After a series of polarizing flyers galvanized colleges and universities across San Antonio, Dr. Ric N. Baser penned an op-ed piece in his role as president of the Higher Education Council of San Antonio in which he argued that hate speech has no role on college campuses.
“American colleges and universities have always embraced diverse points of view, leading to a multitude of new discoveries and cultural understanding. Higher education is a phenomenal place for minds to be challenged, to inquire, explore, discover and question the status quo,” Baser wrote in an opinion piece that was published last December in the San Antonio Express News. “But from time to time, American colleges and universities witness hate speech or activity disguised as free speech. Such has been the case in recent weeks at several colleges and universities in San Antonio and throughout Texas.”
After the article was published, Baser – who is also president of Northwest Vista College – was the target of criticism, even appearing on the right-wing Breitbart website, which tried, unsuccessfully, to accuse him of not supporting free speech.
“What we were willing to say was that we were going to espouse the benefits of diversity on our campuses,” says Baser, adding that there were attempts to promote racial animus by individuals unaffiliated with the college community. “It did not come from internal. We are a diverse institution, where diversity is the basis of who we are and why we are so successful.”
Indeed, Baser has not been afraid to champion diversity causes and has spent his almost four decades in higher education doing so.
A seasoned administrator who took the helm in 2015 of Northwest Vista College (NVC) – part of the Alamo Community College system – Baser has moved through the ranks of higher education as a speech professor, vice president for student affairs, vice president and chief academic officer and now college president.
Now, as the leader of the college that boasts 18,000 students, Baser – the son of a preacher – has made diversity a top priority.
