May 6, 2012, 6:56 pm
By Marybeth Gasman
Today I read an article about Asya Trowell, a student at Penn State who was pledging Omega Essence, a little sister group to Omega Psi Phi fraternity (the fraternity is not recognized by the campus but it still exists).* Asya’s experience being hazed in the process of pledging made my blood boil (please read about it here). I know that some people (including my friends) will be mad at me for writing this essay, but frankly I don’t care. I commend Asya for speaking up and fighting back against the injustice done to her and so many others.
Extreme hazing has been happening across college campuses – from Penn State to Florida A&M University to Rutgers – and it is vile. I don’t care what your justifications are for hazing, I think all of them are just plain wrong. Hazing is pervasive. It happens among all racial and ethnic groups. And unfortunately, some national fraternities…
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May 4, 2012, 11:11 am
By Marybeth Gasman
Yesterday, one of my former African-American Ph.D. students, Valerie Lundy Wagner, sent me an e-mail message asking if I had seen a post by Naomi Schaefer Riley, a blogger for The Chronicle of Higher Education. Valerie is now an assistant professor and faculty fellow at New York University and was a Ford Fellow while a doctoral student. Valerie does work related to racial and ethnic minorities and college achievement. She was deeply offended by Riley’s blog post, which ridiculed black scholars and made light of their research, based on no evidence, and wanted to know my take on the matter.
As someone who cherishes my affiliation with the Center for Africana Studies at Penn, I am also deeply offended by Naomi Schaefer Riley’s uninformed, dismissive, and downright racist portrayal of the work of black-studies scholars as well as her commentary on the specific black graduate students…
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April 26, 2012, 5:17 pm
By Marybeth Gasman
In April, the White House hosted a National Philanthropic Briefing focused on introducing foundation leaders to the strengths and challenges of the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) communities. The White House Initiative on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders and its director, Kiran Ahuja, also challenged the participants to think about the possibilities for the future of AAPIs in the United States.
If you have not been paying attention, you might wonder why the White House would focus on the AAPI community. First, AAPIs are the fastest growing minority population in America. Between 2000 and 2012, the population has grown by 42.9 percent and it is projected to grow another 134 percent to over 35.6 million in the next 40 years. Understanding this community is vital to the future of the United States. Of note, the AAPI community is remarkably diverse in terms of ethnicity. …
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April 12, 2012, 11:39 am
By Marybeth Gasman
Last time I counted there were 16 open HBCU presidencies throughout the nation, including Central State University (Wilberforce, Ohio), Bennett College for Women (Greensboro, N.C.), and Fisk University (Nashville). Many alumni are wondering if there is a crisis in HBCU leadership. There is concern that too many presidents are leaving their positions at the same time. Alumni and HBCU supporters are questioning whether these departures are a trend and asking what is causing them. They wonder if there will be more departures.
I write quite a bit about HBCU leadership and have been watching the changing of the guard in the HBCU presidency for the past 13 years. To me the openings in the HBCU presidency seem quite normal, as most of the presidents who are leaving have served at least 5-7 years—the norm for college presidents. But to others, 16 is a large number of vacancies and it gives …
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March 30, 2012, 10:45 am
By Marybeth Gasman
Whenever someone asks me what I do for a living, I give him or her the long version of “professor.” I find that most people assume professors only teach and are unaware of all the other things we do.
David C. Levy, a former university administrator, recently wrote an essay in The Washington Post titled “Do College Professors Work Hard Enough?” In his essay, Levy claims that faculty members are paid at a rate that is equal to other positions that require advanced degrees. I’m going to assume that he means doctors, lawyers, and business people. He concludes that the higher salaries of faculty members are a positive change in comparison to the past, but thinks that faculty members don’t work hard enough to deserve these salaries. Of note, Levy does spare those faculty members at research institutions from his critique. Faculty members like me. Regardless, there are several…
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March 28, 2012, 5:30 pm
By Marybeth Gasman
Seventeen-year-old Trayvon Martin was killed on February 26. People across the country have rallied to support this young man’s family and call for the apprehension of his killer, George Zimmerman. People from all different racial and ethnic backgrounds have marched together, signed petitions, donned hoodies, and expressed their hurt, outrage, and dismay over this young man’s death. Anyone with a heart can understand the utter pain felt by Trayvon’s parents. To lose a child is perhaps the most devastating thing that can happen in one’s life.
On the campuses of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU’s) students are rallying for justice as well. Across the country, students and, in many cases the presidents at HBCU’s, are gathering together to bring attention to Trayvon Martin as well as all of the other black boys and men who are killed in the United States each year. …
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March 28, 2012, 6:33 am
By Marybeth Gasman
This post is co-authored by Nelson Bowman III, director of development at Prairie View A&M University.
Recently, Claflin University, located in Orangeburg, South Carolina, reported that 45 percent of its living alumni had given to the institution. Not only is this the highest giving rate recorded by Claflin, it is one of the highest among all colleges and universities. The institution is determined to reach the 50-percent mark in the near future, which would make it the first HBCU to boast an alumni giving rate of 50 percent.
Other HBCU’s, as well as colleges and universities overall, are probably wondering how Claflin achieved its success. We have outlined the institution’s strategy below:
First, Claflin received a $1.5-million grant from the United Negro College Fund’s Institute for Capacity Building (ICB). The ICB has a proven track record for strengthening various as…
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March 14, 2012, 1:43 pm
By Marybeth Gasman
The day after Derrick Bell passed away, I wrote a tribute to him for the Chronicle of Higher Education. Bell has been a hero of mine since I was in graduate school. Having met him many times, I can tell you he was a beautiful soul. He was intelligent, eloquent, caring, and reflective. I find it deeply disturbing that hate-filled and uninformed individuals are dragging his name through the mud in order to disparage President Obama. What is truly sad is that these individuals don’t understand Bell’s work or his intellectual capacity and wit.
Breitbart.com has led this smear campaign with others piggy backing on it. Instead of reading Bell’s work, these individuals are merely taking his words out of context and using them as sound bites to incite racial hatred and fear.
I’d like to point out a few of the issues involved in this smear:
Issue one: The smear of Bell is …
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March 4, 2012, 8:25 pm
By Marybeth Gasman
“I can tell you that the days of white, wealthy, upper-class students from prep schools in cashmere coats and pearls who marry Amherst men are over. This is unfortunate because it is this demographic that puts their name on buildings, donates great art and subsidizes scholarships.”
This is a quote from a letter to the editor of Smith College’s Sophian. The author of the letter is Anne Spurzem. She was reacting to statistics related to diversity, which were recently published in the Sophian. Ms. Spurzem, like many older white alumni, is unhappy with the direction that her alma mater is taking in terms of reaching out to students of color and increasing diversity on campus. Her assumption is that the presence of students of color has lowered the quality of Smith and she states this quite clearly in her letter: “As someone who has followed admissions for many years, I can tell…
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February 27, 2012, 7:55 am
By Marybeth Gasman
Shaun Harper, my colleague here at the University of Pennsylvania, recently released a major report on black male student success. He has been working on this report and collecting data on black male achievers for years now and this report is the most comprehensive information we have on the topic. Harper pushes back against the deficit model typically applied to black men and most minorities and shows us how these young men achieve success academically, socially, and personally. The report should be read by faculty and administrators across the country and should also be given to students as it offers a sense of inspiration and empowerment.
As someone interested in Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCU’s) and student success at these institutions, I read the report with an eye toward what it could tell us about black male success at HBCU’s. The black men featured in …
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