WOMEN IN HIGHER EDUCATION IN LOUISIANA:
A Report

Beth Willinger, Nancy Brannon, Margaret Goodwin, Eve Halpern,
Meghan Johnson, Lisa Kelly, Laura Lambert, Julie LaRosa,
Kathryn Poindexter, Renee Randazzo, Amanda Rubel, and Kate Wunsch

Copyright Newcomb College Center for Research on Women
Newcomb College of Tulane University, New Orleans

April 2000

 
Women now comprise more than half of all college students nationwide. While this is a significant achievement for women, equality of education does not simply begin or end with women's equal access to educational opportunities. Achieving full equality is far more complex. Institutions themselves must change to establish services that recognize the whole woman, including her rights and her responsibilities; provide a curriculum that values equally the contributions of women and men; and ensure the even distribution and success of women throughout the institution, particularly in decision making positions. Through case studies of 11 colleges and universities, we examine various factors relevant to women's educational opportunities and experiences to determine how well Louisiana's institutions of higher education are doing in achieving equality for women.

The research was undertaken as a project of the Fall 1999 "Research in Women's Studies" class taught by Dr. Beth Willinger through the Women's Studies Program of Tulane University. The course is the senior capstone course required for Women's Studies majors and therefore the 11 students enrolled are mainly Women's Studies majors and minors. While the central purpose of the research is to determine the status of women in higher education in Louisiana, it also is guided by a request from Dr. Margaret King, Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs at Tulane, acting on behalf of the Louisiana branch of the American Council on Education's Office of Women in Higher Education Network, for information about the experiences of women in higher education administration. This information is gathered with the hope that it can be used by groups and institutions, such as the Council, to assist their work in advocating for women in higher education administration in Louisiana and elsewhere.
 

Louisiana: Population and Education
 

Louisiana is the 22^nd most populated of the 50 states. According to the U.S. Bureau of the Census, approximately 66% of the population of Louisiana is white; 32% Black; 3% Hispanic; and 1% Asian. Women comprise nearly 52% of the population. Like its regional counterparts, Louisiana is an economically poor state. The consequences for education are severe in terms both of the money that is available to be invested in the educational system and the number of people who have the opportunity to continue their education through high school and beyond. Louisiana's efforts to increase the budget for higher education to the regional average is now being augmented by funds collected by the state from it's settlement with the tobacco industry. Only 18% of Louisiana residents have completed the Bachelor's degree or more, compared to 24% nationwide, and in state-by-state comparisons, Louisiana women rank 42^nd in educational attainment. However as mentioned previously, Louisiana women have made significant strides in gaining access to post-secondary education. Women now make up 58% of the undergraduate student enrollment, compared to 56% nationally and, an astounding 70% of the graduate enrollment, compared to 64% nationwide. Approximately 33% of the women enrolled are minority women and 26% are foreign. Moreover, in the past ten years, women have accounted for most of the state's increase in college enrollments.

Approximately 87% of the Louisiana residents who attend college enroll in one of Louisiana's 85 colleges and universities. The majority (49) of Louisiana's educational institutions are two-year public institutions; 14 are public 4-year institutions and 11 are four-year private institutions; 10 are for-profit. The Louisiana Board of Regents - comprised of four systems - manages governance of the public institutions. One of the systems, the Southern University System consisting of three historically black universities, underscores the historical segregation of Southern institutions that did and does continue to exist. Louisiana remains under court order to desegregate the state's institutions of higher education, mainly those in the University of Louisiana System and the Louisiana State University System. The creation in 1998 of the fourth system, The Louisiana Community and Technical College System, is an effort in this direction.

Institutions committed to the education of those who have been historically excluded include those in the Southern University System along with the state supported Grambling University and two private historically black institutions: Dillard University and Xavier University of Louisiana. Xavier is the only Catholic, historically black university in the country and is known particularly for its outstanding placement of students in medical schools and graduate programs in the sciences. No freestanding women's college now exists in Louisiana. Newcomb College (the women's coordinate college of Tulane University) continues to function as the portal through which women undergraduates access the liberal arts and sciences at Tulane, though the vast majority of classes and residence halls are co-educational. The faculties of Newcomb and Tulane Colleges merged in 1987.

