Spelman College receives historic $100 million donation

In a historic moment, Spelman College Board Chair Lovette Russell announces a record-breaking $100 million gift from board member Ronda Stryker and William Johnston. This donation marks the largest single contribution to any HBCU, or Historically Black College or University. “CBS Mornings” speaks exclusively with Spelman College President Dr. Helene Gayle about what the money will be used for and the importance of the gift.
Each weekday morning, "CBS Mornings” co-hosts Gayle King, Tony Dokoupil and Nate Burleson bring you the latest breaking news, smart conversation and in-depth feature reporting. "CBS Mornings" airs weekdays at 7 a.m. on CBS and stream it at 8 a.m. ET on the CBS News app.
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[@lyndellscott6967]

As a fellow HBCU Grad. . . My congratulations to Spelman - well deserved!!

[@lindawilliams8715]

Congratulations Spelman! We pray more donations will increase for all HBCUs.

[@johnwebb2442]

Most Definitely.

[@ddoubleu170]

Love this for Spelman! Very well deserved. Nothing, but BRILLIANCE comes out of Spelman.

[@littlefinger5199]

This is so cool! I’m an HBCU grad and happy to see this phenomenonal gift. May many other philanthropists follow suit at other HBCUs around the country.

[@Icon328]

Congratulations to Spelman College!! From a fellow HBCU alumnus.

[@verbenacummings7046]

Yes for us. We will always make Spelman and the world proud.

[@shanec9840]

This is where my daughters are going!

[@AshErin8304]

That’s incredible. A direct reflection of your parenting. Both you and your daughters did a wonderful job ❤

[@peacefuljourney405]

And this is how you give back, thank you Lord

[@katkatsanis]

Yes, totally ❤😌👍

[@labratamber]

The donor isn't an alum, but I do agree it's a great gift

[@bilqis3]

Wow, thank you to the Striker/Johnson family!

[@ashunt29]

This is WONDERFUL!!! Continue to put the spotlight on HBCUs!!!

[@sharmawade5498]

To God be the glory, honor, and praise! 🙌🏾👏🏾🎉. Congratulations Spelman College, And The donators who made it possible to continue to help our black young women reach as high as they could imagine. 🎈🎉

[@maximusdecimusmeridius9482]

As a black man I couldn’t be happier!!! Happy for these Queens! 🙌🏾

[@johnwebb2442]

Me too.

[@tiffanypittman04]

Well deserved! 👏🏾 Hopefully, this amount of money flows in to other HBCUs.

[@bobby12348]

It's that girl college

[@johnwebb2442]

Most Definitely.

[@brianvines8394]

What a blessing to be a blessing. This is H-U-G-E

[@kl.8992]

I love this. I really hope more (smaller) HBCUs receive this level of funding.

[@NSUVid]

Facts

[@johnwebb2442]

Absolutely.

[@bck12034]

HBCU goodness!! Congratulations Spelman! Well deserved! ❤

[@ethanrobertson3008]

Good for Spellman College Keep HBCU alive

[@sollunaystars]

Go Spellman! Well deserved! 👏👏👏👏

[@maryprior9386]

Blessings from Argentina, Spelman Is SIMPLY THE BEST. !!!!

[@TonyRomeNewMoney]

PRAISE GOD FROM WHOM ALL BLESSINGS FLOW! Spelman is an incredible school and this Blessing is well deserved. I am soooo happy for the administration & students. 🎉

[@SamAsm367]

Positive & inspiring. I hope Spelman remains unbossed and unbought. Unlike its Ivy League peers.

[@katkatsanis]

Wow!! ✨ What fantastic news! This truly brightened my evening, and I don’t even have a formal connection to Spelman. Though I genuinely rejoice in your well-deserved, good fortune, and pray that such generosity will pour out to other HBCUs, too. YAY ❤Congratulations!!! 🎉

[@lifeofbella9246]

Fellow HBCU grad...congrats to Spelman! Well deserved!❤❤

[@redeemed5906]

As a graduate of CAU, I am super excited for my neighboring sister HBCU institution Spelman

[@apcubanis09]

This is amazing!!! Well deserved!!!

