is often that someone can create a blog like you did and be their own writer, editor, promoter, marketer, designer but it seems like we can get more done if we take advantage of the specialization in collaboration. it was really something we talked about a lot in the early days, how can we bring people together to help. and that and that is a theme we are continuing to iterate on. as a whole is looked at very much as a platform and are publishing efforts are there to help spur that platform along. you know the internet develops with two strands 11 was a publishing strand. you could put anything you want out. the other is the community strand which was like the well and others even before the web is around gathered people into communities. those have had somewhat of attention to read i even quoted you you thought of it as a publishing platform

but then it becomes a committee platform. joining the publishing power of the web with the committee power of the internet, that forming of online, you no virtual communities is where the power lies in the future. >> and that is clearly what twitter is. very much the information spreading mindset. i think originally it was looked up more. that that looms in the something is very powerful. and i think if you look at any major platform today it obviously combines those elements. we didn't have comments for a long time. who wants to talk to people? i don't want to talk to people on the internet. one of the central themes of the book as i understand it in my limited understanding

that this myth the silicon valley creator myth you dissected over and over. break it apart to show there ideas who invented what and how many things. a lot of people did. >> those of us who are biographers no that we have a dirty little secret. we distort history. we make it seem like their is some guy who comes up with a lightbulb moment edison or morris or bell or somebody when in fact most

of the innovations and disruptions of the digital age were done collaboratively by teams. that's why we don't know who invented the computer because there were four or five working on it. these were collaborative efforts like the internet. leaving aside the al gore jokes they're is know person who can say i invented the internet. i don't no whether you like him but they're was that exchange nobody invented twitter. one of the founders, cofounders saying i invented it. years and years ago when i was just coming out of college i wrote a book with a friend called the wise man about the collaboration

collaboration is the key to creativity. innovation is a team sport and we have to get away from saying here is the lone inventor. >> the internet and going back to blogging very clearly is just a series. these little things that we stumble upon that become common. they occur to most people at the same time because it's the next adjacent thing to what we are all used to. >> your making our jobs harder because it is much easier in a headline decide. >> when i was a magazine editor who do i put on the cover? we put people on the cover. the age of the internet is not as geared to putting people on the cover or putting them on the pantheon and saying this was the one

person. but i think it is actually more interesting. for example, on the computer you can have a historical argument, but if you were a romantic a romantic who believes in the lone inventor you talk about this guy and iowa state and in the basement of the physics building they're he creates an electronic circuit that can do some of what a computer can do. he never could get his computer working. he gets drafted into the navy or goes into the navy and no one knows what this machine is and that roadway. at the same time there's a whole team at the university of pennsylvania led by guys with these six women who were doing -- you no women mathematicians doing the programming about 20 engineers and they built eniac and it worked. it is it is a sign that the lone inventor can't do it in

the digital age. you need that team. >> sometimes when you have a team it doesn't work either. >> and if you have a team without a visionary. visionary. i mean,, vision without execution is just a loose nation. but if you have a lot of execution but don't have a visionary driving it then it becomes barren. barren. whether you look at the transistor done at bell labs german by two or three visionaries shockley bardeen, bratton, the original computer driven by motley eckert, the six women programmers you have to have the right combination of visionaries and team that can execute. >> and timing. >> i'm sorry. >> and timing. if you are a startup trying to bring things to market there are so many things today that you can look back ten ten years ago and say that

company tried it but it was too early for poorly executed or whatever. >> the right seeds have to fall on fertile ground. >> at the right time, time, too when the things are available that you need to make it grow. >> there is one thing -- we are almost out of time, but you mentioned the concept of an environment or a community convincing itself is revolutionary by saying it is over and over again which reminds me a lot of silicon valley. everyone says there product is going to revolutionize. do you think that they can self manifest that by saying it? >> you know, the verb -- the word innovation and the word disruptor have been so used that they sometimes get drained of there meaning. there was a wonderful book by steve shape in the starts, they're was know such thing as a scientific

