Unlikely Partners in Philanthropy - George Mason University

Black Issues in Higher Education, August 30, 2001 by Ronald Roach

Traditionally White colleges and universities increasingly look to minority communities for institutional support.

FAIRFAX, VA.

George Mason University, located just outside of Washington, D.C., is known as the academic home of some of the most influential conservative scholars in the nation, most notably in economics and in law. Among its board of visitors, the school's chief governing body, a host of former Reagan and Bush presidential appointees, including Edwin Meese, an attorney general under President Ronald Reagan, occupy a bulk of the board seats. And the conservatism of its public profile is also reflected in the school's strict adherence to race-neutral admissions and university policies.

Yet what may catch observers of George Mason by surprise is that prominent local minority businesspeople belonging to a unique university advisory board recruit minority students for internships and mentorships, and raise and award funds for scholarships largely targeting students of color.

The group is known as the George Mason University Minority Advisory Board, and it's establishing a fund-raising and organizational model seldom seen in higher education. The board idea advances the notion that local Black, Hispanic and Asian citizens represent as much a resource for school advancement for majority White higher education institutions as they do for minority-serving institutions. This idea has reached fruition in a few places where it's taking flight in schools, such as GMU.

At the University of Louisville in Kentucky, the university recently announced a partnership with the Black community in Louisville that is seeking to establish eight endowed chairs in academic areas around which public policy solutions and health innovations could benefit the local Black community. The initial stage of the partnership is being funded at $9 million, $4 million of which is coming from private donations (see Black Issues, July 5).

The partnership is being spearheaded by Nat Green, an African American businessman and a member of the university trustee board. One chair, endowed by a $1 million gift, was established by Charlie Johnson, a Black businessman who owns one of the largest minority owned trucking companies in the United States.

For both majority and minority-serving institutions, nurturing deep support from their local minority communities represents a philanthropic challenge that is seen as promising but rarely attempted. Nevertheless, what a few majority White schools are finding are local minority communities in which business-people and others are eager to assist in the advancement of institutions that demonstrate commitment to inclusion and diversity.

UNTAPPED RESOURCES

Nestled in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, George Mason University occupies a strategic position within that area's high-tech economy. Because the region has long been home to information technology companies that provide services to the federal government, much of GMU's science and engineering programs are geared towards supporting the computer and Internet industry base and conducting research in the information sciences.

As the Northern Virginia population and the regional economy have swelled over the past two decades, GMU has seen its enrollment grow and its intellectual stature rise with public affairs and information technology academic programs. Not until the mid- 1990s did GMU officials begin to recognize that a highly successful group of Black, Hispanic and Asian entrepreneurs had established a base in Northern Virginia.

Since the 1970s and 1980s, with federal affirmative action programs giving them a boost, a number of Black and other minority entrepreneurs have built what are now some of the largest minority-owned companies in the nation. One successful Black high-tech entrepreneur, David Boyer, CEO and president of TROY Systems Inc. in Fairfax, Va., recalls having discussions with George Mason officials about the growing presence of minority entrepreneurs with whom the university had virtually no ties.

"There was a very real need by George Mason to reach out to all parts of the community," says Boyer, one of the Minority Advisory Board's founding members and the outgoing chairman of the GMU Foundation trustee board.

In late 1994, the Minority Advisory Board was created with the intent of helping GMU grapple with issues of diversity and inclusion. After getting established, the group developed programs that would encourage minority students and help them see GMU as an attractive institution. Minority Advisory Board members have established internships at their companies, which are open to all students but targeted at minorities.

Group members say they have not regarded GMU's reputation for conservative academics as a hindrance to their goal of promoting and supporting the school as a place for diversity. Even a recent federal executive review curtailing the designation of private funds for race-conscious scholarships at public institutions did not deter the group from setting up an endowed scholarship fund. Though the awards are known as "Minority Advisory Board" scholarships, "socially disadvantaged" students belonging to any racial or ethnic group can apply for the funding.