Introduction: A Crisis at the Top: A National Perspective

Abstract

Introduction One of the long standing debates and challenges confronting colleges and universities since their inception in the United States is who gains access. Generally, important questions have been posed about the composition of the student body at colleges and universities as it relates to diversity. Stemming from the broader discourse on access to American colleges and universities is who will lead and develop policy for these institutions? Fundamentally, it stands to reason, that those making decisions for a diverse student population, should themselves be diverse. Therefore, it becomes imperative to understand the extent to which colleges and universities are engaging, retaining, and advancing diverse constituencies to top-level administrative positions. The higher and postsecondary education research literature abounds with recommendations for retaining and advancing students and faculty of color. However, little empirical or practicebased knowledge is provided for engaging, retaining, and advancing administrators of color, and specific to this focused section-African Americans. A major challenge for colleges and universities, as it relates to engaging, retaining, and advancing African American administrators, is using empirical data to build a conceptual framework, while at the same time producing useful knowledge for policy implementation. Thus, the predicament of African American leadership in higher and postsecondary education seems to be at a crossroads. Therefore, an examination of the status for African Americans in leadership positions is needed to help facilitate the development and advancement of the next generation of leaders. This research problem is further exacerbated due to the recent resignation and retirement of senior African American leaders in higher and postsecondary education (e.g., Frederick Humphries, Joe Lee, and Julius Nimmons). Contrarily, the rise of new leaders (e.g., Antoine Garibaldi, Ruth Simmons, and Rodney Smith) has given new promise to African American leadership in higher and postsecondary education. Toward this end, this focused section is guided by three foci: (a) to report the trends of African Americans holding academic administrative appointments that traditionally lead to the college presidency; (b) to examine important characteristics and experiences of African American college presidents; and (c) to provide an understanding of African Americans' participation in the decision-making process in higher and postsecondary education. Executive-Level Positions Traditionally, several key positions form a trajectory to the college presidency (e.g., chair, dean, vice president, and provost). Usually, these positions are filled by faculty who have been successful at the institution as scholars and demonstrate the capacity to contribute to the administrative leadership of the college or university. These positions are of particular interest because their incumbents do not traditionally receive preservice or in-service training. Concurrently, very little systematic knowledge is available about what happens to African American administrators once they reach these executive-level positions. Yet, these position allocation decisions are important measures of equity and diversity, as they relate to the type of faculty who are selected for these positions, and who eventually go on to gain access to college presidencies. The presence or lack thereof for African Americans in these key positions provides a benchmark for the future composition of the American college presidency. Those holding these positions form the potential pool of eligible candidates for college presidencies in the future. Collectively, of all the incumbents holding executive-level positions in 1993, African Americans occupied 6.8%, and Whites constituted 89.2% of these positions.1 Six years later, a slight change in the composition occurred for those in executive-level positions. …