The Negro's church,.

52

The Negro's Church

sponded to the inquiry. Eight did not reply. Twelve of the
forty-four reported that the departments of theology had
closed since 1923-24. Thirty-two responded, giving usable
information. It was possible in twenty-eight of these to compare the enrollment in 1923-24 as reported by Mr. Daniel
with the enrollments of 1930-31 as recorded by the schools
in response to the inquiry.
In 1923-24, the twenty-eight schools under discussion had
an aggregate enrollment of 667. In 1930-31, the same
twenty-eight seminaries or departments of theology reported
an enrollment of 657. This shows a decrease of ten. Although this decrease is very slight, it takes on significance
when the twelve schools that have closed their theological
departments since 1923-24, and the eight that made no response to the inquiry, are considered. Ten of the twelve that
are now closed had a total enrollment of 187 in 1923-24.
The eight that did not respond had an enrollment of 114 in
1923-24. Thus, the number of students, 301, enrolled in
these eighteen schools, and especially the 187 that were enrolled in the ten that are closed, must be accounted for in
newly established seminaries, in northern white seminaries, in
the eight that did not respond to the inquiry, or in the probability that a decreasing number of men are entering the
seminaries.
That new seminaries have been organized that would account for the enrollment of the 187 just referred to is very
doubtful. It is more than probable that if any new seminaries
had been organized within recent years, the fact would be
generally known. The tendency has been in the direction of
closing Negro schools and seminaries rather than in that of
founding new ones. Nor can this number be accounted for
in northern white seminaries. Eleven of the leading white
seminaries report sixty-nine as the total enrollment of Negro
students in 1931-32. They are Boston University School of