My earliest recollection of meeting Bill Cox dates to the 1980s, when I was on the faculty and a senior academic administrator at Virginia Commonwealth University. My work took me to Washington occasionally, and when we could coordinate schedules, we met at Bill’s Office in Fairfax, Va.
Bill was the public face of Black Issues in Higher Education, a joint venture with his business partner Frank L. Matthews, a member of the faculty at George Mason University.
American higher education has changed lots since then, and to its credit, the publication that Bill co-founded more than four decades ago has adapted without missing a beat. What began as Black Issues In Higher Education is now Diverse, aptly reflecting its values, its readership, and its multi-racial, multi-cultural clients and stakeholders. Unequivocally, it serves all adequately and equitably.
The narrative does not end here, however. Diverse enjoys the singular distinction of having reshaped the coverage of faculty, staff, and student issues that pertain to Blacks, Latinos, Asian Americans, and Native Americans. When the predecessor to Diverse began, Blacks and other underrepresented minorities received scant attention from The Chronicle of Higher Education. Diverse changed that and higher education is better because of it.
Bill was an alumnus of Alabama A & M University. He understood HBCUs and was committed to their mission and goals as key contributors to social mobility. We discussed this shortly after he agreed to serve on AAMU’s governing board. Bill understood the travails of Black students, faculty, and staff at majority schools. He played an invaluable role in calling attention to their objectives, accomplishments, and scholarship. Diverse, in essence, provided encouragement as well as a platform and connectivity that remains matchless.
Bill also appreciated and understood the challenges Black faculty, staff, and students experienced at majority colleges and universities. Between 1987 and 1995, I was an active member and officer of the Virginia Association of Black Faculty and Administrators (VABFA), co-founded by my friend, the late Dr. Joyce Williams-Green, assistant provost at Virginia Tech. VABFA’s membership included faculty and administrators from several public institutions such as the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech, James Madison University, VCU, and Norfolk State University. Washington and Lee University was VABFA’s only independent university.
Then as now, Black faculty and staff were often taken for granted and expected to exhibit gratitude for having been hired to work in the first place. VABFA’s goals were simple and explicit: confront racism head-on and do everything possible to recruit, retain, and support Black faculty, staff, and students. As we know all too well, this struggle continues; but it has been aided significantly by the support of Bill and Diverse.
