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For more than three decades, American colleges and universities have made determined efforts to increase their numbers of students of color, particularly African-American and Hispanic students. And those efforts have paid off. The American Council on Education’s annual status report, Minorities in Higher Education, shows that between 1993 and 2003, African-American college enrollment rose by 42.7 percent, Hispanic enrollment by 68.8 percent, and Asian-American enrollment by 43.5 percent.
But bringing students into higher education is not the same as ensuring that they succeed. The persistence rates of African Americans and Hispanics continue to lag behind those of Asians and non-Hispanic whites. The drop-out rates for Hispanics (29.2 percent) and African Americans (30.1 percent) are close to double those of non-Hispanic whites (18.8 percent) and Asians (14.9 percent)—so that after five years, according to the same ACE report, only 36.4 percent of African-American students and 42 percent of Hispanic students had attained a bachelor’s degree, compared to 62.3 percent of their Asian peers and 58 percent of non-Hispanic white students.
How can institutions change these numbers? To answer this question, with support from the Rockefeller Foundation we conducted interviews with nearly 30 college and university presidents who are recognized by their peers and other higher-education leaders for campus-wide efforts that have made notable progress toward ensuring the success of students of color. We targeted presidents because they are uniquely positioned to have a campus-wide perspective on issues of campus-wide concern. They are able to see the connections between academic and student affairs, across colleges and departments, and across institutional boundaries. They understand how campus-wide culture manifests itself within different units and the resource commitments required to change it. Through hour-long interviews with these presidents, from diverse backgrounds and a wide array of colleges and universities, we gathered lessons and insights gleaned from their successful and unsuccessful experiences in advancing a campus diversity agenda.
We discovered that the keys to fostering academic success for students of color are institutional commitment and a coordinated agenda. On most campuses, a set of discrete and disconnected programs for students of color across campus create a fragmented effort. Diversity initiatives may focus on particular majors (such as students of color in engineering), address campus-life issues (such as cultural houses), or involve special scholarships or service programs. While these compartmentalized efforts may generate limited change, as one president said, “little synergy is created when various units work separately to help students of color. In addition, resources get spread thin.”
So how is a campus-wide approach created on campuses that are successful in retaining and graduating students of color? Organizational learning turns out to be the key.
A Learning Framework
When we in higher education talk about “learning,” we are generally thinking of students as the learners. But organizations need to learn too. Presidents of the institutions in this project believed their campuses did not originally have a true understanding of the challenges they were facing, the efficacy—or lack thereof—of their programs and initiatives, or the progress they were making in helping underrepresented students succeed. One president said that it was the assumption “that the old practices were working that made us stagnant and not address fundamental changes that should have been happening on campus. We need to constantly evaluate our work to support students of color and revise it on an ongoing basis.”
Organizational learning is the process of intentionally acquiring and reflecting upon information and changing organizational practices based on that information. This entails creating a “culture of evidence” and, in the case of the diversity agenda, establishing mechanisms that help administrators, faculty, and staff continuously learn about the experiences of their students of color and the impact of the institutions’ intentional (and unintentional) efforts to help those students succeed.
Our findings suggest that institutions should do five things to create the systems for learning that are essential to helping underrepresented students succeed. They need to:
• Develop systems to collect and analyze data.
• Learn by listening directly to their students.
• Put their learning to constructive use.
• Turn controversies into learning opportunities.
• Time and pace their efforts in ways that are appropriate to the campus climate.
Learning from Data
Leaders told us repeatedly about the importance of collecting data to better understand the challenges facing the institution and to determine whether its diversity efforts are making progress. Good data can help move people away from basing decisions on assumptions, anecdotal evidence, and stereotypes. One president noted that “politics are much more likely to thrive in a culture of stereotypes and misinformation than one based on data.”
Many described how their campuses operated on false assumptions or outdated notions about the institution. For example, on some campuses, there were those who believed that a diversity agenda was not needed because they felt that the campus was already diverse. On other campuses, faculty were unaware of the ways in which the student population had already become more heterogeneous. Once data were presented about the actual demographics of students, they were much more open to programs and interventions aimed at supporting those students.
The following strategies to base organizational learning on solid information emerged from the institutions we studied:
Build a data infrastructure. Accurate and comprehensive information is essential, we were repeatedly told. Many of those with whom we spoke noted that early in their tenure they devoted their time to building an institutional research infrastructure—often an office of institutional research with appropriate staffing—to collect, digest, and disseminate information.
