US College Leadership Lacks Diversity

 

Renu Khator, the president of the University of Houston, is unlike most presidents of colleges and universities in the United States.

For one thing, she was born in India. And she did not speak any English when she arrived in the U.S. at the age of 18.

Khator came to the American state of Indiana in 1974. At that time, her husband was earning a doctoral degree from Purdue University.

But Khator says she was not satisfied simply waiting for her husband to complete his education. She completed her own doctoral degree at Purdue in 1985 and began teaching political science at the University of South Florida.

In 2008, Khator was appointed president of the University of Houston and chancellor¹ of the University of Houston System. The system is made up of four universities.

With the appointment, Khator became the first Indian immigrant to lead a major research university in the U.S. She also became the first female leader of the University of Houston System.

Throughout her career, Khator says she has faced some difficulties making the same progress as others in her field because of her race and gender³.

"I had to fight a little bit harder. And I don’t mind that because I think that built my character. But as I moved up, I made sure that other people who are coming behind me don’t have to fight those similar kinds of situations."

The American Council on Education (or ACE²) studies issues of higher education. The organization says only three out of ten college presidents in the U.S. are women. And only about two out of ten are ethnic⁴ or racial minorities. The information came from its study of 1,500 university and college presidents, released in June.

Lorelle Espinosa is a researcher and one of the lead writers of the ACE report. She says this lack of diversity is a major problem considering how diverse the students at U.S. colleges have become.

In 2016, the U.S. Department of Education reported that more than half of the 20.5 million college students in the U.S. were female. Also, the number of African American college students increased from 11.7 to 14.1 percent between 2000 and 2015. The number of Hispanic students grew from 9.9 to 17.3 percent in that same time.

Espinosa argues that university leadership can best serve this increasingly diverse population when they represent the kinds of students they are serving.

Women and minority presidents would have a better understanding of the needs of students who are like them. But schools continue to favor older white men for president positions, she says.

The ACE study shows the average age of an American college president is 62. About 25 percent have also been president of another college before accepting their current position.

Espinosa notes that when schools only look for candidates with years of experience in administration, they are going to keep choosing the same types of people. But having years of experience does not necessarily mean a person will have the skills to deal with new issues in higher education, she says.

"What we have to do is take, actually, a larger step back and think about, ‘What does experience mean and are we defining experience in the right way?’ … As the student body has evolved, and even as technology evolves … we’re getting into a lot of new spaces that require different types of experience. It’s not just, ‘You’ve been a president before.’"

Rod McDavis works with AGB Search, a company that helps colleges and universities identify presidential candidates. He was also the president of Ohio University for 13 years. As an African American man, he says the lack of diversity in college leadership is troubling. But he says it is also not fair to blame schools for wanting someone who is familiar with the responsibilities of running a school.

"It’s hard to fault a board for wanting … a sufficient amount of experience. ... You have to look at what a person has done within the time he or she has served in a particular office."

McDavis admits that the way schools identify candidates can be limiting. First a school’s governing board must decide the qualities it wants in a president. Then the board creates a search committee, including professors, administrators⁶ and both current and former students. The committee then creates a list of possible candidates who possess the desired qualities.

The majority of candidates on these lists are usually deans or provosts, McDavis says. Schools most often choose professors to fill these roles based on their records of research publication and service to the school as a whole.

McDavis argues that many schools do not do enough to support women and minority faculty⁷ in moving their careers forward. So, search committees often find fewer women and minority candidates with leadership experience.

That is why Diana Natalicio says it is important for more colleges and universities to create policies and plans to support diversity. Natalicio became the first female president of the University of Texas at El Paso in 1988 and has served in that role ever since.

Natalicio says young people need to see diverse leaders in order to believe they can reach those positions one day.

“These individuals send a signal to all students … [that] they too can [hope] to be in these roles,” Natalicio says. “If everyone who is an administrator⁵ at the highest level at universities around the country is a white male … [that’s not] the kind of role model that [women and minorities] need to see in order to … [reach] higher.”

Natalicio suggests that schools need to actively⁸ choose to diversify⁹ their lists of presidential candidates. Also, schools must work with younger, inexperienced faculty. They must guide them in making choices in areas like research and service work that will advance their careers.

Otherwise college leadership will stay as the same, Natalicio adds, even while the students continue to change.

I’m Kelly Jean Kelly.

And I’m Pete Musto.

Words in This Story

doctoral degree – n. the highest degree that is given by a university

chancellor – n. the head of some U.S. universities

character – n. the good qualities of a person that usually include moral or emotional strength, honesty, and fairness

diversity – n. the state of having people who are different races or who have different cultures in a group or organization

evolve(d) – v. to change or develop slowly often into a better, more complex, or more advanced state

fault – v. to blame or criticize someone

board – n. a group of people who manage or direct a company or organization

sufficient – adj. having or providing as much as is needed

particular – adj. used to indicate that one specific person or thing is being referred to and no others

dean – n. a person who is in charge of one of the parts of a university

provost – n. an official of high rank at a university

role(s) – n. the part that someone has in a family, society, or other group

advance – v. to move forward

1 chancellor   

n.(英)大臣；法官；(德、奥)总理；大学校长

参考例句：

• They submitted their reports to the Chancellor yesterday.他们昨天向财政大臣递交了报告。
• He was regarded as the most successful Chancellor of modern times.他被认为是现代最成功的财政大臣。

2 ace   

n.A牌；发球得分；佼佼者；adj.杰出的

参考例句：

• A good negotiator always has more than one ace in the hole.谈判高手总有数张王牌在手。
• He is an ace mechanic.He can repair any cars.他是一流的机械师,什么车都会修。

3 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。

4 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

5 administrator   

n.经营管理者，行政官员

参考例句：

• The role of administrator absorbed much of Ben's energy.行政职务耗掉本很多精力。
• He has proved himself capable as administrator.他表现出管理才能。

6 administrators   

n.管理者( administrator的名词复数 )；有管理（或行政）才能的人；（由遗嘱检验法庭指定的）遗产管理人；奉派暂管主教教区的牧师

参考例句：

• He had administrators under him but took the crucial decisions himself. 他手下有管理人员，但重要的决策仍由他自己来做。 来自辞典例句
• Administrators have their own methods of social intercourse. 办行政的人有他们的社交方式。 来自汉英文学 - 围城

7 faculty   

n.才能；学院，系；(学院或系的)全体教学人员

参考例句：

• He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
• He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。

8 actively   

adv.积极地，勤奋地

参考例句：

• During this period all the students were actively participating.在这节课中所有的学生都积极参加。
• We are actively intervening to settle a quarrel.我们正在积极调解争执。

9 diversify   

v.（使）不同，（使）变得多样化

参考例句：

• Our company is trying to diversify.我们公司正力图往多样化方面发展。
• Hills and woods diversify the landscape.山陵和树木点缀景色。