The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic
Americans has a new director, but who is speaking for other
underrepresented groups?
Last month, Sarita E. Brown was named the new executive director of
the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic
Americans, becoming the third person since the initiative’s inception
to hold this position. While the appointment has been warmly received
by members of the education community, it also raises anew questions
about who speaks for people of color in higher education.
The Hispanic initiative, which was originally launched in 1990 and
was reauthorized in 1994, will have a staff of three based in the
Washington headquarters of the Department of Education and has a budget
for fiscal year 1998 of $70,000. It is the second of three such White
House offices charged with representing the educational interests of
ethnic constituencies. The other two are: the White House Initiative on
Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and the White
House Initiative on Tribal Colleges.
Unlike its sister agencies, – whose primary focus is to be an
advocate for their member institutions – the Hispanic initiative’s
mandate is to be an advocate for the educational concerns of Latinos at
every level of the education system, from before kindergarten through
college – irrespective of whether the students it advocates for attend
Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs).
“We’re literally the waterfront,” says Brown, who was born in New
York and grew up in Texas. Brown is the creator and former head of a
minority outreach program for graduate programs at the University of
Texas-Austin – a sister program to that which came under fire in the
Hopwood v. Tbe University of Texas School of Law case. She also is a
former assistant dean of academic affairs at American University.
“In her job [Brown] is a spokesperson for what the commission feels
is important to the Hispanic community,” says Dr. Eduardo Padron,
president of Miami-Dade Community College and a member of the
president’s Hispanic advisory commission that Brown’s office reports to.
“It is my responsibility to keep vigilant on keeping open
opportunities for Latino Americans,” Brown says. “The changing
demographics make this… absolutely crucial…. We have the platform
of the commission. Now the question is implementation.”
