Steering Against the Tide? Presidential Leadership and Diversity at Amherst College
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University of Massachusetts Amherst ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst Doctoral Dissertations Dissertations and Theses July 2019 STEERING AGAINST THE TIDE? PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP AND DIVERSITY AT AMHERST COLLEGE Letha Gayle-Brissett University of Massachusetts Amherst Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2 Part of the Educational Leadership Commons, and the Higher Education Commons Recommended Citation Gayle-Brissett, Letha, "STEERING AGAINST THE TIDE? PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP AND DIVERSITY AT AMHERST COLLEGE" (2019). Doctoral Dissertations. 1591. https://doi.org/10.7275/14167615 https://scholarworks.umass.edu/dissertations_2/1591 This Open Access Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Dissertations and Theses at ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of ScholarWorks@UMass Amherst. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STEERING AGAINST THE TIDE? PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP AND DIVERSITY AT AMHERST COLLEGE A Dissertation Presented by LETHA D. GAYLE-BRISSETT Submitted to the Graduate School of the University of Massachusetts Amherst in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY May 2019 College of Education © Copyright by Letha D. Gayle-Brissett 2019 All Rights Reserved STEERING AGAINST THE TIDE? PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP AND DIVERSITY AT AMHERST COLLEGE A Dissertation Presented by LETHA D. GAYLE-BRISSETT Approved as to style and content by: ____________________________________ Ryan S. Wells, Chair ____________________________________ Sharon F. Rallis, Member ____________________________________ Carlene J. Edie, Member ____________________________________ Jennifer Randall Associate Dean of Academic Affairs College of Education DEDICATION To my loving, caring, patient and supportive family ACKNOWLEDGMENTS A special thanks to my family and friends, my dissertation committee, my EPRA Cohort colleagues and the research participants. Many thanks to my dissertation committee members, Sharon Rallis and Carlene Edie, for your feedback, insightful contributions and inspirations that you have provided during the dissertation process. To my dissertation chair, Ryan Wells, you are a remarkable advisor. Your guidance, support, and the timely manner in which you provided feedback was greatly appreciated. It made the process less stressful. I am most grateful to my loving, caring, patient and supportive family. To my beautiful children Keel and Kora, you are my world and my inspiration. Thank you for being patient with me and reminding me that I can do it. My husband Nigel, thank you for believing in me. You cannot imagine how much your interest, unwavering support, encouragement and extra nudges have helped my progress over the years. My EPRA cohort colleagues, Gerry Blanco, Cheryl Brooks, Jackie Brousseau- Pereira, Dan de la Torre, Sabrina Durand, Dawn Rendell and Sara Sandstrom, you have all enriched my experiences throughout this journey—thank you. To the study participants, without you this research would not have been possible, so my sincere thanks to you for making the time to meet with me and openly sharing your perceptions. v ABSTRACT STEERING AGAINST THE TIDE? PRESIDENTIAL LEADERSHIP AND DIVERSITY AT AMHERST COLLEGE MAY 2019 LETHA D. GAYLE-BRISSETT, B.A., UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES M.S., UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES Ph.D., UNIVERSITY OF MASSACHUSETTS AMHERST Directed by: Professor Ryan S. Wells One of the more significant success stories of inclusion in US higher education has been that of Amherst College’s transformation into a highly diverse student body. This research examines the role and effect of presidential leadership in Amherst College’s diversity achievement. Using a case study design, data was collected from interviews with then President Anthony Marx, various members of the College community who were central stakeholders in the diversity initiative, and selected archival original College documents. The research draws on Bolman and Deal’s (2003) organizational leadership framework to analyze how various institutional dimensions of the College were challenged and changed to facilitate greater inclusion of an increasingly diverse student body. The study finds that Amherst College’s successful diversity and inclusion program was largely a function of transformative presidential leadership in significant areas. At the initial level, the president was able to capitalize on the national and global demand for increased access to quality higher education, as well as Amherst vi College’s founding principle of inclusion, to sell the vision to Amherst College’s stakeholders. Secondly, successful transformative leadership was based on the president’s ability to develop and implement practical and structural mechanisms in areas of management and financing to recruit and ultimately support a more diverse student body. Finally, the research highlights that transformative presidential leadership is also contextual and must be based on both the educational institution and the environment in which it operates. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ...................................................................................................v ABSTRACT ....................................................................................................................... vi LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................. xi LIST OF FIGURES .......................................................................................................... xii CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................1 Definition of Terms ..................................................................................................6 Significance of the Study .........................................................................................8 The Background of Amherst College ....................................................................10 The Story of Amherst College and the Formation of its Values and Ethos ...................................................................................................10 The Founding of the College .....................................................................12 Fifty Years After the College's Opening ....................................................16 Amherst Becomes a Co-educational Institution .......................................17 Anthony W. Marx: A Brief Background ...............................................................21 2. REVIEW OF THE LITERATURE .......................................................................24 The Argument for Diversifying Higher Education ................................................24 A History of Institutional Exclusion ......................................................................26 Other Factors Restricting Access ...........................................................................28 Increasing Cost of Higher Education .........................................................29 Limited Social and Cultural Capital ..........................................................30 Lack of College Preparation ......................................................................32 Leadership in Higher Education ............................................................................33 Theorizing Leadership ...........................................................................................34 Trait Theory ...............................................................................................36 Behavioral Theory .....................................................................................36 Contingency Theory ...................................................................................37 Transactional Leadership Theory ..............................................................38 Transformational Leadership .....................................................................39 viii Presidential Leadership for Diversity ....................................................................42 Nature of Institutions .............................................................................................43 Organizational Leadership .....................................................................................47 Conceptual Framework .........................................................................................48 3. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHOD ...............................................................50 Selection of the Case ..............................................................................................51 Boundaries of the Study .........................................................................................52 Data Collection ......................................................................................................53 Document Selection ...................................................................................54 Interviews ...................................................................................................55 Interview Protocol and Main Questions to Guide the Research ................55 Participant Selection ..............................................................................................56 Data Coding, Analysis and Interpretation ..............................................................57