Furthermore, they often had to help their campuses learn to use existing data effectively. One president said:
"I literally had to stop making decisions. People kept coming to me saying, “We really need to make a decision quickly on this issue.” I would ask them for data to support their position. And each time they did not provide evidence, I said, “Well, I guess we can’t make a decision then.” Eventually, they realized I really was not going to make decisions and that they had to conduct research and provide evidence. But that is how you get people to start challenging their own assumptions and changing their beliefs."
Frameworks such as the Equity Scorecard Project at the University of Southern California (at http://www.usc.edu/dept/education/CUE/projects/
equityscorecard.htm) identify data that can be helpful in advancing campus diversity. Beyond traditional enrollment and persistence rates in various programs, useful data include grade-point averages in various majors of students from different racial/ethnic backgrounds, the proportion of students of color in honorary societies or on the dean’s list, and patterns of transfer between majors, broken out by race and ethnicity.
Make collective sense of the data. Data are not useful unless campuses establish vehicles to systematically review and digest them. One common strategy is to develop cross-functional teams of key decision-makers (including faculty and often students) to review findings. In public discussions of this information, the institutions we studied identified previously unrecognized problems and developed new programs or interventions that better met students’ needs. Furthermore, the data often yielded important information about where they were making progress.
Adopt a leadership style that incorporates constructive questioning. Campus leaders can foster a climate of learning by developing a leadership style that constantly questions institutional operations and the status quo. One president said:
"What has been really successful for me is to sit people down around campus, provide them with data, and ask them troubling questions. Why is it that we can’t keep faculty of color? Why is it that there are no students of color in our science classes? This works particularly well with faculty, but I use it just as often with staff, outside groups, and students. "
Learning from Students
However good their formal data-collection processes were, leaders also needed to get a better understanding of their institutions, and the challenges they faced, by informally collecting information. They all mentioned learning directly from students as one of the most important ways to help students of color succeed. In the words of one president, “I learned, and this institution learned, to support students from diverse backgrounds by spending time interacting with and learning from them.”
Another president talked about how he demonstrated to other campus leaders the value of listening directly to students:
"I have to model this commitment to interacting with and learning from students. I was asked to meet with a group of African-American students, and I knew they were upset about something. Other administrators were telling me not to take the meeting, but I told them it was important to do and invited the other administrators to come as well. There was this really tough-looking guy who was wearing a cap and looking down the whole time. I kept trying to bring him out and make him feel comfortable. Finally he said, “I don’t know if I can do this but, I really have something to say. Can’t we be part of registration and orientation so that we can help the other black students feel more comfortable? Because African-American students find this to be a really isolating process.” This was the first time I learned that these two processes were alienating to students."
Presidents noted a variety of structures and strategies to ensure that students are heard: student advisory panels, student focus groups, and campus-wide town-hall meetings and retreats. They also intentionally included students, individually or as part of panels, at administrative and faculty retreats and as part of campus working groups and ad-hoc committees. In some instances, these events were specifically about diversity; in others, leaders worked to ensure that diverse student voices were heard on a wide range of campus issues. One president said:
"I learned so much talking with students during the presidential student advisory board that I suggested that each school and college establish an advisory board as well. While I think I was understanding some of the broad issues across campus, each college has its own climate, and I felt it was really necessary for leaders across campus to set up their own mechanisms to understand the student experience. While people were resistant at first, the deans came back to me later and talked about how valuable the boards were. "
Regular interaction and discussion with students from diverse backgrounds is critical for the kind of organizational learning that creates inclusive campus environments.
Acting on New Learning
Institutional leaders must find ways to respond to insights that require institution-wide action by working with a network of stakeholders that has been intentionally developed or that has emerged spontaneously. Organizational learning will not help support students of color unless it is spread among key groups that share responsibility for their success.
The presidents identified six important sets of actors who serve as nodes of support and synergy: faculty, administrators, staff (particularly student-affairs staff), students, boards, and external organizations. In the words of one leader:
"We have to see that we are working together on this. Helping students of color is not the work of the student-affairs division or the academic-affairs division or the institutional research office—or the Board of Trustees, for that matter. We each play a different role, and we need to be working together to support students of color."
