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

Section: Opinion

Divided We Fall

Last week, the Campaign for College Opportunity (CCO) — a Los Angeles-based nonprofit that has a mission is to ensure 1 million additional college graduates in California by 2025 — released a report by the Institute for Higher Education Leadership & Policy at California State University Sacramento examining four-year transfer rates for Californians who begin […]

November 2, 2010

Running In The Family

The old saying “like father, like son” may ring more true than many of us have been led to believe. Last month, a former student of mine came by my office to visit me. We talked about his new job, the economy, the weather, etc. He said he had been suffering from a mild degree […]

October 31, 2010

An Open Letter to HBCU Students and Alumni

In recent weeks, conservative thinkers and writers have been attacking HBCUs. What’s new you might ask? Attacking HBCUs is definitely not new, but, in the current oppressive racial climate of the United States, the stakes are getting higher. Those who see increases in minority populations and more people of color in leadership positions are not […]

October 27, 2010

Flawed Attacks on the HBCU Idea

Ralph Jones Jr., a 16-year-old academic prodigy from Atlanta, recently shocked some Americans when they learned that he choose to enroll at historically Black Florida A&M University instead of Harvard, Stanford, Cornell and more than 40 other elite traditionally White institutions. Critical questions and comments were ringing in public forums. Why would this African-American choose […]

October 17, 2010

An Initial Response to the National Academies Press Report

On Sept. 30, the National Academies Press released a much anticipated pre-publication copy of Expanding Underrepresented Minority Participation: America’s Science and Technology Talent at the Crossroads. The forthcoming report—with its detailed synthesis and recommended approaches—is the result of a 2006 request by the late Sen. Edward Kennedy and other policymakers who championed diversifying the nation’s […]

October 13, 2010

Protestors Nationwide Rally Against Assassination of Public Education

Should the federal government be spending trillions on the military abroad while cutting social services like education at home? Should education continue sprinting down the path of privatization? On Thursday, thousands of people, particularly college students and faculty across the nation, marched, rallied and held panel discussions to respond with a resounding negative to those […]

October 6, 2010

Innovative Curricula at HBCUs: Goats, Fish and Farmer’s Markets

One of my favorite parts of being a professor and doing research related to HBCUs is that I often get to visit these historic institutions. I am often amazed by some of the unique programs taking place on HBCU campuses. There are three programs, in particular, that are interesting and progressive in their approach that […]

October 4, 2010

Sex Scandals, Self-Righteousness and Sordid Revelations

Recently, Black America has been engulfed in a steady stream of riveting news. From Rep. Jesse Jackson Jr.’s (D-Ill.) involvement in a scandal involving potential financial improprieties and a “social acquaintance,” to allegations of sexual misconduct levied against Atlanta megachurch pastor Bishop Eddie Long by several young men, the Black blogosphere has been in overdrive. […]

October 3, 2010

How Higher Education Should Receive STEM Students

The current national emphasis on science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education and careers has prompted the critical examination of pre-college preparation and undergraduate and graduate student retention in these fields. Included in this inquiry is the important assessment of STEM teaching and learning at the elementary, secondary, and baccalaureate levels. In April of this […]

September 27, 2010

Doctorates in the Dance Cipher

While at the University of Colorado-Boulder recently, I crossed paths with perhaps the most unexpected recipient of an honorary doctorate in all of last academic year. At its 144th commencement ceremony this spring, Bates College in Maine recognized the creative genius of pioneering hip-hop dance choreographer Rennie Harris and awarded him an honorary doctoral degree. […]

September 21, 2010

New Rainbow of Islamic Knowledge and Religious Diversity: Zaytuna College

There are more than 500 colleges and universities in the United States that pledge an affiliation to the Christian churches. There are at least nine Buddhist colleges and universities, and three Jewish institutions of higher education. There is at least one Hindu institution, Hindu University of America in Orlando. Zaytuna College in Berkeley, Calif., founded […]

September 16, 2010

HBCUs and Real World Employment

President Obama declared this week Historically Black College and University Week. Along with this declaration came a three-day conference focused on Black colleges—their contributions to society as well as the challenges they face in the coming decades. The program was quite different than in years past, with a focus on graduation and retention, online degree […]

September 15, 2010

Act Da Fool: Strange Fruit Meet High Fashion

I have just finished watching, for the umpteenth time, the short film Act Da Fool, by critically acclaimed independent filmmaker Harmony Korine. With each viewing, I am more flabbergasted. Set in a Nashville housing project, as well as a school for the blind—and “a school for kleptomaniacs”—the film is apparently the centerpiece for Proenza Schouler’s […]

September 14, 2010

Promoting Racial and Cultural Awareness in the Classroom: Creating a Plan for Evaluation

“The specter of color is apparent even when it goes unmentioned, and it is all too often the unseen force that influences public policy as well as private relationships. There is nothing more remarkable than the ingenuity that the various demarcations of the color line reflect. If only the same creative energy could be used […]

September 14, 2010

Styling at HBCUs is Most Appropriate

When I was a student at an HBCU in the South, I don’t remember there being a dress requirement. However I do recall receiving a letter from the school telling me what to bring. Among other things, they told me to bring a suit, a tie and a shirt. When I read this along with […]

September 13, 2010

The Season of Racial Discontent

For anyone who thought the election of Barack Obama ushered in an era of post-racial harmony, several events that have transpired over the past few months should assuage any doubts of such a notion. Here are a few of the incidents: Shirley Sherrod, a 62-year-old Black woman with a long history of civil rights activism, […]

September 9, 2010

Dangerous Liaisons: Christie, Colored Friend of Tiffany

The 2003 International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education article, Tiffany, Friend of People of Color: White Investments in Antiracism, by Dr. Audrey Thompson is a powerful scholarly article on whiteness and the problematic nature of keeping Whiteness at the center of antiracism. It is one of those must-read pieces that all critical race scholars […]

September 6, 2010

The Need for a National Goal

Last week I spoke with a columnist from Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education about my research, commentary, and overall interest in the advancement of underserved students in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields. She offered a series of questions, several of which I’ve been asked before: Why is it important to increase the number […]

September 2, 2010