Ronald Mason Jr. Named President of Southern University System

Ronald Mason Jr., one of America’s most renowned and publicly-embattled HBCU leaders, has been selected as the next president of the Southern University System. He will resign his position as president of Jackson State University on June 30 of this year. From the release:

After the announcement of Mason being selected as president, Murphy Bell, co- chair of the Southern University System Presidential Search Committee, said that Mason’s breadth of experience, proven leadership, and developments in campus infrastructure during his tenure at Jackson State attracted the attention of many members of the Search Committee, which was charged with guiding the presidential search and ultimately recommending candidates to the Board.

Mason also has extensive involvement in public service and professional activities, including current membership on the White House Board of Advisors for Historically Black Colleges and Universities and the Boards of the Thurgood Marshall Scholarship Fund, National Association for Equal Opportunity in Higher Education (NAFEO). Additionally, he has served on the Boards of the American Council on Education and the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity, Office of Postsecondary Education.

“Ron Mason is the perfect candidate to lead the SU System,” said Tony Clayton, Chairman of the SU Board of Supervisors. “He has a unique grasp of the mission of land-grant universities and a passion for that mission. He also brings solid experience in advancing public institutions by managing them effectively, expanding them through capital outlay, and enhancing them by forging successful ties and creating a sense of shared purpose with the external communities. I am delighted to welcome him into the Jaguar Nation.”

Mason’s selection will go down as one of the most predictably-dubious appointments in black college history. A late entry to the interview process, Mason was almost ushered into the job despite continued backlash from his controversial merger idea for Mississippi’s three public HBCUs. Just yesterday, Mason composed a letter to the JSU community, in effect resigning “if he were to be selected.”

He knew it. We knew it. The Southern Board knew it when they asked him to apply.  Now, we can only hope that Mason’s track record for development, fundraising and academic integrity won’t be derailed by talk of mergers or disenchanted faculty.

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