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ALBANY, GA -- Albany State University kicked off their 108th anniversary weekend Thursday night at the Presidential Symposium featuring a discussion about the role of Historically Black Colleges and Universities.

“The HBCU community of colleges through its undergrad programs produce the largest percentage of African Americans who go on to get doctorates in fields like engineering, chemistry, biology and mathematics,” says Keynote Speaker and Former Tuskegee University President Dr. Benjamin Payton.

“They're not graduates of the huge research universities; they're the graduates of schools that took the time to lay in a very strong foundation,” he says.

The former college president says HBCUs provide an outstanding education, but some have questioned, are HBCUs relevant in today’s society?

“Nobody asks anymore do we need Catholic colleges, how about Jewish schools, what about those women's schools, do we really need them anymore?” says Payton.

Students also believe that HBCUs continue to be relevant, providing students with not only a top notch educational opportunity but a cultural one as well.

“It's a different experience from going to a biracial college as opposed to a college where it's just all black students,” says ASU Freshman Shanice Baugh. “The education is probably the same or somewhat equivalent but here it's like the opportunities are a little different. IT opens your eyes to things about the past, the present and what you can potentially be. It’s uplifting around each other.”

“HBCUs are relevant in a 21st century because I believe they have impacted the world dramatically and I believe HBCUs provide support and unity for our community,” says Neshaszda Brown, Miss ASU for 2011-12.

“It's not so much how it used to be in the old times, black people didn't really have the opportunities to do stuff like that so I feel as though now we still have HBCUs and they're still prominent today,” says ASU Freshman Asha Crawford.

Dr. Payton says the only relevant colleges are good colleges, and that HBCUs are extraordinary good colleges.

“We need to go to the places that have demonstrated their capacity to produce graduates and do the high level top notch quality research, training, development and innovations,” says Payton.

ASU's Founder's Day celebration continues on Friday with the Founder's Day Convocation in the HPER Gym at 10 a.m. featuring Dr. William Anderson, former president of the Albany Civil Rights Movement. Immediately following will be a ceremony honoring the late Dr. Joseph Winthrop Holley, ASU's founder, at his grave.

On Saturday at 6 p.m., the Founder's Day festivities continue with the Dr. T. Marshall Jones Gala at the Hilton Garden Inn. For more information on the gala, contact ASU's Department of Fine Arts at (229) 430-4849.