[@KCNwokoye]

Wow awesome news. Hope more people follow suit.

[@potterwalker4823]

Make sure you get the black billionaires to match that $100 million while you are spreading the DEI evil.

[@heyerikan]

Agreed!

[@MomTube-i9w]

Build more dorms. Spelman does not have enough dorms. I wish they would build more dorms.

[@nygakat]

Family traditions are to attend an HBCU! Go Spelman! 🎉🎉

[@557Deola]

This is amazing! May God bless the couple that gave this great gift...❤❤❤❤

[@KiraAntoinette]

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾🙏🏾 Amazing! I wish more HBCU’s could get donations like that.

[@AJAMarvel]

Congratulations Spelman!!!

[@Winniegirl85]

Amazing congratulations ❤❤

[@sparkle3000]

Very nice how HBCU'S are showing Black People we don't need to feel left out. 👏 👏 👏

[@bernardwylie9760]

Very true…..and everything that’s happened recently in the country has made it very clear that HBCUs are truly the only trustworthy institutions to incubate and nurture black and minority intellectual talent for this country. The Harvard scandal, the SCOTUS decisions on affirmative action and student debt, the attacks on DEI and critical race theory all make very clear that PWI institutions are for them and their worldviews, and the only thing that they can go for blacks and minorities seeking knowledge, education, and jobs…..is milk their pockets dry and make them feel unwelcome and unvalued, and stick them with a huge bill for it.

[@people744]

You make yourself feel left out

[@bernardwylie9760]

⁠@@people744really, well the Supreme Court’s ruling, Bill Ackman’s money, Claudine Gay’s resignation after 6 months, and the attacks on minorities and DEI at PWI institutions all prove the exact opposite.

[@turquoisepurple7sky151]

​@@people744Thats a lie.

[@lasandralucas7314]

Congratulations 🎊 👏🏾 💐 🥳

[@themuzz351]

WOW!!! Congratulations!!

[@donaldmoore6300]

Congratulations, Congratulations, and Congratulations!!!!!

[@erichawkins5738]

Congratulations Spelman!! Well deserved!! I hope we can do the same thing for other HBCUs.

[@BonnChnd]

Congratulations to Spelman!

[@IlaE.Williams-LaBelleZ]

Spelman74, I'm a "Golden Girl", 50 years on Monday, May 20, 2024---to the day!!!❤❤❤😊

[@lllcc939r9]

Excellent. So proud. Well done Spelman

[@whatever736]

This is phenomenal.🥰🥰🥰💪💪

[@jermainesimmons2944]

Congrats to Spelman! Atlanta should be happy for them about this historic moment! Morehouse, Morris Brown, and Clark Atlanta should follow suit after!

[@saleemahfareed4495]

Congratulations 💜😊 4:55

[@sugwilliams6257]

Bless the Lord 👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾👋🏾🤸🏿🤸🏿🤸🏿🤸🏿💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽💃🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽🙏🏽

[@kimocoloma4123]

Bless the couple donated it. I don't see one thank you to them here.

[@ChereeYT]

Congrats to Spellman

[@MH_Prof]

This is awesome, awesome news! Congratulations, Spelman!🙏🏽

[@janelleglass3673]

Congratulations to Spelman!!!!

[@jl4073]

Congrats Spelman!! 🎉🎉🎉

[@neilifill4819]

That’s awesome!!

[@davielove11]

Wonderful news...we need good news like this more often.

[@popculturista]

Stryker and Johnson's generous philanthropy is extremely well known in my city, Kalamazoo Michigan. 🎉

[@queenofsheba7145]

That is awesome! How did they get so rich? What do they do?

