Free Republic

Billionaire Robert F. Smith, who received an honorary doctorate at Morehouse College’s Sunday morning graduation exercises, had already announced a $1.5 million gift to the school. But during his remarks in front of the nearly 400 graduating seniors, the billionaire technology investor and philanthropist surprised some by announcing that his family was providing a grant to eliminate the student debt of the entire Class of 2019. ... He doesn’t know who the keynote speaker will be at Colin’s graduation ceremony but is hoping for a return performance by Smith. “Maybe he’ll come back next year.”

Billionaire investor Robert F. Smith's commitment to pay off the student loan debt for graduates of the historically black Morehouse College covers millions of dollars, the school said. "When you have to service debt, the choices about what you can go do in the world are constrained," Morehouse President David A. Thomas said Sunday. "(Smith's gift) gives them the liberty to follow their dreams, their passions." Thomas told CNN on Monday that the exact amount of student loan debt to be covered was still being calculated. Smith's gesture, which Thomas called "a liberation gift," will enable graduates to have more...

The country’s only all-male historically black college will begin admitting transgender men next year, marking a major shift for the school at a time when higher education institutions around the nation are adopting more welcoming policies toward LGBT students. Leaders of Morehouse College told The Associated Press that its board of trustees approved the policy on Saturday. Transgender men will be allowed to enroll in the school for the first time in 2020. Students who identify as women but were born male cannot enroll, however, and anyone who transitions from male to female will not be automatically eligible to receive...

For decades, students at Spelman — the elite historically black women's college — have spoken out about instances of sexual assault committed by students from Morehouse College, their unofficial brother school. Now, in the wake of a petition, protests, and a federal investigation, their messages are ringing louder than ever. Why haven't we heard them?

The case of the execution-style Black-on-White murder on a Hollywood street this past Fourth of July weekend took a bizarre turn Friday night with the arrest of the suspect who is now being held on $1 million bail. Ezeoma Obioha, the 31-year-old man arrested by Los Angeles police for the murder Carrie Jean Melvin, also 31, was known to police—as a civilian member of the Los Angeles Police Department’s Wilshire Area Community-Police Advisory Board with the title of Secretary. Obioha was a rapper and entrepreneur who presented himself as being “all about protecting the community” and helping stop young minorities...

Beset by scandals on both the national and statewide level, Democrats find themselves in danger of historic losses in the 2014 midterms, as in addition to the "angry white males" they find themselves facing a new threat, that of the "angry young black male." A growing trend of young black makes defecting to the GOP has caused fears among Democratic Party officials who have largely ignored the concerns of a constituency that has been loyal for decades. It is ironic that with the election of the first African-American President, the party that garners roughly 90% of the black vote finds...

President Barack Obama is a nightmare for political comedians. He's too cool, too smart, too ... good at this whole leadership thing. That was the bill of goods comedians sold us five years ago, an excuse which prevented them from mocking Obama as they did every previous Commander in Chief. Jay Leno wasn't buying that pile of horse manure. Leno has consistently tweaked Obama in his Tonight Show monologues since the early days of the president's administration, the same way Leno handled President George W. Bush and President Bill Clinton. This week, Leno turned up the heat to scorching levels...

On Sunday, President Obama gave a commencement address at Morehouse College in Atlanta. “Keep setting an example for what it means to be a man,” he told the graduates. “Be the best husband to your wife, or boyfriend to your partner, or father to your children that you can be.” That’s what Obama said, according to the New York Times, USA Today, Politico, and dozens of other news organizations. But Obama never uttered those words. Here’s what he actually said: “Be the best husband to your wife, or your boyfriend, or your partner.” That’s not a small difference in wording....

ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) -- An all-male college in Atlanta, Georgia, has banned the wearing of women's clothes, makeup, high heels and purses....The dress-wearing ban is aimed at a small part of the private college's 2,700-member student body, said Dr. William Bynum, vice president for Student Services. "We are talking about five students who are living a gay lifestyle that is leading them to dress a way we do not expect in Morehouse men," he said.