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Imar Hutchins ’00JD: A Juneteenth challenge to his other alma mater.

By the staff | 12:46pm June 21 2012

This is a story about Imar Hutchins ’00JD and his other alma mater.

A year ago, Hutchins and a handful of fellow alumni launched a fund-raising campaign for Morehouse College. Now, Hutchins is publicly challenging Morehouse on the mission, governance, and raison d’être of the historically black men’s school in Atlanta.

“Morehouse is in crisis,” the Harlem lawyer and real estate owner—as well as artist and sometime purveyor of raw foods—writes in an open letter to the board of trustees. As the school’s leaders search for a new president, he urges them to consider the relevance of historically black colleges today; the need to “embrace gay Morehouse Men”; and questions of transparency and academic rigor.

Hutchins’s letter stirred some Twitter chatter on Juneteenth, the day of celebration of African American liberation.

“The letter raises some very valid issues for all institutions of higher learning, including Morehouse,” board chairman Bob Davidson told an Atlanta TV station. “Beyond that, we won’t comment on the specific issues.”

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