Central State Is Now Part of Xenia. Why Its HBCU and Land-Grant Mission Matters

By RoShawn Winburn, Dayton Weekly News

Central State University's main campus is officially inside Xenia city limits after the Greene County Board of Commissioners approved the annexation petition.

The details are municipal (water and sewer rates, fire and EMS coverage, income tax), but Central State is not just another parcel joining a city. It is one of Ohio's two HBCUs, alongside its neighbor Wilberforce University, and the two play different roles. Wilberforce is private. Central State is Ohio's only public HBCU and its only 1890 land-grant university.

The two schools share a history. Central State began in 1887 as a state-supported department of Wilberforce University and became an independent institution in 1947. Its public mission and its land-grant role both reach far past its campus.

The annexation covers about 327 acres of the main campus. The university's Dayton location is not included.

Xenia has supplied Central State's water since the 1950s, through a line that dates to the 1930s, and its sewer service since 1979. Because the campus sat outside the city, the university paid a 50% surcharge on both. President Morakinyo A.O. Kuti told WYSO earlier this year that he expected the new arrangement to save roughly $250,000 to $400,000 while putting water, sewer, fire and emergency medical services on steadier footing.

There is a cost on the other side. Employees who work on the Wilberforce campus, but live outside Xenia, will now pay the city's 2.25% income tax.

Money no longer spent on surcharges can go toward students, research and outreach. At Central State, that outreach carries a statewide responsibility.

The land-grant mission took a century

Central State traces its roots to 1887, and its land-grant history is a story of delayed recognition.

The Second Morrill Act of 1890 created land-grant support for historically Black institutions at a time when Black students were shut out of many colleges founded under the original act. According to the university's own history, Ohio lawmakers in the 1890s considered sending that funding to Central State's predecessor. The money went elsewhere.

Central State did not receive the federal designation until 2014. Today, it is one of 19 historically Black universities in the 1890 system.

Land-grant work is much broader than farming. It rests on three duties: teaching, research and extension. Central State researchers study sustainable agriculture, water resources, food and nutrition, and aquaculture, and its programs prepare students for careers in agriculture, science and engineering.

Extension is how that knowledge leaves campus. Central State's programs cover agriculture, 4-H and youth development, family and consumer sciences, and community and economic development. In practice, that means helping farmers build sustainable operations, teaching financial literacy, supporting small businesses and offering technical help to communities. The university names underserved Ohioans, urban and rural, among the people it is meant to reach.

It is easy to file this as a Xenia story. It is also a Dayton story and a Black economic development story.

Central State sits about 20 miles east of Dayton, and its land-grant mandate does not stop at the campus edge. A university with stable infrastructure and finances is better positioned to recruit researchers, compete for federal dollars and bring programs into neighborhoods.

The problems land-grant schools were built to address are still here. Food insecurity, limited access to education, small businesses that need support, and communities without easy access to expertise are still among area challenges. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says its 1890 programs are meant partly to reach limited-resource and minority farmers, small producers and underserved communities. Central State is Ohio's school in that network.

Days before the annexation vote, Central State named Terry Cosby interim vice president for Research and Economic Development and director of its 1890 Land-Grant Programs. Cosby is a former Ohio state conservationist and former chief of the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, which serves farmers and landowners nationwide through thousands of field offices. Hiring someone with that résumé signals the university wants its land-grant work to grow.

Annexation settles who provides Central State's water and emergency services, but does not settle what the university becomes next. Black communities across the Miami Valley have a stake in that answer. Possibilities include partnerships with Black farmers and landowners, youth pathways into agriculture and STEM, support for urban growers and food entrepreneurs, and research on problems facing underserved neighborhoods.

Joining Xenia moved a boundary line. The real test is whether a steadier Central State can extend its reach beyond it.