ABSTRACT
In 2017, Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU) presidents were pulled out of a planned meeting and hurried to the White House Oval Office for an impromptu photo-op with United States President Donald Trump. The HBCU leaders were originally meeting with congressional and federal leaders to lobby for increased funding and resources for their institutions. The fly-in meeting spurred multiple controversies. An analysis of 43 examples of both mainstream and ethnic media reports revealed a tendency of media both before and after the event to focus on the political dynamics of a Republican U.S. President meeting with a segment of his constituency with whom relations have been strained. Local media highlighted the expectations and disappointments of local HBCU presidents, while national media emphasized the limited outcome, a signed executive order without specifics on financial benefits for Black colleges. This study uses tenets of intercultural public relations to examine this case of a clash in cultures—a predominantly White House staff with a group of media savvy, skeptical Black college presidents.
