NBA legend and analyst Charles Barkley has amended his will to leave his alma mater The University of Auburn a sum of 5 million dollars. Barkley indicated that he was inspired to set the endowment aside for future Black students following the Supreme Court’s ruling against Affirmative Action in higher education. According to Al.com‘s reporting, Barkley remarked “I love Auburn…I’ve actually changed it (Barkley’s will) to be used for kids from poor homes. But after that ruling yesterday, my phone was blowing up. I was talking to my friends and said, ‘I need to make sure Black folks always have a place at Auburn. So, I’m gonna change my will and make it exclusive for Black students—all $5 million.’ It’s just for me the right thing to do. I always want to make sure that Auburn’s diverse.”
When Barkley originally created his will, he did consider making his donation exclusive to Black students but chose not to. The Supreme Court striking down decades of progress seems to have changed his mind. Barkley also talked a bit about how his alma mater does not have the best track record when it comes to Black students, saying that the university has always been in need of more diversity. According to College Factual, which is a group that tracks and rates universities based on overall diversity, racial-ethnic diversity, and male-female diversity, Auburn is classified as below average in all three major categories. Of Auburn’s estimated total enrollment of 30,737 students, an estimated 1,003 of those students are Black, which backs up Barkley’s claim that the university has been in need of diversity for some time.
Barkley attended the University of Auburn from 1981-1984, a little over a decade after the original Affirmative Action policies were implemented. During that time, Black enrollment at Auburn was paltry. In 1982, which is the first year available during Barkley’s time at the school, a grand total of 441 students were Black. Auburn’s total enrollment that year was 18,000 students. By the time Barkley graduated in 1984, it had slightly increased to 586 Black students out of nearly 19,000 total students. As it stands currently, Barkley’s endowment is enough to almost completely cover the tuition costs of the entire Black student population. The University of Auburn has quite a bit of work to do if it wants to make good on Barkley’s effort to create and sustain diversity in its student body.