Throughout the strategic planning process, the Presidential Speaker Series and all of the other adventures of my first academic year here, I’ve been thinking a lot about the future of Portland State.
How can we make sure that PSU thrives in all the ways that make it unique? How can we make sure it’s a place where students from a range of backgrounds can come together here in downtown Portland and collectively and individually pursue their dreams?
I think about all that was happening around the time when I was thinking about attending college — the Civil Rights Movement, the women’s movement, the Gay Liberation movement Title IX of the Higher Education Act of 1972, and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
These movements and laws improved access to higher education for many groups including students from BIPOC backgrounds, women, and other groups who have historically been underrepresented in college classrooms.
I benefited greatly from the women’s movement. I took to academic life and pursued several degrees, I rose through the ranks in the Philosophy Department at the University of Kansas. I was mentored by the KU Provost at the time, Judith Ramaley, who went on to become Portland State’s first woman president.
Before leaning into my role as a university administrator, I was deep into research about feminist theory, analyzing oppression and examining the many ways that capitalism, while far from a perfect system, brought technological and social innovations that are good for women, disrupting traditions that subordinate women in materially beneficial and socially progressive ways.
I decided to pursue administrative roles — the path that led me to the president’s office at Portland State — because I wanted to do something about the barriers that still exist in higher education, despite the many policies and movements that have been pushed forward to remove them.
Because even when students have an equal opportunity to arrive on campus, there are many failures of inclusion that keep them from achieving outcomes on an equal basis. Higher education, like capitalism, is not a perfect system — rising tuition rates and bureaucracy challenge students and campuses everywhere are navigating the demands of honoring free speech and academic freedom in an increasingly divided world.
We must cherish and continue to cultivate diversity, equity and inclusivity because doing so is necessary to ensure that all of our students feel they belong, can come to believe in themselves and become the champions they aspire to be. Living up to those values is good for all of us — each individual, our families and communities, and our economy and democratic society. I still believe that capitalism ushered in real progress for women and I still believe that higher education is a vehicle for social change, social mobility and a more civil society. But progress requires us to be active participants in making sure the system works for everyone.