When Dr. Julian Vasquez Heilig steps into his post as Western Michigan University’s (WMU) provost and vice president for academic affairs this January, he will be giving the school membership in an exceedingly small club. WMU will become one of the nation' only predominantly white institutions (PWI) to be led by both a president and a provost of color.
Dr. Julian Vasquez Heiling, incoming provost and vice president for academic affairs, Western Michigan University
According to experts in higher ed administrative diversity, the top two posts of minority serving institutions are routinely filled by people from minoritized backgrounds, but it remains vanishingly rare among PWIs. Among the few are Rutgers University, led by president Dr. Jonathan Holloway and chancellor-provost Dr. Francine Conway, and the New School, led by president Dr. Dwight A. McBride and provost and executive vice president for academic affairs Dr. Renée T. White. The University of California system was recently led by two people of color, but provost Dr. Michael Brown stepped down this year.
A college’s two top administrators being people of color “sends a powerful message,” according to Dr. Royel Johnson, an associate professor of higher education at the University of Southern California’s Rossier School of Education.
Vasquez Heiling agrees.
“I think it says that the faculty senate, the staff, the students, they’re prepared for the changes that are happening in our society,” he said. “That the university is on the cutting edge of being a safe space for all.”
But few PWI have chosen to send this message. Although the exact number of schools with both a president and provost of color is unknown, fewer than 9% of presidents and provosts are Black, according to data from the College and University Professional Association for Human Resources (CUPA-HR).