revolution and this is a book about it meaning it did happen and he said the way we know it happened as the people felt their worst part of something revolutionary. if you look at the way things were being changed by the confluence of personal computers, mobile devices and networks such as the internet or the web that has so disrupted things it is like the combination of the steam engine mechanical you no, things like the loan and the other things that created the industrial revolution. >> thank you for coming appeared to talk. >> good to see you. thank you. >> white house spokesman josh earnest beef reporters earlier today. we brought that to you live command you can see it online at teethree. here is an exchange when mr. ernest was asked about recent

remarks by former new york city mayor rudy giuliani .. or how the united states is a force for good in the world and a ` the greatest force for good the world has ever seen. so we continued those debates

and many have delivered those remarks in this country and around the world. we can set those examples. more generally i can tell you that it's sad to see when somebody who has attained a certain level of public stature and even admiration tarnishes that legacy so thoroughly and the truth is i don't take any joy or vindication or satisfaction from that. i think really the only thing that i feel is i feel sorry for rudy giuliani today.

c-span's "washington journal" has been touring the nation's historically black colleges and universities. next a look at tuskegee university in alabama. this is about 45 minutes. >> host: good morning to you. thanks for giving us your time on this series. we have been talking to other presidents on this series. one of the things that has come up repeatedly was this idea of how to retain students specifically students who have been historically black colleges and universities. your university is a standout for student retention. can you talk about that and what

is your secret? >> guest: absolutely. there is really no secret. we at tuskegee university have always been historically very strong and our stem programming of our 3100 graduate and undergraduate enrollment. we have approximately 2100 of the students in stem or stammer leading levied fields. obviously the retention and persistence leaning towards not only graduation by the very impressive job placement rate with that. our students are the best and brightest and they remained focused on that. we also have a very new program that started a couple of years ago that quality enhancement plan attributed to a tea kettle program in our first year of courses where students get the assistance they needed many of these math-based courses. we attribute it to the program that is part of our formerly created quality enhancement plan. >> host: president johnson is there a message you deliver

directly or personally to college freshmen as they are starting their educational career about staying the course in achieving graduation? >> guest: well absolutely. obviously this is my eighth month here at tuskegee university but the president is always involved when students come into an open house. we have a spring open house summer summer open house fall open house that i have had the pleasure of participating in a couple of those. we try to tell them not only about our great tradition and our founder booker t. washington but the many luminaries robert r. taylor and george washington carver and our great distinguished alumni and the students there currently. we try to motivate them at the best and brightest examples of what makes tuskegee great and how they can make it greater. >> host: president johnson wanted the things we have learned is one of the reasons students can't finish their educational career when they start a college is finances. talk about that and how does

your university deal with that? >> guest: well obviously these are questions that are pressing for not only tuskegee university but many institutions. the balance between the university insuring that it has the appropriate tuition revenue but also assuring that our students properly finance, properly are packaged with the right discounts that an institution can provide. our institution does extremely well with securing scholarship support from corporations who are primarily insisted -- interested in simulated fields. our alumni does a good job of kerger getting to college-based-based giving an scholarship thing however the institution has to carefully and we have spent a lot of time managing our discount rate, we had to obviously provide institutional aid to our best and brightest and the students are going to be attracted by great institutes. we secure top-notch students and

obviously the students have choices. so what we try to do is to make sure that we properly balance the aid that we provide in the way at discounted scholarships but we also encourage them to also participate in internships and particularly with them related field. these internships among other things help with their tuition so we believe here at tuskegee university we do a multifaceted approach towards discounting and providing scholarships for students. >> host: as you tell us that according to your university information are graduating -- graduation rate is 46%. what does that mean to president johnson and what are you going to do about that number? >> guest: absolutely that number is not where we want to be and still we are pleased it is not where it could be. by that i mean we obviously have a number of things we have to look at. obviously when one considers the graduation rate one has to consider not only -- but the

