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Welcome to The EDU Ledger! We’ve moved from Diverse: Issues In Higher Education.

Section: Opinion

College Recruitment Scandal: Lessons Learned

The 2019 college admissions scandal opened a Pandora’s box in college recruitment. For the first time in contemporary history, the world witnessed the tip of the iceberg on how a ‘silent class war’ shapes the recruitment of college students into prestigious higher education institutions in the U.S.

June 18, 2021

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Common DEI Pitfalls

Over recent months, I have had multiple conversations with colleagues about their distrust of diversity, equity, and inclusion offices. This distrust stems from previous interactions with these offices and observations of the status quo. Colleagues share these experiences and challenges with me to gain insights and support as they have knowledge of the work I perform in the JEDI space. Below are three composite examples of common DEI pitfalls colleagues have shared and my response to each situation.

June 17, 2021

We Need More Black Doctors

As a Black female physician who teaches medical and health profession students and residents, I specialize in the areas of health disparities in racial/ethnic minorities often fueled by a lack of cultural competency and humility in health care providers.

June 16, 2021

Dr. Pamela-Payne Foster

3 Steps Toward More Equitable Networks On Campuses

As the Biden administration commits to expanding resources to college students and postsecondary institutions with the fewest financial resources, there’s no shortage of proposals on how best to put those dollars to work to improve college access. But most of these big bets suffer a blindspot: more equitable pathways to opportunity will require access to networks, not just credentials.

June 15, 2021

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Asian American Pacific Islander

Not Yet? Harvard Case Not Enough To End Affirmative Action.

Why is the Supreme Court balking on the Harvard affirmative action case? It’s a bad case if you want to get rid of affirmative action. At least ethically and logically. Racists can get rid of it for any reason they want. But we’re talking about the black robes of SCOTUS here.

June 14, 2021

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Community Colleges

Roueche Center Forum: Culturally Responsive Teaching in the Community College

While education is the great equalizer, enrollment and attainment gaps linked to race and ethnicity have long plagued the nation’s educational system, particularly among African American, Hispanic and Native American students. Researchers and practitioners emphasize the need for culturally relevant supports and interventions to address issues of equitable enrollment, retention and completion practices on college campuses. One such intervention, Culturally Responsive Teaching (CRT), has proven to be a powerful strategy to improve student success and completion.

June 10, 2021

Deborah Manning

African-American

Better Together: Four Mutually Reinforcing Strategies for Retaining Black Students and Faculty

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, higher education institutions are doubling down on efforts to retain Black faculty and students, especially at predominantly White institutions. In most instances, colleges and universities approach faculty and student retention separately, without understanding existing connections between Black faculty and Black students. Following are four ways that Black faculty and Black students are already connecting to provide support for each other.

June 9, 2021

Kwadwo Assensoh

African-American

Why I Came Back: An Alumni Perspective

I never intended to stay this long. But I found myself enjoying working as an administrator at the college I graduated from almost a decade earlier.

June 8, 2021

Oregon is Finally Counting Student Parents. Other States Should Follow.

The only way many colleges have a sense of how many student parents attend is based on FAFSA, the financial aid form students fill out that asks whether they have any dependents. But some students don’t file a FAFSA or report their children as dependents, for a variety of reasons, resulting in an underestimate of the student parent population. Thus, even NCES data may underestimate the number of student parents, and is unlikely to capture many who are “acting as a parent” but are not the biological parents of the children that they care for.

June 7, 2021

Anti-Racism & Humanistic Inquiry

By the fall of 2020, this nation had experienced uncertainty paralleling its most unsettling historical moments. We were collectively holding our breath while attempting to reconcile the harsh realities of our country’s racial injustices as they played out in social movements and civic moments, and through the racialization of the pandemic virus. There were no assurances of a vaccine, no healing from our summer of discontent, and the anxiety of an unpredictable election and its ultimately contested outcome only amplified the wail of an increasingly divided nation.

June 4, 2021

Cathy Marie Ouellette

NABJ Black Male Media Project Needed to Battle Negative Narratives

On Saturday, June 5, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) will engage in its annual Black Male Media Project through their chapters across the country. The initiative was launched in 2017 to “help change the narrative around the lives and images of black men in the news and in society”. The project is especially needed at this moment in time when the Biden Administration is on the brink of moving major pieces of legislation through Congress that can help to address the needs of Black males and communities of color at large.

June 3, 2021

Celebrating the Filipino American Students Who Fought the SAT/ACT to Make Higher Ed More Diverse

Asian American Native Hawaiian Pacific Island Heritage Month is over. But we must not forget to celebrate the emergence of some important history makers in May.

June 2, 2021

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Up in Smoke: The Vaping Epidemic

The importance of lung health is more significant this year than ever before. The combination of the COVID-19 pandemic and flu season is enough to convince anyone to take an extra dose of vitamin C. However, one widely neglected component of lung health is the impact of vaping. Teens and young adults may be wearing masks and social distancing, but when they choose to use e-cigarettes, Juuls, or other vaping devices, they put their lung health at risk.

June 1, 2021

Leadership & Policy

Nurturing the Next Generation of Historically Black College and University Leaders

I never accepted the presidency of the largest or most prestigious university, nor the one that paid the highest salary. Instead, I accepted the position where I felt there was the best alignment between the institution’s mission and my ability to make a substantive and sustainable difference.

June 1, 2021

Community Colleges

Roueche Center Forum: The Human Side of Transformational Change

Historically, U.S. community college leaders have faced calls for reform. Specifically, higher education researchers and reform leaders have urged community colleges to commit to renewing themselves for student and workforce success while considering the immediate and future demands of the country.

May 28, 2021

If We Want Equitable Representation, We Need More Diverse Congressional Interns Like Me

It was always my dream to be a Congressional intern. Last summer, despite the pandemic, I was able to intern with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island. The experience was eye opening, as I was one of the few Latinas in the program.

May 27, 2021

Rap Music Didn’t Cause Inner-City Violence…Poverty & Broken Homes Did

Hip-hop often faces a substantial amount of blame for the inner-city violence that occurs in communities across the country. This ideology has been perpetuated by politicians, media personalities, journalists and scholars alike. The genre has been heavily scrutinized for its influence and impact on Black youth for decades. The polarizing genre’s criticism dates back to the “Gangsta Rap” protests headed by National Political Congress of Black Women chair C. Delores Tucker, and the mass protests against rap group N.W.A.

May 26, 2021

Commission on the Social Status of Black Men and Boys Can Be a Railroad for Best Practices

As the country marks the one-year anniversary of the killing of George Floyd by former police officer Derek Chauvin, questions about where the movement for social justice will go from here continue to abound. Legislative progress in directly addressing the plight of Black men like Floyd, has been an uphill battle. The George Floyd Justice in Policing Act has been passed by the U.S. House of Representatives but has not yet been voted on in the Senate.

May 25, 2021