At his ranch-style home in
Durham, North Carolina, Dr.
Mickey L. Burnim keeps a file
that can perhaps best be labeled.
“Things not to do as chancellor
of a university.”
“I have always tried to learn from the
experiences of others.” said Burnim, who
became chancellor of Elizabeth
City State University in June.
“This file contains things that I
have learned by observing
individual leaders.”
Among other things, the
file contains information on
Central State University,
which has been teetering on
the brink of financial ruin. It
also holds information on
University of North Carolina
schools, which he had seen
first hand through his
thirteen-plus years as a UNC
general administration vice
president, and provost and
vice chancellor for academic
affairs at North Carolina
Central University.
Although he is now the
leader of an institution, Burnim, along
with the rest of the newest class of Black
college presidents and chancellors, is finding
himself in the role of students trying not to
duplicate the mistakes of those who have
gone before him.
“I spend a lot of time studying v,hat
institutions do and how they get in trouble,”
said Dr. Carlton Brown, the newly selected
president of Savannah State College.
Since April of 1996, 14.5
percent of the 103 historically
Black colleges and universities
recognized by the federal
government had new leaders. In the
coming weeks, at least five more
HBCUs — including Spelman
College, Norfolk State University
and Dillard University — will
welcome new leaders.
“Leadership is very important.
If you have great leadership,
colleges or universities thrive,” said Dr.
Henry Ponder, president and CEO of the
National Association for Equal Opportunity
in Higher Education (NAFEO) and the
former president of Fisk University in
Nashville, Tennessee.
But gone are the days of the simple
leadership model. Leaders are now being held
more accountable to all of their constituents.
Today’s Black college leaders are being asked
to navigate their faculty, students, funding
sources, alumni and governments through an
ever-changing sea of academic turmoil.
The times have also demanded
that presidents and chancellors widen
their visions and seek a broader
perspective for their institutions,
while keeping all of those
constituencies happy.