Methodology
 

Because this research was carried out as part of the course work in our "Research in Women's Studies" course, it was important that we incorporate various features of feminist methodology into the research process. One of these features is the recognition that personal experience is a valuable asset and that research questions often originate with one's own experience. As students studying the status of women in higher education institutions, we had specific ideas about the resources important to women students. Similarly, we valued the experiences of others. If a university administrator felt she was isolated and alone in higher levels of administration, we used her experiences as our starting point and then looked for other sources of data to substantiate her claim. A second feature of feminist research to which we adhered is the aim for research to be inclusive of women's diverse perspectives. As a relatively homogeneous group of students, we wanted to make sure we considered all women in higher education, not just the ones who look like we do or attend the same institution as we do. The range of institutions we studied and the women we interviewed speak to our efforts to include as many diverse experiences and perspectives as possible. The third feature of feminist research guiding our study - perhaps the most important - is that research is for women. The aim of our research is to validate the experiences of women in higher education and to thereby contribute to improving women's educational experiences, as students, faculty and administrators. As a consequence of conducting this research, we were able to define the factors contributing to an institution's degree of "woman-friendliness." We are finding this knowledge also beneficial in illuminating our selection of graduate schools and places of employment.

Finally, underlying our research was the belief that each of us must recognize and acknowledge her own location as a researcher. By attempting objectivity, a researcher's biases are hidden from scrutiny and may render research even more vulnerable to non-relevant prejudices. It was important for us that we recognize our points of view. We are a group of mostly white, mostly heterosexual, mostly socio-economically privileged college students studying a wide variety of women and institutions. We wanted to be certain that our biases were not inadvertently influencing our research. In order to achieve this, we confronted our standpoints and acknowledged the impact those positions might have on our research.

Sample and Methods

We examined 11 colleges and universities: one two-year and ten four-year institutions. We made an effort to select a broad range of institutions, both historically black and white, public and private, small and large, yet at the same time, we were somewhat constrained by geography and the proximity of the institution to New Orleans. The institutions and their Carnegie Classifications are listed in Table 1.

* Private institutions
^ Historically Black institutions

The case study of each of the 11 institutions included three basic methods: content analysis, observation, and interviews. We examined various sorts of materials from each institution including catalogs, web sites and whatever other materials we could pick up or that the institution would provide. Each researcher spent at least two hours on her selected campus observing such things as postings on bulletin boards, locations where students congregate, interactions between students and professors, and campus safety. One of the objectives was to gain a sense of the institution from the perspective of a woman student and to get a subjective feeling for the campus climate with respect to the existence of a women's studies program and/or center, services provided by the health center, crime prevention and victim resources, on-campus childcare, athletic opportunities, and organizations and publications specifically for women. This information was then used in part as a basis for interview questions and further examination.

Letters were sent to each institution requesting information about 1998-99 student enrollments and the number, distribution, and rank of women faculty and administrators. This information, received from nine of the eleven institutions, is reported as received or as posted on official web sites (usually provided by Offices of Institutional Research).

Letters of invitation to participate in an interview were sent to the highest-ranking female administrator at each institution. In all but two cases, the interview was conducted with these women (when this was not possible, the next highest-ranking woman was selected). Interviews ranged from approximately twenty-five minutes to an hour-and-a-half. The open-ended and semi-structured interview focused on the administrator's career track and motivations for moving into administration, her experiences as an administrator including the ways she feels she may be making a difference, tensions between her personal and professional life, and what she considers to be the major problems facing women in higher education today. While there was a list of topics that could be addressed, the interviews were generally subject-led. It was important to us to find out what the administrators considered important and what they considered their biggest concerns. Letting them direct the interviews was a good way to accomplish this.