kinds of students we recruit that particularly persistence. one of the things we have to do many students leave for a number of different reasons, not merely because they are not doing well. it's because of some issues you raise. they don't have secure scholarship money by way of having a gpa, grade point average that rises to the level that would secure the merit-based aid. some leave for various issues. sometimes it relates to they don't find the area or the housing facilities in a manner that's consistent with what they would prefer. some leave for personal issues so one of the things that we want to do in increasing that 46% graduation rate is to engage them in a number of initiatives. we talk a great deal here about student success and student engagement ann critical activity beyond the classrooms. we find that if you -- your students can find something to link onto obviously they think onto wanting a good job particularly in a stem related

field or obviously they want to stay because they want to graduate with a credential but we try to connect it to our brand. our tuskegee alumni and tuskegee football and basketball team and leadership programs. the university honors program and speakers programs. these are the things that make a student to make a home on christmas break or fall break or summer break they say i to return to tuskegee university. these co-curricular engagements are some the things we are doing at the institution to ensure that 46% rate is higher. >> host: month of february c-span has the opportunity to speak with the heads of several historically black colleges and universities and we give you a chance to talk to them. once asked questions of president brian johnson at tuskegee university here that you can do so. (202)748-8000 if you attended a historically black college university 202-74-8800 bond for all others. give us a call and we will get

to your calls momentarily. president johnson he spoke about the stem programs the science or related programs. also your university tells us when it comes to government grants and contracts he received $37 million. is a good portion of that builds on stem related topics? >> stem related topics? let me just say this. tuskegee has historically done well in the acquisition of federal research dollars dollars related to stem research. that is one of our strong areas. one of the things that the university is doing within this administration is creating a diverse portfolio of dollars that we bring in. we know that stem related funding is their bread and butter at tuskegee but we want a diverse portfolio and we also want to partner with private

corporations not only federal dollars on the research side but we want to create university wide schemes by inviting in reminding people that in 1985 tuskegee baby decision to change its name from tuskegee institute to tuskegee university broadening its scope beyond stem. make no mistake we are always going to be stem. it's always good to be in our dna however we know there aren't number of corporations and the number of students who also want to attend tuskegee university and that will create opportunities beyond our well-known successes in federally funded in stem dollars for a s.t.e.m. related programs. >> host: what kind of research is going on currently? >> guest: well obviously we do a number of different things where we have been successful. obviously in aerospace engineering for instance. you might have seen we recently received monies for the work in our aerospace engineering program.

our veterinarian school, obviously not the foremost producer of african-american students but area graduates. each area is significant in building the research brand at the institution. so we are in the midst of a wonderful transition here. i'm still learning the faculty and areas of research but i do know engineering and stem related fields and we also have agriculture obviously. we are pleased to announce a new building here that is under the leadership of our college of agriculture where this building will be housing also of the department of agriculture there along with our faculty so they will be able to engage in agricultural work. we are very pleased with the ongoing work of our research and their faculty. >> host: president brian johnson at tuskegee university

joining us. the first call comes from stephen in connecticut on our other's line. you are on with the president. go ahead. >> caller: hey thanks for taking my call. tuskegee has had a long history with civil rights going all the way back to the famous airman and i want to talk about the civil rights of the american muslims particularly what's going on here. we have always had great representatives like mohammed ali, karim abdul-jabbar and malcolm x. what happened in chapel hill reminded me so much of martin luther king's eulogy for the birmingham girls where he discusses the low road of humanity and how god has a way of bringing good out of evil. where are the students standing with my friends from chapel hill?

>> guest: your friends from chapel hill is there a particular matter their? there a number of issues at chapel hill. can you be a little bit clearer about the issue you are raising? >> host: i think he is talking about the shootings that took place recently. >> guest: sure, sure. let me just say where our students on these issues? obviously our students have been long-standing in their engagements with civil rights at tuskegee university not only students but community members. we know that rosa parks was born in tuskegee but more specifically we are deeply involved with the ferguson shootings. i myself have not seen or heard our student groups particularly engaged on the issue of what has occurred in chapel hill but nevertheless i am sure that they are engaged in a number of different issues that they find

