Next to adjust at SJSU

By: John Hornberg

Posted: 5/5/08

Each finalist for SJSU's presidency is different - but the campuses they come from might not be that different from each other.

Demographic information from each of the finalists' universities indicates three similar campuses - all predominantly white students, with ethnic groups that are highly represented at SJSU making up a small percentage.

A diverse candidate pool wasn't the main consideration of the selection committee, said Gerry Selter, an assistant to the president, but they were aware of it.

"The idea is to get the best-qualified candidate for the position," Selter said, adding that there is one Latino and a woman in the final candidate pool. "There is always an effort to identify qualified people from different backgrounds."

None of the universities where the finalists work now has a Hispanic population totaling slightly more than 13 percent of its population, or an Asian population at more than 3.5 percent. In contrast, Hispanics make up about 24 percent of the student population at SJSU, while Asian Americans add another 22 percent.

Finding someone from another university as diverse as SJSU presented a challenge, said Associated Students' President Ben Henderson.

"We definitely considered the school's diversity," he said. "It's hard to have a candidate from a campus as diverse as ours."

Texas Tech University, where finalist Jon Whitmore has served as president for the past five years, has a campus a population of more than 28,000. Of that population, about 75 percent are white students, and no other ethnic group besides Hispanics make up more than 8 percent of the student populace.

Demographic information from Northern Arizona University, where Elizabeth Grobsmith served as provost and vice president of academic affairs, is similar to Texas Tech. About 70 percent of the 21,300 students identify as white.

Sonoma State University is, according to information from its office of institutional research, composed mostly of white students. The university where Eduardo Ochoa has served as provost and vice president of academic affairs is composed of about 66 percent white students.

Of its nearly 32,000 students, SJSU's student population is about 43 percent white according to demographic information for the Fall semester.

One of the qualifications listed by the CSU for the new SJSU president is "Demonstrated success in promoting diversity, and sensitivity to cultural diversity and multi-cultural education."

Henderson said the race and gender of each candidate was considered during the presidential search. The goal, he said, was to find people who would best represent the campus and its diversity.

"We wanted to have diverse candidates," he said. "We definitely wanted to have candidates who were sensitive to race and gender issues on campus."

Each member of the presidential selection committee represented a different constituency, Henderson said, and asked questions of the applicants based on whom they represented.

"It's not just about the diversity of the campus," he said. "But it's about being sensitive to the diversity of the campus."