Based on his divisive campaign rhetoric and his cabinet appointments of nothing but White men, the forthcoming administration of Donald Trump could potentially spell “disaster to diversity in higher education.”
That is the take of Randal Pinkett, winner of season four of Trump’s reality TV show — The Apprentice — and founder, chairman and CEO of BCT Partners, a national consulting firm that focuses on helping organizations build capacity and improve communities’ quality of life.
Pinkett, a Rhodes Scholar, also was honored as an Arthur Ashe scholar for his academic and athletic excellence by Diverse back in the 1990s when the publication was known as Black Issues In Higher Education.
Pinkett said Trump’s appointments of White men to high-level posts within his administration is an extension of what he experienced when he worked for Trump after winning season four of The Apprentice in 2005.
“I worked for the Trump organization for a year. I did not see a single person of color in the executive capacity within the Trump organization throughout my entire year,” Pinkett told Diverse in a far-ranging interview that touched on topics that ranged from Trump’s likely impact on the global economy to his record as a businessman on the American gaming scene.
“I’ve never sat in a meeting where there was another person of color besides me, and, as of now, if I stand in a room with Donald and his appointments and his inner circle from the campaign, no diversity, no persons of color,” said Pinkett, who is author of “Black Faces in White Spaces” and is working on a sequel called “Black Faces in High Places.”
“All of his appointees thus far have been White men,” Pinkett said. “That’s troubling.”
