The Cost of Success for BRMI leaders

Abstract

Black, racialized minorities, and Indigenous leaders (“BrmI,” Henry et al., 2017) in higher education are part of an elite group of educators. Less than 5% of full professors are Black and Hispanic (Taylor et al., 2020), and it is typically from this pool that academic leaders (e.g., Provost, Dean) are selected. This research aims to understand one potential reason for lack of ascension into positions of power for academic leaders of color: the cost of that success. This study hypothesizes that academic BrmI leaders consider the interpersonal and intrapersonal time-based cost of their career success to be greater than their white counterparts. It also anticipates the support that BrmI academic leaders accumulate—social, capital, and institutional support—may be perceived to lessen that overall cost. Over 100 tenured-track BrmI leaders in higher education were surveyed to evaluate their perception of the cost of success, and 26 completed the survey. The results can assist in encouraging interventions to these costs to increase the number of BrmI leadership roles in higher education.