lincoln graduated approximately 20% of the Black physicians and more than 10% of the Black attorneys in the nation. The school’s alumni have led more than 35 colleges and universities and scores of prominent churches. They also include U.S. ambassadors; mission chiefs; federal, state, and municipal judges; mayors; and city managers; and
WHEREAS, In 2020, Lincoln University had a total of 1,895 undergraduate students and 182 graduate students with one of the school’s most popular major’s being Criminal Justice. Black students make up 84.3% of the school’s undergrad enrollment and 90.7% of the school’s graduate program, with 1,057 students having permanent residency in Pennsylvania; and
WHEREAS, While the Philadelphia Police Department (PPD) has a stated commitment to improving diversity of their personnel, the Department has struggled to diversify its ranks; and
WHEREAS, Students from Pennsylvania HBCUs will most likely be able to satisfy the City’s residency requirement for new recruits. Additionally, a partnership between the Department and local HBCUs will help to further ensure that recruitments of the Department reflect the diverse population of the City of Philadelphia; now, therefore be it,
RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That it hereby authorizes City Council’s Committee on Public Safety to hold hearings examining ways to create curriculum and degree programs within Pennsylvania’s Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), Cheyney University and Lincoln University, to become feeders of recruitment to the Philadelphia Police Department with the goal of diversifying our police force.
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