[@Peachez4044]

Amazing 🎉

[@bambooblue74]

Go Spelman!

[@Raven-ug8uw]

Yeah, stand up. Ure all superstars!

[@dedebrown1028]

That is absolutely wonderful.

[@dovetales3]

This is indeed a phenomenal blessing, but I pray that all the recipient's become billionaires themselves and return the favor to whomever they wish! To God be the Glory! 💙💙💙💙

[@IDEALEGACY59]

Congratulations💜💜💜💜

[@emilyellis4860]

Now they should be more selective about who they let in and start meeting the financial needs of all students without any student loans.

[@sstill2008]

Beautiful 🤩 🎉❤

[@Raven-ug8uw]

Period!

[@MarkellSpivey]

Incredible.

[@c.chavis6314]

So happy for Spelman.

[@acenewb1e]

Very good! Pkeaze lord be accountable and transparent with the money!

[@JR-mm5xz]

Congratulations Spelman 🎊 👏🏽

[@thinktank4768]

I have college degrees. HOWEVER, I wish that I could have attended Spelman College. 😌 👩🏽‍🦱🇺🇸

[@evelynzlon9492]

The primary purpose of the Fair Housing Act was to compound, not reverse, the impact of preexisting housing discrimination. America's racial policies are often written in a manner which sounds egalitarian or otherwise beneficial to blacks in theory. As in the To Serve Man episode of the Twilight Zone, hardly anyone bothers to examine the actual monetary processes attached TO them. The sharecropping system was a notable example of this de facto racist exploitation. The Fair Housing Act is another. In the wake of WW2, the GI Bill enabled only white WW2 veterans to purchase suburban homes with no down payment. When blacks earned the right to move into these neighborhoods AFTER the fact, it triggered supply and demand pricing adjustments in the housing market. The heightened market competition for white-owned homes automatically boosted their market values. The preexisting white homeowners effortlessly pocketed the additional equity, and vice-versa. The typical black homeowner lost value on their most important asset. Additionally, the Fair Housing Act didn't include a no money down clause as the GI Bill did. Unlike whites who could move into their new homes immediately, black prospective homeowners were strained and delayed by the necessity of paying rent and accumulating a down payment simultaneously. For many, this was a hindrance to purchasing a home AT ALL. That's why the rate of black home ownership is lower now than it was 60 years ago. Et cetera. I have a B.A. in Economics so I could recite a litany of underhanded racist economic policies.

[@soulsurvivorla]

This is an incredible gift to a school that deserves it. But it leaves me wondering why people like Oprah Winfrey, Tyler Perry, Beyonce and Jay-Z, Kenneth Chenault, Samuel Jackon, Will Smith, and Denzel Washington are not making such gifts to HBCUs. Why is it in this age of black multi-millionaires and billionaires do HBCUs have to rely on the largesse of white donors? Where is black philanthropy endowing chairs and creating scholarship funds? We need to step it up now!

[@c.m.3600]

Exactly! This just goes to show Mrs. Stryker, though white, has a genuine interest in the development of black people. Regardless of how rich you are 100 mil ain’t no joke.

[@annzeeg4217]

While you're here search for Oprah Winfrey Morehouse College, from her final show and see how many black men she has put through Morehouse since the eighties. She has been giving back since the eighties. Tyler Perry and many of the people you named have scholarships as well. Unfortunately this kind of news doesn't travel through the community like the negative stuff does

[@WenD1908]

Oprah Winfrey has donated to Spelman College and her alma mater , Tennessee State University. Samuel L. Jackson has donated to Morehouse College, his wife, a Spelman alumna, has donated to Spelman. Their gifts to HBCUs are in the millions. Kenneth Chenault, $2M to Howard University. The others, do a search, Google is your friend. All the information took seconds to find. Ms. Winfrey’s gift, I was at Spelman when she gave the money. Now ask yourself, instead of downing those who have donated, what have you done for HBCUs? Do you give annually or at least help a student who may wish to go but needs help? Our schools need ALL of us, not just the famous/wealthy. Before anyone asks, I give annually and have done so for over 25 years. 🩵🤍

[@SalimSivaad]

Just a few years ago, a black billionaire named Robert Smith gifted the entire graduating class of Morehouse (my alma mater), reimbursement of their entire student loans acquired during all 4 years. Ray Charles donated a significant portion of his estate to Morehouse when he passed. Sure, more needs to be done, but many people you name DO give but don’t publicize their gifts.