to be important and i'm sure that equally important for them. we trust and we hope that they will do the right to research in regards to what the issues are and find ways to engage in all issues that affect mankind. >> host: regina attended in hbcu. she is from paul minnesota. >> caller: hello. it was actually my son who attended and i just wanted to say that he is like the third generation who attended an hbcu. i had a great uncle who graduated from tuskegee and i just felt the value of my son attending a historically black college was just second to none. his character, his self-esteem his entrepreneurial spirit and just as few of himself as an african-american just changed

and he's just so proud and really believes that he can do anything that he puts his mind to having the opportunity to meet other at young african-american males and females who work academically motivated and had higher aspirations. so i'm really grateful that hbcu's are still thriving and existing. >> guest: i appreciate that comment because of the comment that needs to be a clarion call to hbcus. we know that we have several reports that indicate although increasingly many african-american and minority students are attending predominantly white institutions the fact remains statistics point to the fact that african-american graduate school degree recipients master degrees law degrees,

veterinary degrees ph.d. degrees that these african-americans who have gone on to post-secondary accomplishment postbaccalaureate accomplishments one of the things you find in the comment thread is that they were rented -- rooted and grounded in hbcus. they were trained in these environments where they got a deep and rich sense of their history and who they were and then they matriculated to predominantly white institutions were obviously a lot of times they find themselves still needing to congregate whether it's student union centers are areas where they have to cultivate the opportunities that many graduates have from four years of matriculating at an hbcu particulate tuskegee university. >> host: here's randy from clearwater florida. you are next. >> caller: hi. i was going to speak to the black college person. >> host: randy you are on.

go ahead with your question or comment. >> caller: my comment is you know they are a black college but they are u.s. citizens like every other race and i was wondering if that college was integrated? >> host: president johnson, go ahead. >> guest: randy i believe we know that historically the reasons for the creation of historically black colleges and universities were due to frankly the african-americans not being permitted to integrate trade obviously the 50s 60 years since many of the civil rights

legislation has passed that now allows for integration that integration is a long painstaking road. obviously tuskegee university is integrated. we allow students from multiple races to attend that obviously predominantly white institutions are still integrated but we still in both of these contacts have a long way to go in dealing and grappling with the history of the way in which our nation has dealt with the question of race and particularly in higher education. with that being said there are spaces again for institutions like tuskegee university where just like the previous caller indicated where students who either hailed from city backgrounds are upper-class backgrounds were raids -- where they were the best of the smartest in their class. they attended predominantly white institutions that they found they were the only one of

their intellect was not a firms or their full creative expression are their history was not acknowledge so many of those students who come from well-educated homes and many students who come from inner-city homes say i want to go where i can leave and i can be affirmed and i can learn about my history. i want to see flesh and blood examples of african-americans who may or may not be depicted in mainstream programming or commercials or in music. so we believe obviously institutions like tuskegee university to provide that space for those who need that space we don't make it a requirement. we believe every single student in the world ought to be at tuskegee but we do know there are students who would value from learning about our rich tradition, our rich history and our rich future. with that regard rethink all education is important. all of our education is important and hbcus are

important and expressly tuskegee university is very important. >> host: how integrated is the teaching faculty they are? >> guest: how integrated the teaching faculty? our faculty is very integrated. i don't have a specific demographics on what percentage are african-american and what percentage are wide and what percentage are asian but i assure you my provost i just appointed a provost who has been on the job for three months is from the dominican republic. many of our engineers are international faculty so what we find and our democrat fix is probably more diverse at tuskegee than many as predominantly white institutions. >> host: from new york d'antonio is next. go ahead, please. >> caller: good morning. i graduated from an hbcu well -- as well. pretty much have a comment and a

question or suggestion directed directly towards the president of tuskegee university. i'm a guidance counselor for high school in new york and it's a big struggle to find -- to expose students primarily to hbcus in the south. many times we are not able to take advantage of those. another thing is we are competing in new york city where they are trying to keep their students at the city university in new york or at state university of new york at and try to emphasize the tuition money and it's way cheaper. here's my thing. i have students and for every white student gave me to have to give me an hbcu as well. the students are -- so a prime example at the student that was just accepted to tuskegee university and i know oftentimes and you just talked about the retention rate in the graduation rate but we have a student come

