The White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans has a new director, but who is speaking for other underrepresented groups?

Last month, Sarita E. Brown was named the new executive director of the White House Initiative on Educational Excellence for Hispanic Americans, becoming the third person since the initiative's inception to hold this position. While the appointment has been warmly received by members of the education community, it also raises anew questions about who speaks for people of color in higher education.

The Hispanic initiative, which was originally launched in 1990 and was reauthorized in 1994, will have a staff of three based in the Washington headquarters of the Department of Education and has a budget for fiscal year 1998 of $70,000. It is the second of three such White House offices charged with representing the educational interests of ethnic constituencies. The other two are: the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs), and the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges.

Unlike its sister agencies, - whose primary focus is to be an advocate for their member institutions - the Hispanic initiative's mandate is to be an advocate for the educational concerns of Latinos at every level of the education system, from before kindergarten through college - irrespective of whether the students it advocates for attend Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs).

"We're literally the waterfront," says Brown, who was born in New York and grew up in Texas. Brown is the creator and former head of a minority outreach program for graduate programs at the University of Texas-Austin - a sister program to that which came under fire in the Hopwood v. Tbe University of Texas School of Law case. She also is a former assistant dean of academic affairs at American University.

"In her job [Brown] is a spokesperson for what the commission feels is important to the Hispanic community," says Dr. Eduardo Padron, president of Miami-Dade Community College and a member of the president's Hispanic advisory commission that Brown's office reports to.

"It is my responsibility to keep vigilant on keeping open opportunities for Latino Americans," Brown says. "The changing demographics make this... absolutely crucial.... We have the platform of the commission. Now the question is implementation."

African Americans at TWIs: The Voiceless Black Majority

"There is a counterpart [to Sarita Brown] for African Americans Catherine LeBlanc, [who heads the HBCU initiative]." says Hector Garza, the American Council on Education's vice president for access and equity. But, when reminded that LeBlanc's advocacy responsibilities are for HBCUs only, Garza admits, "From that standpoint, there is no counterpart."

His misperception is not uncommon. While there are at least three organizations advocating for the interests of African Americans in higher education - the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, (NAFEO), The College Fund/United Negro College Fund (UNCF), and the White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) - the primary focus of these groups is to preserve and enhance historically Black institutions and the students they serve - about 16 percent of all African American college students, according to the African American Education Data Book produced by The College Fund.

"Is there any central organization that speaks to all the issues African Americans face in higher education? No." says Dr. Reginald Wilson, senior scholar at the American Council of Education "It's a real dilemma. No one is speaking for the [84] percent [of African Americans in higher education who do not attend HBCUs]. They say they do. but they don't."

Wilson points to admission standards and campus atmosphere as examples of issues that do not lend themselves to a legal analysis and therefore are not being addressed by the existing Black organizations.

"We've been very clear about our mission to be inclusive." says William Gray, president of The College Fund/UNCF "We've sought to raise serious questions over what the consequences will be in the post-Proposition 209 era and the limitations of testing to screen students for admission to institutions. We have been speaking out on these issues."

Still, Gray admits. mobilizing for affirmative action is not a leadership role for UNCF. "We need to see more leadership from public officials - and the White community has to stand up for affirmative action," he says. "That's where we need to see more initiative."

Dr. Claude A. Mayberry, chair of the National Commission for African American Education, a new organization being spearheaded by Congressman Major R. Owens (D-N.Y.), sees a need for a different type of political activism for Blacks in higher education. One of his concerns is that the existing African American leadership has not aggressively addressed the role that community colleges are going to play in educating the workforce.

"We've got to change the paradigm of how we look at community colleges," he says, adding that his new commission will engage in "political advocacy to the extent that it does not violate non-profit status."

Deborah Carter, deputy secretary for the Office of Minorities in Higher Education at the American Council on Education (ACE) says that another federal entity or commission to deal with issues outside the initiative on historically Black colleges would be excellent. "But at the same time I don't think anything needs to be done that would take funding from the current initiative or weaken the focus on historically Black institutions."

Lloyd Hackley, chairman of the board for the White House Initiative on HBCUs doesn't see the need to create a new advocacy group because, he says, the current HBCU initiative already has an inclusive mission - even if the name does not reflect that.

In the early 1980s when the HBCU initiative was first started, it was focused more on Black college issues, Hackley says. But with its second executive order in 1993, he says, the document describing the initiative did not limit it to HBCU concerns.

"There are people on our commission [who] think all the time about what is happening in the K-12 process and whether it is meeting the needs of children so that they may attend either a historically Black or historically White college and succeed. At the same time, we understand that Black colleges hold a very important position in society and the importance of holding on to the cultural responsibility," Hackley says.

Similarly, Dr. Henry Ponder, president and CEO of NAFEO, says his organization plans to broaden its mandate to include issues of importance to African Americans in traditionally White institutions. He agrees with Hackley that another organization to represent African Americans is not needed, but he is interested in working with the other ethnic advocacy groups.

Despite the expressed concerns of existing Black advocacy groups about the plight of African Americans at traditionally White institutions, there is little tangible evidence that these sentiments have become manifest in the form of activism or programming.

Too Many Agencies, Not Enough Resources?

Critics of these ethnic White House initiatives charge that there are too many and that they are competing for the same resources. Sarita Brown argues to the contrary.

"The HBCU Initiative has its hands full keeping attention focused on the contributions of HBCUs," Brown says. "While there may be some overlapping, each organization has its role."

Asked if there is tension with African Americans in allocation of resources, Padron says, "We shouldn't be fighting over crumbs of the pie. We should be fighting for a bigger pie. Our needs are in common."

According to Hackley, the HBCU and Hispanic initiatives have been meeting together frequently in the recent past and he is open to holding similar meetings with the Tribal College initiative.

"We would do well to meet with all these groups that are concerned about how America's education system serves minorities," he says.

"We shouldn't get into the posture that because another group gets something, we feel that we have to have it," Ponder says. "For example, Hispanics don't have institutions founded by Hispanics serving Hispanics. I applaud them [Hispanics for] getting the White House Initiative... "I think across the spectrum we need to work together. Then maybe one organization could work for all in different arenas. I would like to see us get to that point," Ponder says.

Brown sees her initiative as "an important group in a constellation of educational advocates." "Partnering has always been a part of achieving goals and now I will be working very closely with the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities (HACU) to achieve the higher education goals of the Hispanic initiative."

RELATED ARTICLE: Tribal Representation

When the time came in 1996 to set a mission for the White House Initiative on Tribal Colleges, the founding commissioners had the benefit of looking at what the HBCU and Hispanic initiatives had done.

Veronica Gonzales, executive director of the American Indian Higher Education Consortium (AIHEC), says one of the primary concerns was to avoid weakening the focus on tribal colleges. In addition, there was concern about the complexity of having the initiative (a U.S. governmental entity) represent the K-12 system, which operates under the authority of the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Gonzales says.

"We [AIHEC and tribal college presidents] met with policy makers from the HBCU and Hispanic initiatives and discussed what the advantages and disadvantages might be of having a broad versus a college-only focus when we learned that the tribal college initiative would be funded," Gonzales says.

The commissioners decided upon a structure that was a little like the HBCU and the Hispanic initiatives but unique and tailored to the special needs of the tribal colleges Gonzales says.

"Because the tribal colleges are severely underfunded - the lowest-funded colleges in the nation - it was agreed that the main focus should be on the tribal colleges, with some K-12 goals included in the mission," Gonzales says.

Contributors to this story include: Joan Morgan, Ronald Roach and Karin Chenoweth.