Insiders privy to the search process for a new president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education say the next top executive of the organization created to oversee the needs of Black colleges could be soon-departing Fisk University President Henry Ponder.
The last time there was a vacancy for president of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO), it was filled by Dr. Samuel Myers nearly 19 years ago.
"I hope I am the next president of NAFEO, but I have not gotten the word officially or otherwise," said Ponder, who refuses to reveal his age. "I would love to have that job, but a job hasn't been offered to me."
Ponder's plans, if he gets the job, include: positioning the association as a more visible and vocal lobby for Black colleges among Washington policymakers; bolstering coalitions with Native American and Hispanic higher education groups; making NAFEO a "household word"; and weaning the organization from its dependency on federal grants.
Addressing the issue that has beset NAFEO and its membership of college and university presidents for decades -- internal conflicts between public and private institutions -- Ponder speaks, in a word, presidentially.
"We must realize that there will always be differences between private and public institutions. The role that NAFEO will play is to highlight and emphasize the fact that differences aren't bad. We must find a common ground. We have to get our membership of 117 colleges and universities to understand that there are many ways of doing things and that there will be no preferences of one over the other."
Most importantly, he adds "those differences must be kept within the family. Like the arguments between a husband and wife."
Ponder announced last fall that he would retire from Fisk in June after 11 years at the institution. He is credited by many in the higher education community for turning Fisk around from an institution that, when he arrived, was $4.3 million in debt, losing hundreds of students and near closure.
