Now that Dr. Miguel Cardona has been nominated to be the next U.S. secretary of education, speculation has turned to who will become the next executive director of the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities.
President Donald J. Trump signed an executive order moving the initiative from the U.S. Department of Education to the White House in February 2017. Months later, in September, he chose Johnathan Holifield to be the executive director. The co-founder of ScaleUp Partners, a consulting firm focused on economic development for underrepresented communities, Holifield was not a traditional pick.
But political observers said that Holifield did manage to secure some victories for HBCUs, including facilitating the Trump administration’s support for the HBCU Propelling Agency Relations Towards a New Era of Results for Students Act (HBCU PARTNERS Act).
In a series of interviews, HBCU leaders emphasized that they now want to see the next executive director come to the role with personal experience on an HBCU campus.
“We’re hopeful that it is someone who is intimately familiar with HBCUs,” said Lodriguez Murray, senior vice president for public policy and government affairs at the United Negro College Fund (UNCF). “It would be great if the person had attended the institution. It would also be great if someone had worked or led one of the institutions to understand the needs and concerns. HBCUs are not a monolith. … They should not be learning about the institutions, the types of students we serve and what our needs are on the job.”
One name that’s been thrown around as a possible pick is Dr. Ivory A. Toldson, who served in the position under former President Barack Obama. He’s a professor of counseling psychology at Howard University. Toldson’s selection would be consistent with President-elect Joe Biden’s current trend of nominating Obama administration appointees for his cabinet.
“I found it to be one of the most rewarding positions I’ve ever had,” Toldson said. “If after having it in the past, there are people who are considering me as someone who they would like in the future, I’m honored by that because of the indication that people outside of myself found me to be a value-add to that position. Regardless of what happens in the future … whoever is in that position, I would like to be in the position to give them the kind of guidance or assistance that they require to be successful in that position.”
