Molly Corbett Broad, president of the American Council on Education, weighs in on the prospects for diversity in the Obama years.
Early next month, Molly Corbett Broad for the first time in her tenure as the American Council on Education’s president will preside over the organization’s annual national meeting in Washington, D.C. ACE is the largest nonprofit association to represent college and university presidents and chancellors, with a membership drawn from more than 1,800 accredited, degree-granting institutions in the United States. Broad is known widely in American higher education circles for her tenure as president of the University of North Carolina system from 1997 to 2006. In North Carolina, she presided over the 16-school university system that saw significant enrollment growth as well as $2.5 billion in capital construction projects and renovations. Broad’s tenure at ACE has coincided with the presidential election of Barack Obama, providing an opportunity for the organization to lobby anew for its vision of an inclusive and productive American higher education system. Broad recently spoke to Diverse and the following is what she had to say:
DI: What priorities and initiatives should the Obama administration pursue to strengthen U.S. higher education?
MB: President-elect Obama has indicated during the campaign his great interest in expanding access to higher education and the importance of that not only for individuals but for the nation as a whole. At a time when we are in a highly competitive, global economy the level of educational attainment of our citizens and of our work force is very important — more important than it has been in the past. And we see the president-elect as a person who is deeply committed to access, who himself was the great beneficiary of opportunities notwithstanding financial circumstance.
I also think that because he himself has been in higher education (as a law professor) he understands in a deep way that diversity is a core value of American higher education. I think he believes sincerely and authentically that every citizen should have the fulfillment of knowing that every opportunity is open to them, that their achievements and aspirations are recognized, and that they will have every opportunity to fully participate in the society and in the economy. It is more than symbolic for Barack Obama; it is a deeply held value. And I think it holds enormous promise to transfer the important symbolism in new and very real ways. So, I think it’s a great time for the issue of diversity to be understood and to be expanded in ways that perhaps we haven’t seen in the past.
