Building Sustainable Power: Latino Scholars and Academic Leadership Positions at U.S. Institutions of Higher Learning
There is a dearth of Latino individuals in academic leadership positions—from
chairs to presidents—in U.S. institutions of higher learning. Why is this? In his
essay “Latinos and Academic Leadership in American Higher Education,” Roberto
Haro (2003) said,
The level of attainment required of Latino faculty for advancement as a department head,
or academic dean tends to be different and more demanding than for non-Latinos. The
regent of a major university was candid in commenting to me about this process. He said
that Latinos [men and women] were newcomers to the world of higher education. They did not have the “kinds” of training and experience in the academy that would make him comfortable with them in a leadership role. “I will not vote for a person to lead my
institution unless he has the qualities, the temperament and style that reflect the performance
of previous presidents,” he said. As I looked at the pictures of the previous
presidents of this university, they were all White males.
The issue of comfort does indeed keep coming up. White people tend to feel uncomfortable with Latino individuals, whom they generally do not perceive as leadership material. At the same time, Latino leaders do not always understand what they are up against.
In his essay “Building a Leap for Latinos in Higher Education,” David J. León (2003) stated,
- Minorities cannot become leaders unless they understand power in organizations. . . . Minorities perceive power differently from whites. People of color see power as earned. Minorities say, “If I work hard enough, I will be promoted.” Whites see power as a prerequisite for a promotion. They say, “If I gain enough power, I’ll get promoted.” Minorities must acquire power first before advancing in any organization.
In other words, competence does not lead to power, but rather the reverse: Power leads to being recognized as competent. Without power, competence is invisible, perhaps even impossible. Only those who have power are perceived as competent and can, therefore, be effective, and Latino individuals have an acute power shortage. As a result, although they are already the country’s largest minority group—one that keeps growing—they do not occupy academic leadership positions in numbers that reflect their presence in the population. Indeed, very few Latino individuals head institutions of higher learning, and most of those who do are at 2-year and 4-year colleges, with no more than a handful serving as presidents of research universities. This situation is not good for the country, which needs more diverse leadership at its universities, if these are to prepare an increasingly multiracial and multicultural population for the knowledge-based economy.
To have greater Latino representation among academic leaders, there must be a multipronged effort by institutions of higher learning, the Hispanic community, and Latino faculty members who wish to become academic administrators.
Institutions of higher learning should develop a master plan for diversity in administration, including establishing specific targets for Latino representation. Well-intentioned academic leaders often express a desire to hire more Latino faculty and administrators in general, but they seldom carefully analyze the situation or make detailed plans. The first thing they need to do is to draw a map showing who is where and determine need. For example, a campus might have a shortage of Latino faculty and administrators in certain academic disciplines or in certain ranks. Efforts to increase Latino presence should be very focused and deliberate.
Once a clear idea exists of what a campus’s specific needs are, its leaders should develop aggressive recruitment strategies. Although reaching outside of the institution will be necessary in many cases, an effort should be made not to overlook existing talent, a problem that particularly affects Latino individuals, whose leadership potential tends to be ignored. Indeed, it would be important to invest resources in developing talent by mentoring promising Latino academics and giving them opportunities to show their worth through administrative internships and the like.
As important as recruitment is retention. Women and members of minority groups, including Latino individuals, encounter more problems in the workplace than do White males, and this needs to be acknowledged and addressed. Universities should offer very sophisticated diversity training to all members of their management teams, from chairs to presidents, so that these, in turn, can offer appropriate support to Latino administrators. Academic leaders need to become aware of the patterns of discrimination that plague Latino administrators, including the four main problems studied by Leonard Valverde (2003), namely, (a) fundamental misunderstanding (being seen as disloyal), (b) flawed expectations (being hired to defend the status quo), (c) being overwhelmingly undervalued (never perceived as truly competent, no matter how accomplished), and (d) being quick to become expendable (because of all of the above). This and other studies spelling out patterns of discrimination affecting women and members of minority groups, such as those by Virginia Valian (1998), JoAnn Moody (2004), and Caroline Turner and Samuel Myers (2000), should be mandatory reading for administrators. Academic leaders need to be taught to see the invisible.