in from as far as new york city. one of my suggestions to the student was one that you reach out to the school and c. do they have some type of program where if you buy your own airfare but they have some type of program where there is a chaperone that can have a big brother big sister pick you up at the airport in you spend a day on campus and you were able to stay at a dorm with maybe her chaperone and they are able to basically show you the community so you can get there and when you get there you are actually, you are predisposed to when u.n. role as a freshman and maybe say this is not for me. >> host: color we have to leave it there. thank you. president johnson. >> guest: i appreciate that. one of the ways in which tuskegee university does business we have 40,000 alumni and particularly in new york we

have an alumni chapter there. obviously we can't cover the span of new york but one of the things we do is we use our alumni. our alumni loves tuskegee. they talk and love to tuskegee and eat tuskegee. one of the things i constantly do is to have certain fares. i was an event at medgar evers college where alumni showed up and were able to talk with constituents and high school students who were in attendance there. i do believe obviously that there are ways in which to engage our best and our admissions area to deal -- to me particular students. obviously there are a number of students who have the desire to come and they want to visit and that can be cost prohibitive however we do address inquiries. we do our very best to listen to support up an alumnus or a

faculty member or staff member who would voluntarily mentor students. as the president nearly everyone reached out to me directly and obviously i can't mentor and deal with every single student but through my alumni and staff clearly those are ways. i appreciate that suggestion. >> host: president brian johnson of tuskegee university and a part of our c-span tour. historically black colleges and universities. wayman from cincinnati ohio. thanks for waiting. you are next. >> good morning. i'm a veteran of tuskegee institute. all of my family are hbcu graduates and my wife and i and our children are all graduates from tuskegee. i have a comment to make. we really loved tuskegee as to

probably all of the alumni but i'm looking forward to your run of the school. i'm hopeful we will see our school grow and progress. it has over the last 100 or so years and i'm confident that you will help bring us to the next level of accomplishing and in terms of student enrollment and in terms of programs offered and in terms of our recognition in the country has a good educational opportunity. >> guest: thank you kindly for that and i encourage you i am not sure if there's a local ohio alumni there but i urge you to create one. the thing i want to thank you for is pointing to what the university is currently doing. he referred to tuskegee in office the president we have a working vision document and we

are presented to our board of trustees in the fall after we go through a master steering committee and disseminating the objectives and priorities of the document to our campus community. all the same our vision document outlines the way in which we hope to grow to tuskegee university. many people may be unaware that tuskegee university at the passing of its founder after 30 four-year tenure booker t. washington the institute has a headcount of 1500 students. with. nearly 100 years later we celebrated him and it has doubled. we believe the institution can grow exponentially. they can go through not only on line programming but also by again increasing not decreasing stem programming but putting university wide steam in into this addition by inviting students from all majors who understand that tuskegee university is bill not only on tradition and not only on a mission but it's built on a

trajectory that is built on a solid vision for the future with seven presidencies in the history of institution. >> host: when is your study expected to be completed? >> guest: i appreciate that comment. i'm engaged and make your long self-study that will be completed at the conclusion of the academic year. we are well ahead of pace. i just saw a report today or actually yesterday that was very encouraging. they're only seven items in these items were documentary items. as you know we are a part of the regional accrediting area and tuskegee university with institutions go through reaffirmation's. there is a compliance report. we are not waiting for reaffirmation. we are using this report, i am using this report to learn about

the institution and do a study not only those items that cover the report but also those things like the statistics of the institution understanding budgeting of fte and understanding the way in which we manager student affairs and understanding where are our advancement fund-raising dollars are understanding what is her baseline for alumni funding understanding and creating outcomes. we know that we are moving steadfastly into a performance-based that has been recently discussed. obviously tuskegee university and all universities have to be prepared for that. in addition to the self-study we are also creating program outcomes and operational objectives for those nonacademic program related units so that we can measure our progress of weekend do with the distinguished alumni indicated take tuskegee into the future. >> host: aaron from --

go ahead. >> caller: good morning. my dad went to tuskegee in the 60s and i must tell you it had a tremendous impact on his life. it has lifted us up out of poverty. i myself did not attend an hbcu and am currently attending boston university but had there have been an offering i definitely would have attended. >> host: to that point president johnson about an on line offering hell is tuskegee capable of back? isn't something you want to expand? >> guest: i i think you must have been reading my vision document. we are pleased to say we will be presenting to the board of trustees in the upcoming board of trustee meeting for approval for on line modes of delivery. we are to have in the structure platform that can accommodate 10,000 students and only accommodates 3000.

