DHL 2017 – Dr. Eduardo Padrón

Growing Inequality and Declining Economic Mobility, the Twin Challenges of our Time: What Leaders of Higher Education Can Do.

“We need to embrace the understanding that talent is universal, but right now, opportunity is not. We need to change that equation.” – Dr. Eduardo Padron, President, Miami Dada College

Dr. Eduardo Padrón, President of Miami Dade College, addressed the challenge of growing inequality and decreasing economic mobility in higher education in the 2017 Dallas Herring Lecture.

Dr. Padrón began by mapping the changes in society and higher education from the middle of the twentieth century to the present moment. He pointed out that this period spans from the introduction of the G.I. Bill, which dramatically expanded higher education access, to today, when studies have shown significantly greater government spending on predominantly white public higher education institutions compared with majority Black institutions.

To combat increasing inequality and decreasing social mobility in higher education, Dr. Padrón offered five suggestions for higher education leaders:
– Reclaiming the meaning of prestige,
– reclaiming vocational education,
– linking higher education with entrepreneurial energy,
– continuing to make the case for college learning, and
– building comprehensive support systems for students.

Dr. Padrón concluded his speech by calling on college educators to recognize their duty “to the people struggling to find their place in a changing world,” adding, “we need to fulfill our obligation to work with a
new generation of students.”

Summary provided by Nation Hahn, Advisor, John M. Belk Endowment
& Joshua Perrin, Founder, Sound and Sense Communications