Tap key individuals and support them. Identifying individuals who are already committed to the success of students of color and connecting them to one another helps create a stronger network and synergies among individual efforts. One president described this strategy:
"Early on leaders should do their homework and learn which people are committed to making the college community more diverse. Historically, they have a history of supporting that type of agenda, and that’s where you need to start. These will be the people who serve as advisors to clubs, who serve on your diversity committees, who come to you and try to help you understand the importance of diversity and multiculturalism—those individuals who actually step out front and will lead the campus forward if supported. I’m not just talking about people of color but having individuals from all backgrounds. And then you need to provide them with rewards, celebrate their successes, and provide PR for their efforts. From my vantage point, that’s how we’ve been successful and created a network of support."
As the presidents pointed out, this population includes both the usual suspects and people one might not easily guess would share those commitments. In some instances, these people were in offices charged to support students of color. But although multicultural and chief campus diversity officers are important, presidents did not place the responsibility solely on them. Rather, they purposely sought the help of other people, particularly faculty, to build the web of support. Finally, some leaders recognized that they didn’t have all of the people they needed or didn’t have them in the right positions. As one noted, “Hiring one or two people with enthusiasm and energy can change a whole division, and you make sure to introduce them to others in the network.”
Benefit from external partnerships. It is important to understand the complexities of student experiences, including how they are tied into the community, and to leverage valuable off-campus resources. One leader described her campus’s success in using its external network this way:
"We have students from well over 169 different countries, and we realized that if we didn’t make connections with the community, we would never serve them well. So we made liaisons with community-based organizations. So if you’re Armenian and there is an issue of family relations or counseling, we can connect students with community organizations to help."
Presidents often created formal advisory boards consisting of business, industry, nonprofit, and government leaders. Receiving input from important constituent groups that are also trying to figure out how to create more inclusive environments helped the organization learn. These external partners encouraged colleges and departments to hire more faculty of color, recruit and retain students of color, and establish mentoring and support programs. Often they even provided resources and people to advance these efforts. As one president noted:
"I was having no luck getting the various schools and colleges to meet their goals–hiring faculty of color and changing the curriculum. In fact, I began to hear stories about resistance emerging. So things were going from bad to worse. That’s when I decided I needed to bring in leaders from business and industry. When engineering companies tell the school of engineering that their faculty is too white, that their graduates are not diverse enough, and that their curriculum is outdated, that really makes a difference. After that, things started to change, and the resistance subsided."
Use the board. Boards of trustees can play an important role in a diversity initiative. They add legitimacy to the effort and provide important support to presidents and others willing to take risks. One president described how he had worked especially hard to garner his board’s involvement:
"I had the Board of Trustees pass a resolution in support of diversity as an institutional imperative. I’ve been fortunate that my board has embraced our emphasis on diversity, and they are very supportive. They have bought into diversity as a value in a significant way, and I know it has helped us in advancing our agenda, as people on campus see what a significant priority it is for the board. They cannot ignore this initiative, and more people get involved."
Hold people accountable. Essential to putting ideas to use is being held accountable for doing so. Said one president:
"People can give you plan after plan and show you rhetorical piece after rhetorical piece about how the institution’s heart is in the right place, but that doesn’t mean a damn thing. ... I made a point of saying—in a big meeting of campus executives, faculty and staff—that I have no interest in the affirmative-action plan. I am interested in affirmative action."
In some instances, campuses used their strategic-planning or budgeting processes to create accountability mechanisms. Accreditation self-studies were another vehicle for charting progress, particularly regarding student learning. However, informal means of accountability can also prove powerful. One president told us:
"I met with the deans once a week. The very first meeting, I asked the deans individually how their plans for hiring minority faculty were going, and nobody had much going on. ... For that entire year, I asked that same question every single cabinet meeting. Every dean knew that when they went to that meeting, they were going to have to explain, in front of their colleagues, what it was that they were doing. "
Controversy as a Learning Opportunity
Making progress on a campus-wide diversity agenda inevitably brings to the surface tensions and controversies. Most presidents recognized that despite the strain involved, some of the greatest learning and progress on their diversity initiatives resulted from addressing the controversies head on. Controversy helps raise diversity issues above the everyday din of campus life and calls attention to them, thereby providing opportunities to engage the campus broadly. Addressing such conflict creates teachable moments that can build respect and understanding among different groups, as well as demonstrate to students and other interested parties that campus statements of commitment are reinforced through action.
