Baskerville Named Fifth President of NAFEO

SILVER SPRING, Md.
The National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) late last month named Lezli Baskerville, a Washington, D.C., activist-attorney, to become the fifth president of the umbrella association of the nation's 118 public and private, two- and four-year historically and predominantly Black colleges and universities. Baskerville had been serving as interim president since April when president Dr. Frederick S. Humphries stepped down after two years of leading the 35-year-old organization (see Black Issues, May 20).
The vote by the board of directors followed a national search by a committee led by Dr. Carlton Brown, president of Savannah State University, which included Drs. Joanne Boyd Scotland, president of Denmark Technical College; Ernest McNealy, president of Stillman College; and Haywood Strickland, president of Wiley College. The selection comes two months after the board cited the need to move in "another direction."
"As NAFEO moves into its 35th anniversary year, we need a president with a new vision and new vitality," says NAFEO chairman and president of Hampton University, Dr. William R. Harvey. "We need a new leader who is passionate, strategic, disciplined and able to meld and advance a wide range of partnerships and strategic relationships to advance the issues and interests of NAFEO member institutions and our constituents. We need a zealous advocate who understands how to get our issues heard in a crowded field, but who also has honed the art of compromise. We need someone who has a proven record in membership-based, service, not-for-profit associations. Attorney Baskerville brings all of these strengths to NAFEO."
Says Baskerville: "I will be an adroit champion of the issues and interests of all historically and predominantly Black colleges and universities. My immediate task is to put in place the personnel policies, systems, financing, and a culture and climate that will enable NAFEO to build and maintain strong relationships and to realize its tremendous potential."