Adem Jones || Issue 14 || February 25, 2025
Walk through Hudson Valley Community College on any given day, and you’ll see a student body that represents a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, and perspectives. But step into a room where major decisions about the college are made, and it’s like stepping into another world. The diversity that defines the campus doesn’t seem to make it past the door. I saw this firsthand when I attended a Board of Trustees meeting last semester. Nearly everyone in the room, those making decisions, those speaking, those holding positions of power, was white. Among the board members, just one Black person sat at the table. Looking around, I realized I was the only Black person in the audience. For a campus as diverse as HVCC, it was jarring. The people shaping the policies and future of this college looked nothing like the students walking its halls. And now, as HVCC searches for its next president, the same pattern is playing out. The final candidates for the position are all white, following a long-standing trend in higher education where leadership often fails to reflect the students it serves. This isn’t just about checking a box or making the administration look more inclusive—it’s about the reality
of who gets to lead and make decisions that impact all of us. Representation matters. Leadership influences everything from curriculum to hiring practices to funding priorities. When the people in charge share similar backgrounds and perspectives, the policies they create often reflect that limited worldview. It’s not like there aren’t qualified candidates of color in higher education, but according to the American Council on Education, only about 13% of college presidents nationwide are people of color, despite the increasing diversity of student populations across the country. Leadership in higher education has long been dominated by white administrators, a pattern that isn’t just coincidental, it’s systemic. Barriers to advancement, limited recruitment efforts, and the preference for candidates who fit a traditional mold all contribute to the lack of diversity at the top. At HVCC, that system is playing out in real time. A school that thrives on diversity is once again placing power in the hands of a leadership team that doesn’t reflect it. It sends a message, intentional or not, that while students of
all backgrounds are welcome here, the highest levels of leadership are still reserved for a select few.
No one is saying the current candidates aren’t qualified. But in a school where diversity is central to student life, shouldn’t leadership reflect that? Shouldn’t the people making decisions for the future of HVCC represent the students they’re leading? It’s a question worth asking. The real one, though, is whether those in power are actually listening.
The Hudsonian 