The sector is still working to comprehend the sudden departure of former Bethune-Cookman University President E. LaBrent Chrite, who this morning was announced as the new president of Bentley University in Massachusetts.
His departure has created a lot of questions within HBCU culture. Is Bethune-Cookman’s board really that bad? Are predominantly white institutions really that eager to recruit Black presidents to lead in a ‘Black Lives Matter’ era? Are HBCUs in a position to prevent any of this from happening?
The answers are complex at every level and vary from campus to campus. But for those who study leadership trends, it is easy to see which campuses and executives are on the verge of running their course of mutual investment.
Some presidents on this list will retire after successful tenures. Some will leave because they will be fired or non-renewed. Some will leave because they are ready to pursue new challenges affording more money or less stress, and most will leave because there is a growing uncertainty of what the historically Black enterprise will look like in life after COVID.
I won’t give the rationale or prediction for each president, but you can match the reasons for rolling out with your perceptions of their talent and value.
Makola Abdullah - Virginia State University
Roslyn Clark Artis - Benedict College
Ray Belton - Southern University
M. Christopher Brown II - Kentucky State University
James Clark - South Carolina State University
Walter Kimbrough - Dillard University
Harold Martin - North Carolina A&T State University
Elwood Robinson - Winston-Salem State University
Michael Sorrell - Paul Quinn College
David Wilson - Morgan State University
The fact that I didn’t see a particular HBCU on this list is not promising🤦🏾♂️... at all. Maybe you should do top 11?🤣😂
I know there are potential superstars presidents out there who welcome the challenge and want the smoke, I just hope these boards have the humility and foresight to hire them. The outdated standard HBCU presidential resume selection/ filtering process clearly hasn’t worked. It’s literally survival of the fittest at this stage...
Abdullah and Sorrell are top notch gunners aka the lights out guys and it would be a great loss for their HBCUs. Kimbrough is still at Dillard (lol), but he is poachable. NC A&T is losing a BOSS and his successor is going to have to bring their 'A' game to fill the big shoes.
I have always been of the belief that you should spread your wings when opportunities knock and you are riding high. Good to those three mentioned.