This Weeks College: Paul Quinn College, Dallas, Texas
Paul Quinn College promotes the 4Ls:
This is more than just a corporate slogan at Paul Quinn. This school has a past as intriguing as its future is bright. Founded by a group of African Methodist Episcopal Preachers in Austin, Texas for the express purpose of educating freed slaves, Paul Quinn today is located in Dallas, Texas, is open to students of all races, and continues to operate under their spiritual banner of WE over Me. What is WE over Me? It permeates just about every aspect of this school and its mission for its students.
Paul Quinn is the only urban Work College in the nation. This means that students graduate with little (under $10,000) to no debt. It’s a college that has gone through some major changes in the last few years and their dynamic president, Michael J. Sorrell has made the welfare of the college (WE) the primary focus over individual interests of alumni (Me) in some fascinating ways.
The school was close to bankruptcy around 2008. Certain things like the football team were costing more than they were bringing in. Sorrell had to make some tough decisions, and he did. Paul Quinn’s programs were not sustainable any longer, and enrollments were flagging. Students were graduating with too much debt. Sorrell decided to pare down the programs to the ones most students chose: Health and Wellness, Business, Education, Pre-Law, Religious Studies, and Liberal Arts. And, something unheard of in an HBCU, he cut the losing football team.
Paul Quinn, it turned out was in a food desert. And no one was willing to change that. Sorrell offered free land to grocery stores willing to open in the neighborhood. They were turned down. Restaurants refused. One of the stores even said that people in that community “didn’t look like their customers.” That was the final straw.
In 2010, it was proposed that the football stadium lying empty be converted into an organic farm. It was, and the WE over Me Farm was begun. Since then, over 30,000 lbs of produce have been grown. Some of it is used to feed the community around Paul Quinn. But some of it is sold to high end restaurants. Some feeds the students at Paul Quinn. There is now a farmer’s market on campus once a week as well, and students use the farm for research and as part of their curriculum as well. It’s a model of entrepreneurship, for business marketing, and the health and wellness programs. It’s also important in the education programs as part of their environmental studies and stewardship and nutrition and physical education as well. Finally, it’s entirely student run, worked, and managed which is why Paul Quinn’s Work College status is effective. Students exchange work on the WE to Me farm for tuition and room and board.
The WE to Me Farm has changed the community of South Dallas while it’s changed the community of Paul Quinn at the same time. Restaurants have opened. Food banks take in a proportion of the food. The school considers what they give back to their community “Tithing” because as a faith based college, they owe to the people they live with. Not only do they feed the people around them, they feed souls as well.
And you can still be an athlete at Paul Quinn. Basketball is alive and well there as is soccer and volleyball. Cross country is also available and Lacrosse is on its way. There is Greek Life at Paul Quinn so that is available. Like many Greek fraternal associations for HBCUs these are sometimes very involved in service as well as the traditional activities associated with them as well.
Paul Quinn also has a Center for Civic Engagement, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership. This center works to help students become leaders in their lives and in the lives of others. They offer a variety of events for students to help them develop the skills they need to become creative and flexible thinkers and to achieve their goals.
The Work Program at Paul Quinn goes beyond the WE to Me Farm (although that is one of the most popular parts of Paul Quinn). This aspect of life at Paul Quinn helps not just to pay for your time there, but also to help you develop actual skills you’ll need to be successful once you graduate as well. You’ll work between 10-20 hours a week for a full tuition grant of $5,000 and a cash payment between $1000-15000 (each semester). You will get a grade for your work. It’s based on certain skills we’d consider “soft skills” like being on time, reliability, teamwork, critical thinking skills, initiative, and pride in a job well done, for example.
Is Paul Quinn for you? It’s very niche. It’s a faith based curriculum still and primarily serves a student body that consists of people of color. But their WE to Me Farm is a wonder and if you’re interested in the farm to table movement, social justice, or legal action, this is a great place to focus on it. Paul Quinn and its farm have been highlighted in a number of publications, most recently in Real Simple, but also on PBS Newshour, and in The Atlantic, and its low tuition and work college status makes it very affordable as well.
