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By the way, be on the lookout this week for a thread that will detail HBCUs’ plans for dealing with coronavirus on campus. It will be important for campus communities to see how various institutions will be dealing with tough issues like quarantine, paid leave for employees, athletic contests, food service and more.
If you’re an HBCU higher ed wonk, that is.
— JCS
The lone regent who supported former Texas Southern University President Austin Lane remaining at the university has resigned from the board.
The Houston Chronicle reports on Derrick Mitchell’s departure, and the attorney’s parting shot at the board and its perceived dysfunction.
“This has been a huge distraction,” Mitchell said. “It’s one of those things where I’d rather be on a board where there’s more logic and just a sense of decency, and unfortunately that’s not the right board.”
Mitchell was outvoted 6-1 on the board’s decision to place Lane on leave and his eventual dismissal for failing to notify members of potentially illegal and unethical activities in its law school’s office of admissions.
Morgan State Suspends Study Abroad Travel
Morgan State University officials have announced a moratorium on student travel to countries with high levels of coronavirus infections.
Officials announced the travel suspension with the release of its pandemic preparation plan, which outlines contingencies for online instruction, faculty and staff leave and teleworking, and quarantine protocols.
“The safety of our students is the most important thing, above all else. At present, the risk of contracting COVID-19 during international travel is not fully known, so we have taken the most prudent action possible,” said Wilson. “We understand that this decision will be disappointing, especially given the university’s continuous support of global scholarship and discovery, but it was one that had to be made in light of the circumstances.”
Kudos to MSU for releasing a plan, given that Maryland is one of the states which has publicized several cases of confirmed infections. But jeers to MSU for not providing numbers or context on how many students would have been engaged in study abroad opportunities this semester, and the kinds of opportunities they will be missing.
As of last fall, Morgan listed a total of nine students who would be in international learning modules in Asia, Africa, and South America through the Fulbright Scholars Program.
NC Central Receives $3.7 Million to Train Minority School Principals
North Carolina Central University will create a new program designed to train an increased number of school principals from underrepresented racial groups.
The Central Carolina Principal Preparation Program will help to launch the careers of students training in the NCCU School of Education, who will go on to lead primary and secondary schools in under-resourced areas throughout North Carolina.
“The NCCU School of Education is actively training high-quality primary and secondary educators and administrators who instruct children in their formative years in school districts throughout North Carolina,” said Chancellor Johnson O. Akinleye, Ph.D. “Through the grant provided by the Central Carolina Regional Education Service Alliance, we are able to expand our reach in supporting the school’s overall framework of ‘Preparing Educators for Diverse Cultural Contexts.’”
The four-year grant will support research, instructional design expansion, and internship experience.
No Timetable Announced for Rust President’s Retirement
Controversy continues to swirl around the pending retirement of long-serving Rust College President David Beckley, but there’s still no definitive date on when he will step down from his office of 26 years.
Beckley was criticized last summer by some alumni for shortcomings in enrollment management, facility maintenance and stagnation in the college’s growth. He announced in July that he would be retiring in May 2021, according to WREG in Memphis, but documents on the Rust website indicate that a formal search has been launched with a deadline for presidential aspirants to complete applications by the end of this week.
Rust alumni are telling local media that Beckley will be leaving this year, but that the date has not been revealed.
Dr. Leslie-Burl McLemore is a proud alumnus of Rust College. But McLemore said he and other alumni association members said it’s past time for Beckley to step aside.
“He has been president of the college for 26 years, and it’s our thinking that it’s now time for a changing of the guard,” McLemore said.
Even for a small institution like Rust, it is still an economic anchor for its surrounding community. It still has a significant impact on the workforce development, politics and social wellness fortunes of Holly Springs, MS, and it still is an HBCU under the funding and guiding of the Methodist Church.
You would think that the forces impacting Rust and the force with which it impacts others would demand a more organized and deliberate search process. You would also assume that the search firm guiding the school towards new leadership, with the Rust account being managed by former Howard University President Sidney Ribeau, would know better.
Or maybe this is a familiar case of a board, a president and a campus community on a collision course towards executive instability, and that this haphazard search is one of the earliest and obvious signs of a school struggling to work out of its own disarray starting from the top?
