Rice tackles diversity issues

Rolundus Rice sits in his office at Lincoln University.
Rolundus Rice sits in his office at Lincoln University.

Rolundus Rice came to Jefferson City last fall, to take on a special assignment at Lincoln University - helping the historically black college improve its diversity.

Since arriving as the chief diversity officer, he's also been named as Lincoln's assistant provost for Academic Affairs and - just last Friday - as the new Graduate School dean.

Last year, LU observed the 150th anniversary of its founding by soldiers of the 62nd and 65th Missouri Colored Infantry units, who wanted to start a school that would provide basic education to freed people and former slaves - all of whom had been denied learning reading, writing and arithmetic skills by an 1847 state law.

During the years when America's policy was "separate but equal," Lincoln was Missouri's college for African Americans who couldn't attend other state-owned schools because of the color of their skin.

After the U.S. Supreme Court's 1954 ruling that segregation was unconstitutional, Lincoln began to attract Caucasian students from Mid-Missouri as well as African Americans from around the nation.

By the 1990s, the historically black college was teaching a student body that was almost three-quarters white.

Then President Wendell G. Rayburn (who died about a month ago) called Lincoln one of the most diverse places in the country, and urged LU's administrators to promote that diversity, to help students be successful in diverse working world.

But, Rice told the News Tribune during a recent interview: "If you look at other HBCUs, they look very different from Lincoln University. And what a lot of people don't understand is that diversity also dovetails with institutional sustainability."

Minority students choose Lincoln "to have that authentic HBCU experience," Rice said, but tell LU administrators they're not getting the support they're looking for because there aren't enough African Americans among the faculty.

LU President Kevin Rome announced Rice's hiring during the Faculty-Staff Fall Institute last August - with his initial job to help Lincoln recruit more African Americans and other minority group members to be teachers.

Rice grew up in Atlanta, and initially didn't find academic work all that exciting or attractive.

"I'm actually a high school dropout," he explained. "I earned a GED."

Rice earned his bachelor's degree from DeVry University, and continued on the academic path with a master's degree in history from Alabama State University, Montgomery, and then a doctorate from Auburn University.

"I was the second African American to finish the history degree there," Rice recalled.

At 34, many might consider Rice too young to have the kind of authority positions he's held over the years.

"A lot of people are baffled by my age," Rice said. "I started working in Higher Ed in 2006, so I've been doing this for about 10 years."

And his LU job isn't the first he's had.

"Before I came here, I was the dean (of Talladega College's dean of humanities and fine arts)," Rice said, "so I oversaw five different academic divisions."

Rice sees his job as a challenge to attract more faculty from around the country - and the world - as it has been trying to expand the places it reaches out to attract students.

"You advise and mentor students from the moment they arrive on campus, until they land a tenure-track appointment after graduate school - it's more than just scheduling their classes," Rice said. "You should be involved in their lives.

"And it's hard for you to be involved in somebody's life if you don't understand their background, their experiences and what they have had to endure to get to this point."

His own experience includes being a single father for awhile, before marrying his wife and expanding his family.

As a historian, Rice finds today's racism and discrimination attitudes to be very different from those of the Civil Rights movement of the 1960s and 70s.

"Some would argue that we live in a post-racial society - and that is a running theme in many households and state legislatures and, even, the Supreme Court," he explained. "But you have to look beyond the presidency, to graduation rates and the economic outlook of people of color (and) the employment sector."

He points to the recent stories of blacks being shot or killed by police officers as just one example of the continuing differences in treatment of people based on their race.

Diversity training for faculty and students will help improve that, the said.

"Ultimately, the goal is to educate these students," Rice said. "We just want to make sure that everybody's getting a fair shake.

"Ultimately, we have to look at what is best for the students we are charged with equipping to compete in a pluralistic society.

"We have to move beyond just toleration."