Most presidents had examples of controversy that they were able to leverage, from racially motivated graffiti to inappropriate comments in student newspapers or in e-mails to classroom episodes and attacks on campus affirmative-action policies. Although the specifics varied, a common strategy emerged.
First, these leaders readied the campus for potential conflict before it happened by creating task forces or commissions that were responsible for monitoring incidents, offering programming to address the issues, and reassuring the victims that their concerns would be addressed. Second, they informed the campus soon after a racially motivated incident occurred, thereby signaling that racism would not be tolerated in the academic community. Third, they held campus events to address the issue; in these discussions, data suddenly became salient. Fourth, they met personally with key stakeholders, such as student leaders, parents, and community members. Finally, they put a human face on the consequences of racism on campus by sharing stories and testimonials.
Know When and How to Act
It is clear that helping students of color succeed is a marathon, not a sprint. To succeed over the long haul, leaders need to assess the campus climate and create challenges that do not push the campus too far—otherwise, efforts may get derailed. Our presidents unanimously noted the importance of taking time to understand the institutional culture by meeting with members of the campus community in focus groups, having one-on-one meetings, and conducting surveys of the campus climate. This can be done at the unit, department, college, or institutional level—and unit cultures may differ significantly.
Successful leaders know when to push their institutions and when to ease off. Moving too far ahead of the institution creates distances between the leader and key campus stakeholders that can be difficult to bridge. One president noted:
"If the environment is not ready, you only serve to remove yourself. Assess, test, and sense the environment as you begin and from time to time. This is one of the most important things that a president can do."
One way to gauge how quickly to move forward is to determine how much progress the institution has made already. To simplify, three types of institutions emerged in our work: first, the institution that was just beginning to make concerted efforts to improve the success of students of color; second, the one that has a diversity agenda that needs a new boost of energy or a new direction; and third, one with a long and strong history of helping all its students succeed.
Leaders at campuses that are just beginning their efforts might focus on building broad support, both on and off campus; articulating a shared vision for where the institution should be going and why that direction is important; developing the data infrastructure and finding resources to support it; and identifying the right people for the tasks at hand.
Leaders at institutions that have made significant progress might focus instead on assessing campus efforts to date, refining their strategic plans, developing supportive off-campus networks, creating a culture that continually examines data to challenge prevailing beliefs and set new directions, and evaluating the curriculum.
To know when and how to act, leaders need to regularly assess the political environment. Having informants throughout the campus helps leaders to know how faculty, staff, and students are feeling about the diversity agenda and whether it is being pushed too hard or fast. By continuously taking the institutional pulse, leaders can see where they need to slow down and gain more support. Assessing the politics of a campus helps leaders to anticipate resistance, identify allies, and pace the initiative appropriately so that learning occurs, rather than backlash.
Conclusion: Advancing the Learning Mission
While the presidents we spoke to focused on the power of organizational learning, they also suggested that it is important to stress the way diversity contributes to student learning at their institutions. In this way, learning becomes both the strategy of and rationale for their diversity efforts. Said one president:
"At our campus, diversity was seen as a good thing, but not necessarily tied to the work we do. I started to articulate why diversity is important for learning and critical thinking. ... The most important strategy is to provide a clear rationale and tie it to the core mission."
Another president concurred, saying:
"You should not isolate your efforts on the diversity front from the central mission of the college, because they are part and parcel of it. When the mission and diversity become connected, then diversity becomes part of the strategic plan, curriculum, hiring practices, etc., and it becomes much easier to support."
When it is thus connected to the core business of the college or university, helping students of color succeed becomes an opportunity both for students to learn and for institutions to learn more about themselves. In the process, they may also learn how to address other important challenges as well.
Adrianna Kezar is an associate professor at the University of Southern California in the higher-education administration program and former director of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Higher Education. She has written widely on the topics of equity, leadership, governance, and innovation. Her books include Understanding and Facilitating Organizational Change in the 21st Century (2001), Organizational Learning in Higher Education (2005), and Rethinking the “L” Word in Higher Education: The Revolution of Research on Leadership (2006), all published by Jossey Bass. Peter Eckel is director of programs and initiatives at the American Council on Education’s Center for Effective Leadership, where he handles the ACE Institute for New Chief Academic Officers, the presidential roundtables on emerging challenges, and the Advancing to the Presidency workshop. His research focuses on change, governance and administration; his latest book is The Shifting Frontiers of Academic Decision Making (2006), Greenwood Press.