Commonwealth Club Of California Podcast

Join us for a virtual conversation with Professor Eddie Cole, whose research has revealed how closely intertwined some of America’s most pressing civil rights issues―desegregation, equal educational and employment opportunities, housing discrimination, and free speech―have been with higher education institutions. Cole supplements the common knowledge about the roles that college students and other activists played in the fight for and against civil rights by covering the roles played by the nation’s college presidents. Based on archival research conducted at universities and colleges across the United States, Cole focuses on the period between 1948 and 1968, during which college presidents strategically, yet often silently, initiated and shaped racial policies inside and outside of the educational sphere. With courage and hope, as well as with malice and cruelty, college presidents positioned themselves―sometimes precariously―amid conflicting interests and demands. Black college presidents challenged racist p