[@c.m.3600]

@@WenD1908 thank you for sharing this

[@felinefokus]

Amazing let them receive new dorms and may the funds be used for its purpose. 🧡

[@abenawilliams6623]

Amazing 😊😊😊😊

[@sandranynj7118]

Bravo!!!!

[@natajean10]

Love this

[@pamelapolk7128]

Look at GOD!! I hope the same for other HBCUs!

[@priscillaferguson267]

Congratulations 👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[@geetachilds1200]

Awesome 🙌🏽

[@paulettebradley6593]

Outstanding 🎉

[@APassionforGod8]

Awesome 👏🏿

[@Safphron]

Dr. Helene Gayle's microlocs/ sisterlocks look so beautiful during this interview. She and her loctician should be proud.

[@SeanOfSeattle]

Did the chairwoman just say ...... Y'ALL?😅😅😅

[@VidellaWhitley]

❤Congratulations to Spelman College Donation Gift which is well deserved ❤from , Grandma V W who has a Granddaughter Graduating this year 2024❣️)🤗

[@gbengaadewusi1373]

This is great👏👏

[@victoriayarish4180]

That is AMAZING!!

[@AshErin8304]

That’s amazing ❤

[@K_patts8370]

We love to see it!!

[@johnwebb2442]

This is great.

[@dranev]

Great news. Now, let's make sure Bennett College, in Greensboro, North Carolina, receives a $100 million gift. Bennett Belles are to often overlooked.

[@brendajenkins9490]

Yeah that is right.... to ensure more young women to pursue their dreams in the path of education.

[@dmajorx]

🤔 when you open your eyes only then you can truly see!

[@gosikh]

I wish more non-blacks will donate to Spelman College and/or HBCU institutes. We need to fund these colleges to take on more women. We owe it to this community to make this world a better place.

[@felinefokus]

These schools do receive a lot of funding. Even the public schools, unfortunately the students don't reap the benefit from it.

[@480Tay]

👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

[@humblebeans5511]

The government is not coming to save us Black people but that's ok because we have each other. Congratulations to Spelman College for raising the bar. This would be a significant gift even for Harvard.

[@kimberly1567]

The government isn't coming to save any of us. Isn't supposed to

[@pickmeisha]

This gift is a drop in the bucket compared to Harvard’s endowment

[@humblebeans5511]

@@pickmeisha true but Harvard doesnt recieve 100M gifts everyday. President of Upenn got fired because a donor withdrew a 100m gift after their response to antisemitism

[@dcmomma14]

We need to stop expecting to be saved. Alumni’s have a lot of pull if they dedicate themselves. This donor saw the greatness in HBCU’s. That’s what is needed.

[@labratamber]

@dcmomma14 true and ms Stryker is not even an alumni

[@robertataylor9640]

Congratulations

[@ibdam1]

👏🏾👏🏾❤️❤️

[@reuben144k4]

❤

[@alfredwhitejr2306]

Awesome!

[@bobby12348]

This is so great i know a lots of black girls would love to go to that school. ❤

[@jacobgayle2061]

Awesome

[@candyjamaican]

Build more dorms. Build more dorm. Build more dorm!!!

[@thaddineswifteagle7626]

Herstory

[@eliciaellis7428]

Definitely!

[@rholloway717]

🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@ajordan1847]

❤❤❤❤🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🙌🏾

[@iamlyrics9118]

Oh WOW 🤎