ABSTRACT
Recent announcements of HBCU executive departures and hirings in the first six months of the 2017 academic year leave some campuses and alumni brimming with excitement and others wallowing in regret, confusion, and a profound sense of loss. In the 2016–17 academic year alone, Wilberforce, Arkansas Baptist College, Grambling State University, Southern University-New Orleans, and the Southern University and A&M College Agricultural Research Center will welcome new leadership, support staffs, and renewed vigor around their institutional missions and North Carolina Central University, Bennett College, Johnson C. Smith, Florida A&M University, Allen University, Jackson State University, Alabama State University, and Bowie State University face the prospect of searching for new leadership, direction, and stability. Far from a recent trend, the startlingly high number of HBCU executive departures is a decades-long trend for many institutions, and these come on the heels of a year in which 34 out of the 107 HBCUs announced a chief executive transaction (Broussard, 2016). While this excessive turnover rate often makes for negative press and a debilitating narrative for HBCU institutional progress, a closer look reveals that the problem is much more severe and impactful than the ensuing negative news cycles.
