Several historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) have been tasked with replacing their leaders. Bethune-Cookman University, located in Daytona Beach, Florida is the latest.
The university’s sixth president, Dr. Edison O. Jackson, announced his plans to retire one year before his contract was set to expire. His resignation comes amid accusations of financial mismanagement.
Jackson, who joined B-CU in 2012 and served first as its interim president, was well known within the HBCU community as the longtime president of Medgar Evers College in Brooklyn.
The unfortunate trend in HBCU presidential vacancies has been marked by some presidents leaving one institution for another, while others clash with their boards of trustees and other stakeholders and ultimately are fired or forced to resign.
Some experts say that Edison’s unexpected departure mirrors the unstable leadership that is currently plaguing too many HBCUs.
“I think we have to be more proactive in focusing on what can we do to address leadership crisis,” says Dr. Robert T. Palmer, an associate professor of educational leadership and policy studies at Howard University. “It’s kind of like sitting back and watching a house burn down. We know there’s an issue in terms of leadership, and we feel that we’re familiar with the issue, but the question is, ‘What are we going to do about it?’”
Even though Jackson is leaving the storied institution that was founded by Mary McLeod Bethune, B-CU’s financial problems will likely linger for many years.
