Umbrella Association of 118 Black Colleges Selects New President

6/30/2004

From: Tola Thompson of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education, 301-650-2440 ext. 150

WASHINGTON, June 30 -- By unanimous decision, the Board of Directors of the National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO) voted Lezli Baskerville, a Washington, D.C. activist-attorney, to become the fifth president of the 35-year old umbrella association of the nation's118 public and private, 2-year and 4-year historically and predominately black colleges and universities.

The vote followed a national search by a committee lead by Dr. Carlton Brown, President of Savannah State University, which included Drs., Joanne Boyd Scotland, President of Denmark Technical College, Ernest McNealy, President of Stilman College, and Haywood Strickland, President of Wiley College. The selection came just two months after Ms. Baskerville was appointed the organization's Interim President, and it signals the Board's desire to move NAFEO in a new direction.

In making the announcement, NAFEO Chairman and President of Hampton University Dr. William R. Harvey said, "as NAFEO moves into its 35th Anniversary Year, we need a president with a new vision and new vitality. We need a new leader who is passionate, strategic, disciplined and able to meld and advance a wide range of partnerships and strategic relationships to advance the issues and interests of NAFEO member institutions and our constituents. We need a zealous advocate who understands how to get our issues heard in a crowded field, but who also has honed the art of compromise. We need someone who has a proven record in membership- based, service, not-for-profit associations. Attorney Baskerville brings all of these strengths to NAFEO."

In presenting to the Board the unanimous recommendation of the Search Committee that Attorney Baskerville serve as NAFEO's President & CEO, Dr. Brown indicated "we received a very impressive array of resumes that included those of former and currently sitting university presidents, other university executives, researchers, and government relations professionals."

"We interviewed three very strong finalists with distinct strengths. One of the candidates was a university president who has served at the helm of three universities; the other is head of an educational policy institute and a former assistant secretary of education with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Education Research and Improvement (OERI). Despite the unique strengths of each candidate, the Search Committee was unanimous in its decision that Lezli Baskerville is the right person for the position. She possesses a passion about our institutions and our constituents; a clear understanding of the issues of importance to HBCUs and blacks in higher education; and a track record of effectively advancing HBCUs and blacks in higher education. We were united and resolute in our decision that Lezli is the right person with the right skills for our association at this point in its history, " Dr. Brown added.

Dr. Haywood L. Strickland, President of Wiley College and a search committee member offered, "one of the reasons the search process moved so expeditiously and with unanimous consent was because of the outstanding work that Ms. Baskerville has done as Interim NAFEO President." According to Strickland, "Ms. Baskerville addressed the concerns and questions of the Search committee with vision, insight, commitment, and courage."

Mr. H. Patrick Swygert, President of Howard University said, "at the urging of the Board, Ms. Baskerville stepped in to serve as the Interim President on April 27, 2004. In the ensuing two months, she exhibited great courage, resolve, and skill at assessing and advancing the association. She moved with alacrity, precision and dispatch to put in place the systems and infrastructure to foster a culture and climate of equity, excellence and discipline, to add value to the members, and voice to the HBCU community."

Ms. Baskerville's professional career is rooted in NAFEO. She began working with the organization as a legal research associate for Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law Herbert O. Reid, Sr., and has worked with NAFEO over the years in many capacities, including as a member of the legal team that negotiated the consent decree in the landmark higher education institutional equalization case of Adams v. Califano; as a member of the NAFEO brief writing teams in the landmark Supreme Court affirmative action cases of Bakke, Weber, and Fullilove; as a program director; and as outside counsel.

Attorney Baskerville has also served as Vice President for Government Relations of The College Board, founding member of The Baskerville Group, a legal and legislative services collective, an administrative appeals judge for employee appeals in the District of Columbia, National Legislative Counsel for the NAACP, Executive Director of the National Black Leadership Roundtable, a member of the appellate team at the Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, a congressional staffer, and a law clerk in the District of Columbia Court of Appeals.

Ms. Baskerville is both the first female and first non-HBCU president to ascend to the NAFEO presidency. In accepting the appointment as NAFEO President & CEO Ms. Baskerville said, "I graciously and humbly accept the appointment. I am deeply honored at having been selected to serve as NAFEO's fifth president. I thank the NAFEO Board members for the trust and confidence they have placed in me to lead NAFEO at this point in history. I am especially delighted to accept this appointment as the nation celebrates the 40th anniversary of passage of the historic Civil Rights Act of 1964, that among other things included Titles VI that opened doors to educational opportunity to individuals who because of their race, ethnicity, gender, religion, socio-economic status or other non-bona fide reasons, were previously denied equal access to higher education."

"As President and CEO of NAFEO I will work indefatigably to continue to remove artificial barriers to equal educational opportunity and tear down obstacles to educational excellence and equity for all students. I will be an adroit champion of the issues and interests of all historically and predominately black colleges and universities," she added.

"My immediate task is to put in place the personnel policies, systems, financing, and a culture and climate that will enable NAFEO to build and maintain strong relationships and to realize its tremendous potential. I can think of no professional challenge for which I am better equipped; that would be more closely aligned with my professional passions; or that I would find more gratifying than that of shepherding into its 35th Anniversary Year, the association in which I received my professional grounding."