A new UNCF report released this month issued a warning that extends far beyond the HBCU community. Presidential instability is undercutting institutional performance, student outcomes, and long-term strategic coherence. Although the report focuses on HBCUs, its message applies across the sector. Colleges are struggling not simply because leaders are turning over, but because the presidency itself is misaligned with the problems higher education now faces.
Dr. Erin Wheeler
The presidency is still built for an earlier era
Search profiles continue to prioritize fundraising, external relations, and political fluency. These skills mattered when demographic shifts were predictable and public trust in higher education was strong. Today the greatest threats to institutional health come from failures of learning design, student support, organizational culture, and human sustainability.
Presidents are expected to stabilize budgets and inspire stakeholders, yet few are trained to understand gateway course failure patterns, first-year cognitive transitions, the emotional labor of advising, staff burnout, or the hidden curriculum that undermines first-generation students. These blind spots are not individual shortcomings. They reflect a system that selects leaders for a world that no longer exists.
The UNCF report captures the consequences, not just the causes.
Leadership turnover disrupts reform efforts, erodes trust, and forces institutions to start over every few years. At campuses serving first-generation, low-income, and Black students, this instability compounds the challenges created by resource constraints and structural inequities.
