Long overdue

Black Issues in Higher Education, June 17, 2004

"After researching, analyzing and listening to the 'pros' from all sectors of higher education, it became obvious that this publication was long overdue." wrote Frank L. Matthews and William E. Cox in their "Publisher's Viewpoint" in March 1984. Black Issues In Higher Education was "this" publication.

The magazine, which started out as an eight-page newsletter, grew to 16 pages by the end of 1984, and by December 1985, it was 24 pages. Its rapid growth seemed to signal that indeed such a publication was long overdue.

"Minority Higher Education Gains Slipping in the 1980s. Study Finds." "Black College Presidents Visit China." "Success Model Developed for Student Retention." "SAT Shown to be Poor Predictor for Black Athletes," and "ACE Program Targets Minority Advancement" are just a handful of the headlines that ran in Black Issues In Higher Education during its inaugural year. And hundreds of editions and thousands of headlines later Block Issues has covered the full spectrum as it pertains to higher education--politics and policy, athletics and athletes, retention and graduation rates, philanthropy, affirmative action, desegregation. leadership, testing, law, medicine, business, science, faculty, staff, administrators, students. HBCUs, HSIs, TWIs, TCUs and the list goes on.

In this 20th anniversary edition, we present a reflective snapshot of a few of the important issues in higher education with articles on education policy, women in leadership, Black males in higher education, the status of American Indians and Latinos in higher education, technology, Black Greek-Letter organizations, historically Black colleges and universities, influential faculty and community colleges.

Twenty years of covering the too-numerous-to-list issues and newsmakers cannot be condensed into one edition, but the articles included in the following pages are meant to be a representative sampling. Perhaps the rest can be included in the 25th anniversary edition. In the meantime, we proudly present this 20th anniversary edition in honor of those who've committed themselves to improving educational opportunities for people of color.