Most College Presidents Think Campus Race Relations Are Fine
A significant part of the American news in the past year has featured images of angry protests against racism on college campuses. Don’t tell the college presidents.
From Inside Higher Ed, here are the results of their annual Survey of College and University Presidents, which drew responses from 727 college leaders across the country. A key takeaway:
[The] proportion of presidents who characterized race relations on their campus as “excellent” went up from 18 to 20 percent in the 2016 survey. The percentage who said “good” grew from 63 to 64 percent. So 84 percent of presidents this year believe race relations on their campus are either excellent or good.
The survey found that presidents did seem to be aware of the frustrations of minority students on other presidents’ campuses.
This year, only 24 percent of the presidents described the state of race relations at colleges nationwide as good, and no one characterized them as excellent.
We stand with these leaders in condemning the racism of other, lesser places.
