Six months after Dr. John S. Wilson left the position of executive director at the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities, the U.S. Department of Education has named a second interim executive director to run the agency that represents historically Black institutions within the federal government.
Last week, Education Department Under Secretary Martha Kanter notified HBCU leaders that the department had named Dr. Joel Harrell, a department veteran and former Clark Atlanta University administrator, to succeed John Brown as the acting executive director of the White House Initiative on HBCUs. With Wilson’s January departure to Morehouse College where he serves as president, Brown had run the office since January 7.
The move to name a new acting director, however, has drawn criticism from Washington-based HBCU advocates who say the Education Department should have made a permanent appointment given the set of challenges now facing HBCUs that will continue into the new academic year.
Among a number of reasons, “the appointment of yet another interim executive director does not bode well for the HBCU community, whose challenges are many, immediate, and likely to have lasting adverse impacts,” according to a letter sent to President Obama which reportedly came from the heads of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) and Thurgood Marshall College Fund (TMCF), the membership associations for the nation’s 105 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and 90 Predominantly Black Institutions.
Although TMCF president and CEO Johnny Taylor says that he did not authorize his name to appear on the letter sent to the White House last week, he has acknowledged that he is disappointed with the Obama Administration for not making a permanent executive director appointment, according TMCF spokesperson Tangie Newborn.
“If President Obama wants to show his commitment to the HBCU community, he will appoint a permanent leader to serve as advocate in the White House Initiative on HBCUs.” Taylor told HBCU Digest.
