Dr. Kevin James on Rebuilding Morris Brown College

By ButterATL · August 26, 2025 · Updated September 21, 2026

Who this is

Dr. Kevin James is the 19th president of Morris Brown College, the historic Atlanta HBCU founded in 1881. He took the job in early 2019 after Morris Brown had lost its accreditation and filed for bankruptcy, and he has spent his tenure leading what he calls the college's hard reset and resurgence. This episode published August 26, 2025.

What the conversation covers

This is an edited summary, not a transcript.

James tells Brandon Butler how he got the job in the first place: he saw a news segment reporting that Morris Brown's president had resigned, looked up the AME Church's contact information, and cold-called the church's headquarters that same night. A staffer put his resume in front of the board chairman, and a series of interviews followed.

He's direct about what he walked into. Morris Brown had lost its accreditation, filed for bankruptcy, and lost most of its students and its reputation along with them. Faculty and staff were several paychecks behind but still showing up. The college had almost no money in its accounts. James describes going in without a full plan, just a conviction that the problems were solvable, and building a leadership team willing to do the unglamorous work of paying down debt, keeping the lights on, and rebuilding trust one relationship at a time.

He walks through the order of operations that got Morris Brown back: first winning back the alumni and the AME Church, the college's two home institutions, before approaching outside philanthropy and corporate partners. That sequencing mattered. Once Morris Brown could show it had its own house in order, larger partners like the Arthur Blank Foundation, Chick-fil-A, and Hilton Hotels came in behind it.

James also tells the origin story of the college itself: founded by the AME Church out of Big Bethel AME Church in the late 1800s, at the initiative of formerly enslaved people who decided to start their own college rather than simply lend classroom space to another school. He calls Morris Brown the only college in Georgia founded, funded, owned, and operated by Black people for Black people.

Takeaways

• James learned of the Morris Brown presidency from a TV news segment, cold-called the AME Church's headquarters that night, and landed the job through a chain of introductions that started with a stranger on the other end of the phone (00:04:19).
• Morris Brown regained its accreditation on April 26, 2022, after roughly 20 years without it (00:03:13).
• Enrollment grew from 20 students when James started to more than 500 expected in the fall he describes, with more than 1,200 applications on file (00:17:34).
• He credits the turnaround's early momentum to rebuilding trust with two groups first, the alumni and the AME Church, before pursuing outside corporate and philanthropic partners (00:12:29).
• Morris Brown lost its football stadium in the bankruptcy; Clark Atlanta University now owns it (00:20:34).
• He traces Morris Brown's founding to formerly enslaved members of Big Bethel AME Church, who decided to start their own college rather than only lend their church for another school's classes (00:23:18).

In their words

"$35 million bankruptcy, the loss of students, the loss of our brand, the loss of our reputation." (00:02:57)

"There is an answer. If there's a will, there's a way. I just recently did a TED talk and the title of my TED talk was, you must be crazy." (00:29:36-00:29:44)

"Morris Brown College is the only college, the only school in Georgia that was actually founded, funded, owned, and operated by Black people for Black people." (00:24:38)

Why it matters for brands working in Atlanta

This is our take, not James's. The Morris Brown story is a case study in sequencing trust before capital. James didn't lead with a pitch to corporate partners. He rebuilt credibility with the college's closest stakeholders first, and only then did larger institutional partners show up. Brands looking to work with HBCUs or other Atlanta institutions in recovery should pay attention to that order: outside support tends to follow, not precede, proof that an institution has its own house in order.

It also reframes what an HBCU partnership can look like beyond a single donation. Morris Brown's relationships with Hilton and other partners are tied directly to internships, curriculum, and jobs for specific students, well beyond a name on a press release. That's a more durable model for any brand serious about a long-term relationship with an Atlanta institution rather than a one-time goodwill gesture.

Watch the full episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xjORVlkY0QM. Butternomics is hosted by Brandon Butler.