Pros:
Cons:
Paul Quinn College promotes the 4Ls:
- Leave places better than you found them
- Lead from wherever you are
- Live a life that matters
- Love something greater than yourself
This is more than just a corporate slogan at Paul Quinn. This school has a past as intriguing as its future is bright. Founded by a group of African Methodist Episcopal Preachers in Austin, Texas for the express purpose of educating freed slaves, Paul Quinn today is located in Dallas, Texas, is open to students of all races, and continues to operate under their spiritual banner of WE over Me. What is WE over Me? It permeates just about every aspect of this school and its mission for its students.
Paul Quinn is the only urban Work College in the nation. This means that students graduate with little (under $10,000) to no debt. It’s a college that has gone through some major changes in the last few years and their dynamic president, Michael J. Sorrell has made the welfare of the college (WE) the primary focus over individual interests of alumni (Me) in some fascinating ways.
The school was close to bankruptcy around 2008. Certain things like the football team were costing more than they were bringing in. Sorrell had to make some tough decisions, and he did. Paul Quinn’s programs were not sustainable any longer, and enrollments were flagging. Students were graduating with too much debt. Sorrell decided to pare down the programs to the ones most students chose: Health and Wellness, Business, Education, Pre-Law, Religious Studies, and Liberal Arts. And, something unheard of in an HBCU, he cut the losing football team.
Paul Quinn, it turned out was in a food desert. And no one was willing to change that. Sorrell offered free land to grocery stores willing to open in the neighborhood. They were turned down. Restaurants refused. One of the stores even said that people in that community “didn’t look like their customers.” That was the final straw.
In 2010, it was proposed that the football stadium lying empty be converted into an organic farm. It was, and the WE over Me Farm was begun. Since then, over 30,000 lbs of produce have been grown. Some of it is used to feed the community around Paul Quinn. But some of it is sold to high end restaurants. Some feeds the students at Paul Quinn. There is now a farmer’s market on campus once a week as well, and students use the farm for research and as part of their curriculum as well. It’s a model of entrepreneurship, for business marketing, and the health and wellness programs. It’s also important in the education programs as part of their environmental studies and stewardship and nutrition and physical education as well. Finally, it’s entirely student run, worked, and managed which is why Paul Quinn’s Work College status is effective. Students exchange work on the WE to Me farm for tuition and room and board.
The WE to Me Farm has changed the community of South Dallas while it’s changed the community of Paul Quinn at the same time. Restaurants have opened. Food banks take in a proportion of the food. The school considers what they give back to their community “Tithing” because as a faith based college, they owe to the people they live with. Not only do they feed the people around them, they feed souls as well.
And you can still be an athlete at Paul Quinn. Basketball is alive and well there as is soccer and volleyball. Cross country is also available and Lacrosse is on its way. There is Greek Life at Paul Quinn so that is available. Like many Greek fraternal associations for HBCUs these are sometimes very involved in service as well as the traditional activities associated with them as well.
Paul Quinn also has a Center for Civic Engagement, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership. This center works to help students become leaders in their lives and in the lives of others. They offer a variety of events for students to help them develop the skills they need to become creative and flexible thinkers and to achieve their goals.
The Work Program at Paul Quinn goes beyond the WE to Me Farm (although that is one of the most popular parts of Paul Quinn). This aspect of life at Paul Quinn helps not just to pay for your time there, but also to help you develop actual skills you’ll need to be successful once you graduate as well. You’ll work between 10-20 hours a week for a full tuition grant of $5,000 and a cash payment between $1000-15000 (each semester). You will get a grade for your work. It’s based on certain skills we’d consider “soft skills” like being on time, reliability, teamwork, critical thinking skills, initiative, and pride in a job well done, for example.
Is Paul Quinn for you? It’s very niche. It’s a faith based curriculum still and primarily serves a student body that consists of people of color. But their WE to Me Farm is a wonder and if you’re interested in the farm to table movement, social justice, or legal action, this is a great place to focus on it. Paul Quinn and its farm have been highlighted in a number of publications, most recently in Real Simple, but also on PBS Newshour, and in The Atlantic, and its low tuition and work college status makes it very affordable as well.
Pros:
- WE to Me Farm
- Limited, focused curriculum
- Center for Civic Engagement, Entrepreneurship, and Leadership
- Dallas is a top city for young people and people of color
Cons:
- Limited, focused curriculum
- Small school
- Limited choices
- Hard work