Efforts are underway to create a new pipeline to reverse shrinking representation
The current shortage of presidents of color at colleges and
universities in the United States is here to stay, say some higher
education experts. That is, unless some kind of intervention is
applied. Several scholars around the country are now mobilizing to
create just such a remedy for the shortage of Chicano/Latino presidents.
At the more than 3,500 colleges and universities located in the
continental United States, there are only 102 Chicano/Latino college
presidents, which includes those heading two-year and four-year
institutions. And according to Dr. Antonio Flores, president of the
Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU), only one —
Dr. Manuel Pacheco of the University of Missouri — heads a major
research institution.
“It’s a fraction of 1 percent,” says Flores of the number of Latino
presidents at research institutions. “Currently, the only place we’re
overrepresented is at the lower ranks of the workforce.”
Puerto Rico, Flores adds, is the only place where there are a substantial number of Hispanic presidents.
Not only is HACU concerned with the lack of Latino college
presidents around the country, the association feels mandated to do
something about it. HACU hopes to make a formal announcement this fall
about a major initiative it is developing to ameliorate the problem.
“We intend to implement a national leadership initiative that will
create [a] cadre of leaders, a critical mass of leaders who will be
able lead academic institutions — from deanships up to CEOs, and not
just at HACU schools, but at all colleges and universities,” Flores
says. “It is a priority for us.”
