WASHINGTON – Barack Obama’s presidential election may have convinced some Americans that they’re living in a post-racial society, but societal disparities persist between racial groups and are accentuated in American higher education, said Dr. Ramon Gutierrez, a University of Chicago historian and expert on race, during a keynote address at the annual meeting of the American Association of Colleges and Universities.
Gutierrez’s address, “Talking About Race and Ethnicity in a Post-Racial America,” emphasizing the turbulent history of race relations between the U.S. Supreme Court’s Plessy v. Ferguson decision in 1896 and the Kerner Commission Report of 1968, helped set the tone for the three-day meeting, which has attracted more than 1,800 attendees. With this year’s theme, “The Wit, the Will, and the Wallet,” a number of conference sessions delved into how U.S. higher education confronts social inequities. The Washington-based American Association of Colleges and Universities champions the cause of undergraduate liberal education.
Other keynote speakers on Thursday included Dr. Martha Kanter, undersecretary for the U.S. Department of Education; Jamie Merisotis, president and CEO of the Lumina Foundation; and Dr. Ronald Crutcher, president of Wheaton College, who spoke about the Obama administration’s ambitious goals for college completion. The conference ends Saturday morning.
A lively discussion unfolded during the session “What Works in Enrolling and Graduating Underrepresented Students.” Frank L. Matthews, the publisher of Diverse: Issues in Higher Education and DiverseEducation.com, moderated the session, which touched upon a range of hot topics on underrepresented minority student recruitment and retention. Roughly 50 people attended the hour-long session that was sponsored by Diverse.
Dr. Antonio R. Moreira, vice provost for academic affairs at the University of Maryland-Baltimore County, said it remains critical for college presidents and senior leaders at institutions to demonstrate support for recruitment and enrollment initiatives that are effective in reaching underrepresented students. He noted that the school’s Meyerhoff Scholars program remains a popular initiative for attracting African-American and other minority students to major in science and math disciplines.
