New President on Deck at Rust
Finalists for Rust College’s presidential search are preparing for interviews this week, and the list is a diverse slate of HBCU administrative experience.
Former San Antonio, Texas Mayor Ivy Taylor joins former White House HBCU Interim Executive Director Joel Harrell and Atlanta University Center Director of Academics, Research and Student Success Said Sewell.
Taylor, who is earning a doctorate at the University of Pennsylvania and completing a dissertation on board governance at historically black colleges and universities, is a member of Huston-Tillotson University’s Board of Trustees and an applicant for the University of Louisiana Monroe presidential vacancy.
Harrell, a Rust alumnus, held administrative positions at Clark Atlanta University, Florida A&M University, while Sewell recently held leadership roles at Lincoln University of Missouri and Morehouse College, his alma mater.
Local media reports suggest that current president David Beckley is likely to leave this summer for a one-year term as an executive consultant, though the college has not formally announced a departure date.
The Rust search and this list of finalists produces one of the most intriguing games of ‘guess who might be the next president’ we’ve ever had a chance to play. Rust is all but forcing Beckley out of office and his 26-year tenure will be replaced by a presidential neophyte. Will they choose to replace him with a virtual carbon copy in Harrell, who all but duplicates the departing executive profile in vast administrative experience and age?
Will they go with Sewell, whose talent and ambition in leadership has been, in spots, equaled by controversies surrounding his administrative decision making?
Or will they go with Taylor, who could be Rust’s first female president and its first president with large-scale organizational operational management experience outside of higher education — and who has no experience in managing the daily operations of a rural-based, limited resource institution and who simultaneously has eyes on another gig?
The game is fun, but the outcomes for Rust are very real. The next president has to deal with alumni who are expecting change and growth for the campus in short order. That expectation will be shaped by an uncertain financial future that will be forged by the coronavirus pandemic.
What will enrollment look like in the fall? How does Rust, in one of the nation’s broadband deserts, compete in the effort to expand distance learning for students? What will common sense stay at home orders demand in opposition to state or municipal ‘open for business’ guidance, and how will these dueling goals impact the school?
There is no such thing as an easy college presidency, and many HBCU presidential posts are made more complex when boards select leaders who do not have the personality or temperament to match a campus or the community which surrounds it. Beckley had many successes and failures over his tenure, but his greatest success was fitting in as a leader and Holly Springs community member for more than 25 years.
Do one of these three finalists, straight outta Austin, Washington D.C. and Atlanta respectively and each with individual sets of strengths and weaknesses, have the fit to turn an inaugural year in the midst of a pandemic into a respectable presidential tenure?
Time will tell, but they all have to know that with everything at stake, there is not a kind clock to be found in Holly Springs.
Morgan State Survey of Baltimore Residents Shows Distrust of City Police
A federally-supported survey of more than 645 residents of Baltimore City shows an overwhelming distrust and dissatisfaction among residents toward the city’s police department.
Conducted by Morgan State University’s Institute for Urban Research, the survey shows that an oversampled group of African American residents in the city find the police to be untrustworthy, inaccessible, and unaccountable for misdeeds. From the report’s executive summary:
1. Public Safety and Crime: The majority of participants disagreed or strongly disagreed that BPD effectively reduces crime and keeps people safe.
2. Satisfaction with and Trust in BPD: Satisfaction with and trust in BPD are low. However, participants reported feeling conditionally comfortable communicating with BPD “if and when they had to,” depending on factors such as who initiated the conversation.
3. Police-Community Engagement: Participants were more likely to report that BPD does not have a good working relationship with the community. However, participants reported wanting to build or improve relationships between BPD and their community.
4. Respect: The consistent finding throughout the interviews was that, in contrast to participants reporting that the BPD did not show respect toward civilians, participants reported that they themselves were more likely to treat the BPD with respect and less likely to treat the BPD with disrespect.
5. Fair and Equitable Policing: A majority of participants reported that they personally observed BPD engaging in racial profiling, engaging in excessive force, and using verbally abusive language towards civilians.
6. Misconduct/Discipline: A majority of participants disagreed or strongly disagreed that BPD officers are effectively held accountable for misconduct.
7. Police Encounters: A majority of participants rarely or never encounter BPD officers themselves. Of those who described encounters with police, very few narrated encounters with officers engaging in routine activity (on patrol). The large majority narrated law enforcement encounters (e.g., call for service, traffic or street stop), which we have categorized as routine, positive, negative or neutral.
The survey is a part of a 2017 consent decree between the city and the U.S. Department of Justice, which calls for strict reforms in the BCPD’s enforcement and engagement practices.
