Sex Disparity: The Real Crisis in the HBCU Presidential Leadership Crisis Narrative

ABSTRACT

A national narrative around a historically Black college and university (HBCU) presidential turnover rate crisis has emerged in the last few years. Much of the narrative around this story is absent or lightly nods to the contextual adversities facing historically Black colleges and universities and their decades of under-resourcing. Almost none of the narrative analyzes the HBCU presidential turnover rates in context of the national landscape of higher education. This work presents not only the national content of presidential turnover rates for HBCUs in context of the national landscape, but it also presents further examination of the consistent and emergent trends for HBCU executive leadership with a specific examination of the data surrounding sex disparity in hiring and retention of female HBCU leaders. The work presents implications for future research that will provide a more robust depiction of the real crisis in HBCU presidential turnover: sex-based disparity in board composition.

Acknowledgments

The author serves as President to Quality Education for Minorities Network, an educational non-profit that serves 934 Minority Serving Institutions and minoritized faculty and students in educational equity primarily in STEM.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work is not funded by any grant agency or foundation.

Notes on contributors

Erin Lynch

Erin Lynch is a social science expert in curriculum and instruction, special education, and IO-psychology. She serves as President of Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network, an educational non-profit that serves over 900 minority serving institutions (MSI). She has served as Primary Investigator on over $48.6 million awards and has submitted over $898 million in research proposals to federal, foundational, and state agencies. Her work blends organizational development theory with educational intervention design, and thus she is nationally recognized for her work in MSI advocacy and educational equity. She serves as Co-Chair of the NASEM committee for the Development of a Plan to Promote Defense Research at HBCUs, TCUs, HSIs, & MSIs; Governance Board Member to the EDUCAUSE CourseGateway digital learning equity program; American Council of Education, Social & Economic Mobility Index Development Technical Review Panel; and former member of the Complete College America HBCU Digital Learning Advisory Board.