The Hispanic community must establish a strong working relationship with institutions of higher learning and use power in a measured and sustained way to encourage academic leaders to do all of the above while avoiding direct confrontations. In recent times, a number of universities have hired Latino academics because of pressure. This has not been a good experience. The pattern is becoming familiar. Exasperated by the continuous lack of Latino representation in higher education, the Hispanic community makes a fuss about a specific search and demands that a Latino scholar be appointed to the position. In response, the appointing authorities do not give the job to any of the Latino individuals favored by the Hispanic community. Instead, they look for a different kind of Latino academic, one perceived to be less involved in the Hispanic community, or else they simply hire a member of a different minority group. This makes everyone very unhappy. The Hispanic community feels cheated, the appointing authorities are not pleased about having had to cave in to pressure, and the candidate hired—regardless of qualifications—is likely to have a rough, and probably shorter than usual, tenure because no one truly supported his or her candidacy in the first place. The leadership path for Latino scholars is more accidental, and far more traumatic, than that for White academics.
People wonder why there seems to be a revolving door for Latino individuals in academic administration. This is why: Latino scholars are not hired for the same reasons as White academics are. They are not treated as people who are building administrative careers but rather as disposable candidates filling minority slots. Latino scholars are overlooked for positions for which they are qualified and are hired only when there is a crisis of some sort. Then, as soon as the pressure eases, they are let go, until there is another crisis and another Latino candidate has to be found quickly to fill another post.
The Hispanic community’s alternating approaches of inaction and upheaval have not been helpful. Of course, if it had not been for episodes of upheaval, there would be even fewer Latino administrators than there are today, but the current situation is, nevertheless, not satisfactory. The Hispanic community needs to move past this seesaw of endurance and impatience and start applying gentle, but constant, pressure on universities to foster the development of Latino academic leaders. It should not wait for the establishment to fix its problems or become impatient when it fails to do so. Rather, the Hispanic community should partner with the broader community to improve Latino participation in a judicious and steady fashion. The focus should be on building sustainable power with which to help Latino individuals develop their talent.
Latino faculty members who wish to become academic administrators need to keep in touch with the Hispanic community, as noted by Antonio Esquibel (1992), who emphasizes the importance of looking for jobs in areas with large Latino populations and of having sterling qualifications. Indeed, aspiring Latino administrators should develop a strong scholarly record, seek advice from a variety of mentors, join relevant committees, do a good job, get credit for their work, and participate in leadership programs. The most crucial qualification is having strong academic credentials. The importance of this qualification cannot be overemphasized. Because of discrimination, Latino scholars need to be better than White academics to be perceived as equally good. Faculty members who aspire to become administrators will need to show that they can lead the faculty, so their academic credentials must be impeccable.
But it is not enough for aspiring Latino administrators to be good scholars. They also need to understand the ways of academia. For that, they need multiple mentors to teach them how things are done and to support their candidacies for various positions, beginning with membership on committees. Administrators often are selected from the group of faculty members who do well on committees. So service is important, but some committees are better preparation for administration than others. The most consequential committees usually deal with budget, personnel (tenure, promotion, and merit), and academic issues (research, graduate and undergraduate education). Certain search committees and strategic planning task forces can be quite influential as well. Latino faculty members have to be careful not to overextend themselves. Women and members of minority groups are usually given a heavierthan- normal service load. Latino academics should avoid falling into this trap. They should serve on a manageable number of committees, make sure that these are relevant, and then do a very good job.
In addition, Latino faculty members must make sure that they get credit for their contributions. It will not do them any good to be strong scholars and effective members of key committees if people are not aware of their work. Women and members of minority groups have visibility problems, which have a very damaging effect on their careers. Latino scholars have to find discrete but effective ways to remind people of their accomplishments on a regular basis. It is also important for them to participate in leadership programs, not only because they will learn new things but also because they will make new contacts. To be well connected is crucial, among other things, because influential friends are important potential promoters, which is a good way to fight the pernicious invisibility that afflicts Latino individuals.
Finally, Latino faculty members who wish to become involved in administration have to be ready to move. No one is a prophet in his or her own institution, least of all women and members of minority groups. If Latino scholars limit themselves to a given university or to a given geographical area, their chances of success will be minimal, no matter how good they are. Latino scholars need to be adventurous if they are to lead.
