GV: Equal schools for minority children and low-income children. I believe if we could give every child a high-quality education, a lot of issues we face would not be here.
DI: If you had a chance to sit down and talk with a historic figure, who would you choose and why?
GV: Charles Hamilton Houston. He was an architect of the legal strategy to dismantle Jim Crow. One of his mentees was Thurgood Marshall, the first director of the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He was a perfectionist, a visionary, a mentor and a true patriot.
DI: How do you deal with racist or discriminatory behavior?
GV: One of the things that I and my siblings were taught is that racism is real — no question about it. But don’t let it paralyze you. Don’t let it stop you. Don’t let any obstacle get in your way. My attitude has been ‘Recognize it, do not get paralyzed, but fight it.’ I think it’s served me well. I’ve done that through the work I’ve been doing throughout my career, both as an administrator and as a professor.
DI: You’ve spent time in the corporate world, why did you decide to enter the higher education arena?
GV: I moved into higher education from practicing law because of the attack on issues of access. I had access to an elite education, and I wanted to make sure that everyone else did as well, and let their talent dictate their course, not access to money.
– By John Egan
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
