The Dearth of Latinos
in Campus Administrationby
Professor Roberto Haro
Ethnic Studies - San Francisco State University
First published in the Chronicle of Higher Education
on December 11, 2001Are Latino men and women who seek leadership roles as presidents and provosts in American colleges and universities held to higher standards in the selection process than members of other groups? Based on several studies I have done and extensive conversations with senior-level Latino scholars and administrators, the answer is yes. Consider the following: Data from the U.S. Census Bureau indicate that Latino people constitute the largest ethnic minority group in America. Latino students have rapidly become a substantial proportion of the country's college-age cohort, while in states like California, New Mexico, and Texas, they are the majority of high-school graduates. Yet Latino people and American Indians remain the most underrepresented major ethnic groups at institutions of higher learning -- especially at selective, four-year liberal-arts colleges and research universities -- as students, tenured professors, and academic administrators.
Over the last decade, two studies have documented the challenges encountered by Latino applicants for presidencies and provostships. The results of the first study appeared in a report, "The Career Mobility of Chicano Administrators in Higher Education" done in 1992 and published by the Western Interstate Commission for Higher Education. The results of the second study, completed in 1994, were published in a book called The Leaning Ivory Tower (State University of New York Press, 1995). It showed that key decision makers in the selection process for presidents and provosts expected higher standards of qualifications and experience for Latino men and women than for members of other ethnic and racial groups.
The nonchalant attitude of leading educational organizations regarding the minuscule number of Latino people in academic leadership roles is puzzling. Groups such as the American Council on Education, the Association of Governing Boards, the National Association of State Universities and Land Grant Colleges, the National Council of La Raza, and the Hispanic Association of Colleges and Universities, to name but a few, seem to eschew research about the progress, or lack of it, by Latino administrators in attaining leadership roles in higher education. ACE, to its credit, publishes statistics regarding the appointment of women and minorities to presidencies on a fairly regular basis. However, when their data are disaggregated by type of institution, the majority of Latino presidents are at two-year colleges. They are absent from the ranks of presidents at selective, private, liberal-arts colleges and research universities.
Leading foundations seemed uninterested in supporting any systematic investigations regarding this phenomenon. In 1997 I began a new study of Latino administrators and leadership roles in higher education that was completed in 1999 and that will be published next year in Latinos in Higher Education (JAI/Ablex Press). It differed somewhat from the earlier one by including interviews with sitting Latino presidents and provosts, including some who had to step down from such roles. While mine was not a large study -- it involved 25 institutions and 120 personal interviews -- I nonetheless found that a pernicious process of passing over talented and qualified Latino candidates for leadership roles persisted. Latino career mobility continued to be limited by the bias of key decision makers. Two themes surfaced: mistrust in Latino administrators for leadership roles; and strong reservations, primarily by white professors and trustees, about the academic preparation and experience of Latino men and women.
In the screening process used to select senior campus leaders, some questionable patterns surfaced. Four deserve mention: the "type" of person sought; the desired experience; the "style" of the candidate; and interview performance. What is meant by type? A particular image emerges that includes words like tall, distinguished-looking, well-dressed, and impeccably groomed. A trustee at a selective liberal-arts college I interviewed said, "Look at the pictures of our previous presidents. Now that's what we want for this college." As I looked at the photographs, they were all white males. In a nutshell, most of the institutions wanted a distinguished-looking, gray-haired, white man, standing about six feet tall and dressed in an expensive designer suit. A few might settle for a white woman with similar characteristics. Some white male candidates could get away with being shabbily dressed; they were simply viewed as tweedy intellectuals or athletics boosters in their sport coats, but Latino candidates who dressed down found that it was held against them.
The level and caliber of academic preparation and experience were frequently used to screen out Latino applicants. Candidates needed a Ph.D. from one of the top 21 universities in the United States. And even then, faculty members would carp about lack of postdoctoral study, or that the postdoc was not of the caliber desired. David Riesman at Harvard University was fond of saying that without a Ph.D. from a top research university, the pathway to leadership roles at selective institutions would be difficult, if not impossible. Unless a Latino applicant had served as a department chairman, academic dean, and provost, he was rejected. This was not the case for white male candidates or most white female ones. The standard was elevated for other minority candidates as well, but we found that it was highest for Latino candidates.
