William E. Cox and Frank Matthews discuss the vision they had when they started Black Issues/Diverse 25 years ago and the magazine’s contributions to the higher education community.
For 25 years, Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, formerly Black Issues In Higher Education, has chronicled the plight of minority educators and students, as well as those committed to issues of access and opportunity and helping the underrepresented achieve their full educational potential. Throughout this quarter-century the magazine has served as a tool to help colleges and universities diversify their work force. William E. Cox and Frank L. Matthews formed Cox, Matthews and Associates in 1984, producing publications that for more than two decades have reported on the issues relevant to underrepresented groups in higher education. In their own words, Cox and Matthews discuss their early vision, the transition from Black Issues to Diverse, as well as the magazine’s contributions to the higher education community.
When we were thinking about publishing a newsletter in 1983, no newspaper or any other publication was reporting on a regular basis the plight of Black faculty and administrators in higher education. We were the first ones to come along to pretty much fill that void. We faced incredible challenges as the publication cemetery is filled with the tombstones of failed start-up magazines, newsletters and newspapers.
We knew we were on to something when we first met with faculty and administrators from Black colleges at a NAFEO convention in 1984. Black Issues was embraced by that particular group of conference attendees. The acceptance was so strong that it strengthened our resolve to march forward.
