Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
Negro Digest - Freedom Archives
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policy . Second, the strong faculty<br />
required for the ideal institution<br />
will not surrender its rights .<br />
<strong>Negro</strong> administrators also are<br />
accused of incompetence . Again,<br />
the failing should not be identified<br />
with a particular race . Incompetent<br />
white men preside over colleges,<br />
just as incompetent <strong>Negro</strong>es<br />
do . Conversely, many <strong>Negro</strong>es administer<br />
programs effectively, just<br />
as white men do .<br />
The fact that some presidents<br />
have proved to be incompetent<br />
merely emphasizes the need to select<br />
a president carefully . Some<br />
men cannot cope with the rapid<br />
expansions of colleges today . For<br />
example, an administrator who has<br />
governed successfully as a fatherin-residence<br />
for a family of five<br />
hundred students and seventy<br />
teachers may learn that his methods<br />
fail when the population<br />
doubles .<br />
Traditionally, ministers and professors<br />
have been selected as presidents<br />
of <strong>Negro</strong> colleges . Ministers<br />
are presumed competent to guide<br />
the moral as well as the intellectual<br />
development of students . It is further<br />
assumed that brilliant professors<br />
can reshape the curriculum<br />
imaginatively and can stimulate<br />
academic performance characteristic<br />
of their own work .<br />
The fact is, however, that the<br />
complexity of college administration<br />
today requires the talents of a<br />
corporation executive rather than<br />
those of a scholar or a spiritual<br />
counselor . Higher education is big<br />
bb<br />
business . Some key administrator<br />
on the campus must know how to<br />
secure grants, how to organize staff,<br />
how to handle personnel, how to<br />
prepare and present budgets and<br />
proposals : in short, someone must<br />
know how to operate a big business<br />
successfully . Ideally, therefore .<br />
some top administrator-a vicepresident,<br />
perhaps-should be experienced<br />
in business management .<br />
But how many <strong>Negro</strong>es have been<br />
given the opportunity to exercise<br />
their talents as executives in large<br />
corporations? Whereas some white<br />
colleges may complain that they<br />
cannot find business executives<br />
willing to accept lower salaries as<br />
vice-presidents, <strong>Negro</strong> colleges<br />
must complain of the scarcity of<br />
<strong>Negro</strong>es with sufficient executive<br />
experience to serve even as visiting<br />
consultants .<br />
An ideal institution needs a triumvirate<br />
of key administratorsone<br />
man, experienced in managing<br />
a corporation, who manages the<br />
operation ; a second man - an<br />
imaginative scholar-who spearheads<br />
the academic program ; a<br />
third man, knowledgeable about<br />
budgets, taxes, and law, who serves<br />
as financial officer . Naturally, as a<br />
scholar, I would name the academic<br />
man to the post of president .<br />
Each of the three, however, is essential<br />
to a successful operation,<br />
and each must find sufficient prestige<br />
and satisfaction in his own position<br />
that he will not seek to usurp<br />
the responsibilities of the other<br />
two .<br />
March 1968 NEGRO DIGEST