College Presidents: Some Planning for Growth, Some Cutting, Some Looking for Safe Housing

David A. Thomas has led Morehouse College since 2018, and, recently contracted for another four years, he sees a lot of work ahead for this HBCU. This leader is planning for growth after the SCOTUS affirmative action decision. Steve Easton, president of Dickinson State, in North Dakota, is asking the state’s Board of Higher Education to cut several degree programs, resulting in five tenured faculty members losing their positions: “We are pleased that the number isn’t higher than that, although it’s, of course, hard for everyone to have a decision like this.” (See also WVU Axes 28 Majors and 140 Faculty Jobs Despite Outcries for other cut-back news.) The regents for the University of California are trying to safeguard housing for the system’s president, Michael Drake. His home, purchased with $6.5 million in private donations last year, has had repeated damage, including racist graffiti and smashed windows. There was a $13 million alternative in the form of housing in Piedmont, but that was voted down by a majority of regents.