we already have a programs and faculty members who are excited about offering a wonderful s.t.e.m. offerings on line in an on line mode of delivery. we are fully aware of our accreditation requirements for reporting and went to by are accrediting agencies. one of the beautiful things about it is it takes little to no revenue at all to put these programs in place and to get them up and running. we believe to tuskegee university has not only the brand but the quality of its programs to be on line. we are looking forward to offering these programs and hope the board of trustees will support that and as we go forward into the future to not only have programs that to go beyond that exponentially. their number programs that tuskegee university that we want to offer to the world than they believed getting into that area is an additional way of

increasing not only our net tuition revenue but increasing the expand at tuskegee university that this gentleman points out. >> host: juanita is from alabama attended an hbcu. you are on. go ahead. >> caller: good morning. my father graduated from tuskegee and 32 when i graduated from tuskegee in the 60s. i wanted to speak to the issue of integration. my brother also graduated from tuskegee in the 60s. the tuskegee in the 60s by wearing the full battles of race relations in the south i had friends and classes with students from africa india and -- this was in the 60s at tuskegee. they were integrated then and there integrated now. many of my generally teachers were caucasian teachers. when we came to tuskegee we were

ready to make the world not to fight the world but to me the world. >> guest: absolutely. i appreciate that. one of the things that i appreciate that and i hear these wonderful stories from alumni throughout the nation where fryco. wherever i travel they come and tell me about the greatness of tuskegee. in many ways we are not trying to recapture its already here. we are trying to propel it into the future has a part of our vision document. we are installing a global office not really for her undergraduate students to have opportunities to expand their international reach beyond campus but for those very international students who already matriculate there are programs or engineering programs or agriculture programs. we want them to also find not only a place on this campus where they are isolated by the

place where they can integrate with students who are domestically born in the united states are during the region or in the nation here. so i appreciate the commentary. i think the history of toske be as well-known and much of that history is still alive. we are reminding people to trust tuskegee's trajectory and tradition. turn to tuskegee because obviously it's obviously what we hope intend to leverage into the future. >> host: charleston and is next in silver springs maryland. >> caller: i subsequently went to duke university. i have one question. first of all it's well-known that hbcus are having financial problems and i don't think anyone is trying to hide that.

are your alumni supporting you adequately? >> guest: is my alumni supporting me adequately? let's say might alumni has always supported to tuskegee university. we always has college presidents want alumni to do more and more but when you talk about adequate support let me tell you this. there is no greater alumni in the history of hbcus or otherwise. the tuskegee alumni constantly supports very giving in terms of their -- however make no mistake we do acknowledge the challenges. one of the most important things we have to demonstrate to our alumni and other external donors is restricted giving in scholarships help our students. we also want them to give to her annual funds. we also want them to give in this particular area is at tuskegee can use annual fund

money to help with the needs. beyond that we want to encourage not only alumni at tuskegee university but i think all presidents know that it's not the full amount but the percentage of our alumni. so i don't think you will ever here we are totally and completely satisfied. our alumni are the best and brightest. per. >> host: president obama wants to offer free community colleges for two years. would that be a direct competition and would that be a problem in the long run? >> guest: we need to look at the types of students that would

be -- looking out let me just say this. we recruit a high-quality top student that has opportunities not at many colleges but obviously others and major research and elite institutions. i have not delved into that particular statistics and demographic as it relates to tuskegee but all the same when i will say about this is clearly and honestly we are in a 21st century environment where you have to be able to have your nation. we believe tuskegee's academic program for stem program particularly our stem programming for minority students are second to none meaning their ability to be retained, their ability to persist, their ability to graduate their ability t