Going deep in year two

Diverse Issues in Higher Education, August 24, 2006 by Hilary Hurd Anyaso

A little more than a year ago, president Bill Cox and publisher Frank Matthews announced that Black Issues In Higher Education was becoming Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, allowing us to "examine a larger and broader array of issues affecting all people of color in higher education."

It's no question that diversity is a much talked about subject on college campuses from coast to coast. How do schools recruit and retain a diverse student and faculty population? Is diversity beneficial to the university community? How do you implement diversity initiatives? There are endless questions and no single answer. Why do diversity initiatives go over better in some schools than others?

As we celebrate the one-year anniversary of Diverse, our lineup of articles touches on these very real issues. In "Hung Out to Dry," senior writer David Pluviose looks at the trials and tribulations of some minority community college presidents who were hired to carry out specific diversity initiatives only to be blocked by the faculty, ultimately resulting in their termination or resignation.

Senior writer Ronald Roach traveled down to Atlanta earlier this month to catch up with Emory University provost Dr. Earl Lewis. While under the mentorship of Dr. James J. Duderstadt, then-president of the University of Michigan, Lewis helped manage UM's transformation after implementing the ambitious Michigan Mandate diversity initiative in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In "The Diversity Mandate," Lewis talks about the national climate for campus diversity and how he's applying the lessons he learned at Michigan in his current job.

Other features are "Before You Exit" by Charles Dervarics and "The Misinformation About Financial Aid" by Dina Horwedd. Dervarics examines the increasingly popular push for collegiate assessment testing. Horwedel explores how misperceptions about student loans are quietly keeping many low-income minorities from pursuing college degrees.

Like this past year, the stories you can expect to see in Diverse this academic year will be compelling and informative. In this edition, we introduce "Spectrum," which promises to package noteworthy developments, juicy profiles and interviews, statistics and other telling tidbits in a graphically rich editorial section.

As always, we invite your comments and questions. Stay tuned, as Diverse will bring you in-depth reporting on the following:

* The presidential searches taking place at North Carolina A&T State University, Bennett College, Winston-Salem State University, Texas Southern University and Harvard University, just to name a few. * The Ward Connerly-backed Michigan "civil rights initiative" goes before the voters.

* Will Black male programs at CUNY and the University of Georgia system survive scrutiny?

* Will the U.S. Supreme Court curtail affirmative action in higher education when it considers K-12 diversity cases?

* CONTACT ME:

Diverse: Issues In Higher Education welcomes Letters to the Editor.

* ADDRESSED TO:

Diverse: Issues In Higher Education, 10520 Warwick Ave., Suite B-8, Fairfax, VA 22030-3136

* E-MAIL:

editor@cmapublishing.com. Letters should be typed, signed and include the writer's full name, address and phone number, and may be edited for purposes of clarity or space.

Hilary Hurd Anyaso

EDITOR