Community Colleges Often Lead the Way In Diversity Efforts

By Walter G. Bumphus and John E. Roueche

American community colleges now enroll well over half of the nation’s
undergraduate students. Perhaps more important than the sheer number of students attending these open-access institutions is the reality that community colleges represent the higher education point of entry for the majority of minority students.

They also represent the major point of entry for returning mothers, students learning English as a second language, first-generation students and many other students who need mentoring, advising and quality teaching.

Given the incredible diversity found on the average community college campus, it is not surprising that virtually every community college governing board states among their goals that their faculty, staff and administrators should reflect the diversity of the campus and the community. Many state universities have also embraced this diversity goal.

Our nation’s community colleges have been more than successful in attracting able and talented administrators of color into major leadership positions. For example, Black and Hispanic CEOs lead large urban community colleges in Chicago; Cleveland; Detroit; Dallas; Fort Worth, Texas; Miami; Phoenix; and Tucson, Ariz. We can remember in our own careers when there were fewer than five Black or Hispanic CEOs. Our colleges have made impressive progress in recruiting and developing leaders  and administrators who represent the diversity of their student body and the local community.

Community colleges have been successful in this important leadership arena as a result of several very important community college leadership development initiatives. One is the priority given to diversity by doctoral programs like our own at the University of Texas at Austin. Since 1970, two-thirds of our graduates have been students of color and women. We believe we have graduated more Black and Hispanic community college leaders than any other graduate program in the country. We do need other major university programs to provide aggressive recruitment, financial assistance and job placement assistance, as we seek to increase minority leadership in the community college world.