Pullias Center Publishes Report on the Role of University Boards in Higher Education and Racial Equity

Getting the Boards Involved: Considering Racial Equity at the Highest Level of University Governance is one of five reports generated from research funded by the inaugural Pullias Center Equity Alumni Awards created to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Pullias Center.

Raquel M. Rall (‘14), author of the publication and former Pullias Center member, is an Assistant Professor of Higher Education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Riverside. She received her PhD in Urban Education Policy at the University of Southern California. Rall’s report explores the role played by boards of trustees when universities and colleges desire to tackle racial inequity.

“Boards have recently seen themselves in more of the spotlight due to issues of sexual assault and admissions scandals and accordingly, trustees have had to assume more active roles,” mentions Rall in the report. “This type of increased engagement is necessary to address issues of inequity in higher education as well. Inquiry alone may not bring about equity. Boards can no longer be ‘invisible’ key factors in diversity planning on campuses.”

The report advises trustees to assess their identities, privileges, and biases while incorporating diversity and antiracism into their college or university’s organizational structures and cultures. Additionally, the publication presents boards with actions to pursue and questions to ask themselves to improve the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion at their institution and dismantle the systemic oppression within it.

Visit the Pullias Center website for more information on Pullias Center Equity Alumni Award-funded projects or the center’s other projects related to racial equity in higher education.