Diverse boards

New England Journal of Higher Education, The, Winter 2001

New England's prestigious colleges and universities offer a mixed bag when it comes to appointing black trustees, according to a new survey by the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education.

Of the 813 trustees of America's 25 highest-ranking liberal arts colleges, 76 or 9 percent are black. Wesleyan University leads the group with six black trustees, accounting for 20 percent of the 30-member board. Amherst College is second with blacks accounting for 19 percent of trustees. But Middlebury, Connecticut and Colby colleges are among the six major U.S. liberal arts colleges with just one black trustee each.

Among the 1,277 trustees of the nation's 27 "highest-ranking universities," 83 or 7 percent are black. Cornell University leads the nation with seven black trustees; Brown University has six, tied for second with Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins. Brown, Harvard and Yale are among the 10 high-ranking universities where blacks make up at least 10 percent of trustees.