Here at The Chronicle, the release of the American Council on Education’s survey of college presidents is greeted with the same enthusiasm as a new season of The Americans. That is to say, we love it dearly, but we really hope this one will be more inspiring than the last.
There are bright spots in the 2017 edition of the American College President Study, which was released on Tuesday.
Slowly but surely, college leadership is getting a little more diverse. Moreover, most of the old, white men who dominate the presidency are promising to release their death grip on the office over the course of the next five years.
The big-picture demographic data contained in the report’s 126 pages will inform college leaders and journalists for the next five years, which is the painful length of time we have to wait for the next season of The Americans (College Presidents edition). Meantime, here are a few nuggets of intrigue that we found buried in the newly released tome.
Nearly half of presidents are Protestants, followed by 26.8 percent Roman Catholic.
1. The sexual orientation of the college presidency has been reduced down to decimal points. Presidents are 95.5 percent heterosexual or straight; 3.3 percent gay or lesbian; 0.5 percent bisexual, and 0.7 percent other. (In terms of gender identity, 0.1 percent identified as something other than male or female.)
2. Along the political spectrum, nearly half of presidents characterize themselves as very liberal or moderately liberal. A quarter said they were moderately conservative or very conservative. Twenty-eight percent described themselves as “middle of the road.”
3. Nearly half of presidents are Protestants, followed by 26.8 percent Roman Catholic. About 13.7 percent have no religious affiliation, and 4.7 percent are Jewish. Muslim and Buddhist presidents, who accounted for 0.3 percent and 0.7 percent of respondents, respectively, are hardly a presence in college leadership; 4.6 percent belong to “other” religions, and 1.1 percent are Mormon.
4. For-profit college leaders barely participated. Much as we’d like to know about them, only 31 presidents of career colleges responded to the council’s survey. The sector’s paltry 6-percent response rate was far below that of leaders of public and private nonprofit colleges, who had response rates of 51 percent and 46 percent, respectively.
5. Presidents get loads of perks, but child care isn’t one of them. Only 0.7 percent of respondents said child care was included in their contracts. Granted, they’re well compensated. Half of college presidents at doctorate-granting colleges have an “entertainment budget.”
Jack Stripling covers college leadership, particularly presidents and governing boards. Follow him on Twitter @jackstripling, or email him at jack.stripling@chronicle.com.
