Black Academics Finding Fewer Barriers At Traditionally White Colleges

It "shattered stereotypes in powerful ways," said Dr. Ruth Simmons of her appointment as the first African-American president of New England's Smith College a year ago.

It was also a cause for celebration by many in the academy and much heralding by the national media. But Simmons' appointment occurred north of the Mason-Dixon line.

The real testament to the changing face of the college presidency, some say, is occurring slowly in the South. For example, in 1994, Dr. Lloyd Hackley, a former chancellor of Fayetteville State University, assumed the presidency of the North Carolina Community College System. While a handful of Black presidential appointments were made at traditionally white institutions in the 1980s and early 1990s, they garnered regional publicity but little national attention, according to some of those tapped for the positions.

According to informal estimates, about 50 African Americans now head four-year colleges and universities that are not historically Black. Still more are at the helm of the nation's community colleges and other higher education systems.

But when it comes to tallying the numbers of African-American presidents serving at traditionally white four-year institutions in the South, the numbers dwindle in comparison. When asked recently, Dr. James Walker, president of Middle Tennessee State, was hard pressed to name more than two of his contemporaries "in the Deep South."

`First Wave'

Although their ranks are small, this is just the beginning of the process of more cross-racial appointments to the nation's Southern colleges and universities, said Dr. Franklyn Jenifer, president of the University of Texas-Dallas and the first African American to head a campus in the state's system.

"The pipeline is pregnant with people who are ready to take over these positions," said Jenifer.

"Surles [Carol Surles, president of Texas Woman's University] and myself are just part of the first wave. There are others. Those of us who are doing exceptional jobs in the South have opened doors."