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

Section: Opinion

Institutional Level Strategies for Retaining Men of Color

A couple of weeks ago, I served on a panel at the American Public and Land Grant Universities’ Commission on Access, Diversity and Excellence Conference. The panel pertained to the ways in which colleges and universities can recruit and retain men of color in the student ranks. I was honored to be on a panel […]

August 1, 2010

The Need for More Sensitivity!

Whenever I talk with college-access and -success professionals who work with students from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, I am struck by their overwhelming sensitivity to how great the needs are for their students. Whether it is a traditional college-age student, an older adult seeking higher education to retool their skills or an adult returning from military […]

July 27, 2010

Gaslight: Proving Institutionalized Racism

In a recent talk, I stated that institutional and structural racist systems of opportunity and privilege still exist in the academy. Noticing the pushback — furrowed brows looked like neon signs plastered on folks’ foreheads — I engaged them in a conversation that went something as follows: Search committees talk about the difficulty they face […]

July 24, 2010

Why a Focus on Minority Men Means a Focus on the Whole

As some may recall, an early blog post featured data and opinion on the state of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) undergraduate degree completion for women of color (including top degree-granting institutions). Although much of my work has addressed the experience of women and women of color in STEM, as a gender and diversity […]

July 22, 2010

KKK Leader’s Name Erased, But What About UT’s Confederate Statues

Last week, the University of Texas System Board of Regents voted unanimously to change the name of Simkins Residence Hall at the University of Texas at Austin. In defiance of the 1954 Brown ruling that deemed unconstitutional educational segregation, UT leaders named the newly constructed residence hall after William Stewart Simkins, the deceased longtime UT […]

July 21, 2010

Nation’s Woes Spur More Americans to Embrace Religion

A few weeks ago, I was baptized. The fact that I did not get baptized until my fourth decade of life may surprise some people. I have always considered myself a spiritual person but I cannot say I was the sort of person who attended church on a regular basis. However, I have been actively […]

July 14, 2010

Colleges and Universities Must Engage Alumni of Color

Note: Nelson Bowman III, director of development at Prairie View A & M University, coauthored this blog post. Unless you haven’t picked up a newspaper, read an online publication, watched TV or been on Facebook in the last couple of years, you have heard that the demographics in the United States are changing — by […]

July 13, 2010

LeBron James Has Both Fans and Detractors These Days

In case you haven’t been around lately, LeBron James is making headlines. James, formerly the Cleveland Cavaliers’ Mr. Everything, became a free agent July 1. This occurred because he only signed a short-term deal with the Cavaliers a few years ago. Many would say this was a smart business decision. I would agree. James is […]

July 13, 2010

Latest Scientific Racist Theory: Africans Intellectually Inferior Due to Prevalence of Diseases

Since the dawn of modern science and the concomitant expansion of global inequalities among nations, genders, ethnicities and races, scientists have sought to explain these inequalities, dancing around their true foundations —poverty, power and perspective. In the last 40 years, historically silenced groups of intellectuals have pushed poverty, power and perspective as explanations of inequality, […]

July 12, 2010

Tennis Anyone? Race and Class Still Matter in Sports

Here we go again. Yet another basketball player had the nerve to play a sport, receive a large check in lieu of the Horatio Alger meta-narrative that one can easily pull oneself up by their bootstraps and make it by hard work and determination in a fair and democratic society. Thank goodness there is equity […]

July 11, 2010

Where Is the Dialogue?

Last week, the National Science Foundation’s congressionally mandated advisory group on issues of diversity—the Committee on Equal Opportunity in Science and Engineering (CEOSE)—hosted the second of two discussions between committee members and NSF leadership concerning the agency’s proposed Comprehensive Broadening Participation of Undergraduates in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math or STEM (CBP-US) program. CEOSE members […]

July 7, 2010

Pedagogical Entry Points to Arizona and Ethnic Studies

Over the past month, one of the most watched developments in the news for educators, academicians and progressive-minded folk was the banning of ethnic studies classes in Arizona. This action enacted by the state Legislature and approved by Gov. Jan Brewer and state school Superintendent Tom Horne means that classes focusing of the histories, experiences […]

July 1, 2010

Exposing the Myth: HBCUs and the Real World

Thousands of students are preparing to attend historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) in August. But some of those students are on the receiving end of blows of ire from friends and family for choosing an HBCU. The loudest critique — HBCUs are not representative of the real world. As someone who attended an HBCU […]

June 27, 2010

Teaching Outside the Classroom

A few years ago, I wrote an article with two of my students (Nia Haydel and Sibby Anderson-Thomkins) entitled Corridors and Coffee Shops: Teaching Outside the Classroom. The article focused on the teaching and learning that occurs when students and professors meet informally. Last week, I had a wonderful moment of teaching and learning with […]

June 27, 2010

The Choice To Advocate

A recent Chronicle of Higher Education ‘Advice’ column featured an anonymous faculty member who is also a regular blogger under the moniker Female Science Professor. Her bio says that she is a physical scientist at a “large research university,” which is code for predominantly White university and of a certain institutional stature. Yet, even if […]

June 24, 2010

Ten Ways To Retain Faculty of Color

Recently I gave a talk at the American Association of University Professors’ annual meeting. The talk focused on the retention of faculty of color—unfortunately only one White faculty member attended the session. My comments were directed at those in positions of power within historically White institutions—I was saddened that many of these individuals did not […]

June 21, 2010

The Multi-Faceted Dimensions of Bullying

Aggressive behavior is a problem that spans across all ages, socioeconomic and racial groups. I remember a story that a colleague told me several years ago about two little girls who kicked sand in his daughter’s face. At the time, his daughter was in pre-school. Understandably, the incident disturbed both him and his wife. In […]

June 17, 2010

Out of the Mouths of Low-Income Students

“I am really more interested in what is going on in the world,” was the comment of a shy student who eased her way up to me after I presented at the Climate Lecture on Equality of Educational Opportunity at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. As I continued to engage this student, she described […]

June 13, 2010