The Wave of College Presidential Departures Hits HBCUS

Higher education is witnessing a flurry of presidential departures as college and university leaders are resigning, retiring or being terminated across the sector. But some segments are seeing an acute number of departures relative to their size. Take the nation’s roughly 100 historically Black colleges and universities, where nearly a quarter of presidential seats have opened since 2022, according to Terrell Strayhorn, director of the Center for the Study of HBCUs at Virginia Union University. He said the rate of departure has been especially high this year, with more than a dozen presidents stepping down since March.