The matter of "style" was difficult, but possible, to categorize. Decision makers wanted candidates of a particular culture, polished speakers, those at ease in any setting, attentive listeners, and stable personalities, the ideal Rotary Club leader. A white female vice president at a research university said she had voted against a Latino presidential candidate because he "did not appreciate the Western European tradition and literature." This was surprising given that the Latino candidate had a strong reputation for translating some of the Great Books of European writers into Spanish. The head of a search committee at a selective liberal-arts college rejected a Latino candidate because he "spoke with an accent," and used a "terminology and pronunciation in his vernacular that did not sound like good English." The candidate had a soft Southern drawl and used terms he had learned during extensive study in England and France.
During the interview stage of the hiring process, no candidates, including African-Americans and white women, were as rigorously scrutinized as their Latino peers. A trustee at a two-year college was displeased by the earrings a Latina applicant was wearing and said they appeared "cheap and distracting, reflecting poor taste." They were modest family heirlooms handed down through three generations. At a different two-year college, a trustee voted against a Latina candidate because the woman "was overweight, and her blouse was too tight;" the college ultimately hired a white woman who was overweight. These are but a few of the subjective comments that revealed biases against Latino candidates.
Informal national networks do influence decision makers in the search for a president or provost. These networks include presidents and other leaders active in the higher-education associations. Most members of these informal networks are white men, and they tend to nominate or assist other white men, usually by making supportive telephone calls, or meeting with key campus players. Informal networks exist that support the appointment of women, particularly white women, to leadership roles in the academy. Such networks exist to a lesser degree for black administrators, especially those at historically black colleges. But no such networks exist for Latino administrators.
"Brand name" executive search firms, often retained to help selective institutions identify suitable candidates, pose another challenge for Latino applicants. Several of these search firms retain "Hispanic experts" as consultants, but these experts often have a narrow range of experience. For example, a Latino community-college executive without any experience at liberal-arts colleges or research universities was retained as an expert to assist in searches at two four-year institutions. None of the Latino candidates identified by this expert survived the initial screening in either search.
My conversations with Latino administrators in leadership roles and with those who had recently left such positions, were informative and depressing. "No one ever told me that being a campus leader would be so difficult," said a former Latino provost, "or that because I was of Mexican blood my accomplishments and activities as an administrator would always be suspect." A sitting Latino president said that senior professors in the sciences constantly referred to him as "too emotional and anti-science." They overlook his background in the life sciences, and conveniently twist his passion and effectiveness as a public speaker into a criticism -- he speaks too much like a preacher, they say.
I would be remiss to omit the unrealistic aspirations of some Latino administrators. A Latino academic dean anxious to become a president said, "I put in my time as a faculty member and now dean, and deserved to be a president." A Latina staff manager, never having gone through the tenure process, applied for the position of president at a four-year liberal-arts college. She tried to use community support to gain the job and was rejected. These are but two of the disconnects between the career aspirations of Latino men and women who fail to understand the many challenges they face.
Some steps need to be taken immediately to confront the underrepresentation of Latino administrators in campus leadership roles. Management training is necessary, and career guidance and follow-up is essential. The major foundations need to place a top priority on supporting research to better understand the challenges that Latino men and women encounter in applying for leadership roles. At public institutions, increased political pressure for qualified and talented Latino administrators to assume leadership roles is needed. There is a direct correlation between elected Latino trustees at two-year college districts and the appointment of Latino presidents. Search firms need to retain qualified and experienced Latino experts with the appropriate background and experience needed for the types of institutions targeted. But most important, leaders at American colleges and universities must be aware of the biases and pernicious internal colonialism that work against Latino candidates and members of other underrepresented minority groups who seek executive roles at our campuses, especially at the most selective institutions.
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Roberto Haro is a professor of ethnic studies at San Francisco State University.
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