Openly gay or lesbian college presidents are few and far between. But their numbers are growing, and a group is forming to bring them together in a city where they aren’t so rare: Chicago, which has three openly gay college chiefs.
Raymond E. Crossman, president of the Adler School of Professional Psychology, and Charles R. Middleton, president of Roosevelt University, helped to organize the meeting, which will be held August 6 and 7 at their two campuses. They hope the new group will provide professional support for “out” presidents, as well as a possible platform for future advocacy.
Mr. Middleton said the meeting would be a venue where “we don’t have to talk in code; we can be blunt with each other.” And while leaders who attend will discuss their shared experiences as gay presidents, he said, the group will also tackle issues all presidents face, like budgets and student retention.
The group’s planning committee of four presidents started by thinking of all the openly gay and lesbian chief executives in American higher education that they could—a total of only 21. That number is larger, however, than the 11 identified by The Chronicle in 2007. And there are several recent hires among them, including presidents at Grinnell College and Montgomery College. Perhaps most notable was the 2008 hiring of Carolyn A. (Biddy) Martin, chancellor of the University of Wisconsin at Madison.
“We are starting to populate all the different categories of higher education,” said Mr. Crossman. He and other gay leaders felt that a “critical mass” had been reached and that it was time to create a formal group.
Barriers Remain
There are many openly gay administrators at the vice-president and dean levels, but progress remains slow in the presidency.
“There are so few at the very top level,” Mr. Crossman said. “That’s where the prejudice exists.”
Several barriers may prevent the appointment of an openly gay president, including skittish governing boards that fear the alienation of donors or state lawmakers. And gay and lesbian leaders say that vice presidents often choose to avoid the scrutiny that comes with being a candidate for a presidency, or might stay in the closet throughout their career.
Mr. Crossman and Mr. Middleton said the group could help develop talent, much as other efforts have cultivated future presidents among women, and blacks and other minority groups. Given the large number of retirements among baby boomers, they said, the time is ripe for a substantial increase in the number of openly gay college presidents.
“You can’t take away any group” from the talent pool, said Mr. Middleton. “We should be part of the conversation.”
On the agenda will be the role of partners, who were invited to join presidents at the meeting. Same-sex partners face unique challenges in negotiating campus communities, said Mr. Crossman. And the issue is changing as more states legalize gay marriage.
About half of the invited presidents have said they will attend. And the group’s organizers said they hope it will become an annual meeting.