Advocates of minority-serving institutions seek changes while monitoring newappointments to senior U.S. Department of Education posts.
For years, the federal government has had a White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities and another on tribal colleges, both of which seek to increase the visibility of these institutions among federal agencies. Now leaders of Hispanic-serving institutions are asking the Obama administration for a similar initiative focused on HSIs.
“HSIs are the only ones that don’t have that representation before the White House and the Department of Education,” says Dr. Antonio Flores, president of the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities.
A presidential order signed by George W. Bush in 2001 created a White House Initiative on Education Excellence for Hispanic Americans covering issues from pre-kindergarten through higher education. But Flores calls it a “terrible mistake” to have such a broad organization without focusing on specific elements within Hispanic education such as HSIs.
“When you cover everything under the sun, you end up covering nothing,” says Flores, who, in a meeting with Secretary of Education Arne Duncan earlier this month, recommended that President Barack Obama sign an executive order creating a White House HSI initiative.
As the Obama administration begins to fill its senior education posts, minority-serving institution leaders are turning to the future of these White House initiatives. While HSIs seek a new initiative for their institutions, Black college leaders are calling on the administration to revitalize the White House Initiative on HBCUs.
Michael Lomax, United Negro College Fund president, says the HBCU White House initiative has languished for the past eight years. He says progress has been “anemic,” with meetings serving as “a forum to express frustration” about lack of progress on involving HBCUs in broader policy discussions.
