Boston City Council Hears Public Testimony on Plan to Bring HBCU Satellite Campus to City

BOSTON — July 17, 2026 — Boston City Council hears testimony on bringing an HBCU satellite campus to the city, with RCC president announcing a new partnership with Johnson C. Smith University. The Education Committee convened August 26 under docket 1283, a hearing order sponsored by District 4 Councilor Brian Worrell and Council President Ruthie Louijeune, drawing more than a dozen witnesses from Boston and across the country. Worrell cited Black enrollment drops at Boston-area universities since the 2023 Supreme Court affirmative action ruling — including Boston University falling from 9 percent to 3 percent — and Massachusetts Taxpayer Foundation projections that closing racial education gaps could grow the state economy by $25 billion in five years. Dr. Jonathan Jefferson, president of Roxbury Community College, announced his institution would sign an articulation agreement with Johnson C. Smith University on Friday and would explore bringing a Johnson C. Smith satellite campus to RCC, which he said already serves a student body that is 80 percent Black and is the only predominantly Black institution in all of New England. "If you want your HBCU, then build it at the one that you already have," Jefferson told the committee.