Theoretical Considerations

 
Our research on women in higher education in Louisiana adds to the growing body of research that has been published on women in university settings. Based on this previous research, we adopt some fundamental ideas. First and foremost, we have been influenced by the notion that women continue to face discrimination that hinders their ability to achieve high positions of authority within higher education. A study by Robert A. Schwartz titled "How Deans of Women Became Men," (1997) illuminates this theoretical assumption most simply by pointing out that "women have to be better to be equal." This inequity may be due to a number of conditions, from unrealistic expectations of one's ability to simultaneously manage family and work(Finkelstein, 1984), to unfair policies within the institutions of employment (Moore and Sagaria, 1993). The latter possibility is explored further in a study by Riger, et. al. (1997) that indicates "female faculty may be assigned (rather than choose) heavier teaching loads or may have more difficulty getting appointed to influential committees than their male counterparts. Resources for doing research may be distributed inequitably, or the research done by women may be valued less than that done by men." Bellas and Toutkoushian (1999) examine faculty time allocations and research productivity in relations to gender and conclude that the "literature on faculty frequently refers to women's heavier teaching and service loads relative to men's, with negative consequences for research time and productivity."

Furthermore, we acknowledge the possibility that the two fronts of oppression faced by faculty women of color may further impede their access to roles of power and influence in universities. Hammons-Bryner (1995) contends that most studies about motivational factors regarding academia have universalized the experiences of white men, treating "women and members of minority groups as anomalies." In her ethnographic study of African American women, she found that the women lacked "positive signals from teachers and friends" and had difficulty finding role models. She explains that the motivational factors for these women may differ from those of white men and women. Similarly, Susan B. Twombly (1999) points to the growing body of international research that provides a perspective of academic women that challenges earlier monolithic definitions of feminism and accounts of discrimination and disadvantage described by U.S. women.

A third theoretical consideration is the possibility of a correlation between the extent of women's success within higher educational institutions and the general climate of the university's campus with respect to women. Lalage Brown (1999) discusses the probable effect of female authority on the campus climate, stating "[I]f there were a better gender balance at the top, there would be at least a chance of change in the climate of decision making."

Results and Discussion

Table 2 confirms that without exception, women are the majority of students enrolled at each of the institutions we studied. Similarly, the graduate student bodies, with the exception of Tulane, also are majority female.

Despite the statistical majority favoring women, women remain unevenly distributed among the disciplines. Taking the top three undergraduate majors at each institution, the fields selected by the greatest number of women are biology, education (particular elementary education) and nursing, followed by psychology and business administration. While women in biology and business are represented somewhat proportionally to men, women compared to men continue to be over represented in nursing and education and underrepresented in the hard sciences and engineering. The engineering program at the University of Louisiana-Lafayette has approximately 14% females enrolled and UNO has about 18% female. Tulane is said to have a higher proportion of women in its School of Engineering than any other university in the country, yet women comprise just 26% of the undergraduate enrollment and some 29% of the graduate enrollment.

There is evidence that women are making gains in professional programs previously considered non-traditional fields for women. Women comprise 47% of the Law School enrollment at Tulane and 48% at Loyola. The Medical School enrollment at Tulane is 46% female and LSU reports 61% of those in its professional programs to be female (business, dental, law, and medical). Women comprise 73% of those enrolled in the Pharmacy College at Xavier. With the growing popularity of biology as an undergraduate major for women, we are likely to see more and more women educated in Louisiana moving into medical schools and the medical profession.

Because of the variety of historically black colleges and universities (HBCU) in Louisiana, African American women in Louisiana have more choices in their selection of a public college or university than do students in many other states. Among the institutions we studied, enrollments of women of color as a percent of all women students enrolled ranged from 95-99% at HBCU (Dillard, Southern, Xavier) to about 16% at Southeastern. Delgado and the University of New Orleans are the most ethnically diverse of the 11 institutions with more than half of the women at Delgado and some 39% of the undergraduate women at UNO reporting their ethnicity as African American, Asian, Hispanic, Native American or Other (international students are not included in these calculations). Our findings also correspond with national statistics indicating that the number of black women attending college is significantly greater than the number of black men. Barbara Solomon (1989) reports that the "number of black women attending college has always been greater than the number of black men...largely because black families historically have pushed their daughters to get an education to keep them from doing domestic work." Nevertheless, we heard concern about the widening gap between the enrollments of black women and men from students, faculty and administrators at each of the HBCUs. The concern indicates that the widening gap has consequences for the overall quality of educational and life experiences for African American women and that the achievement of gender equality is as important for men as it is for women. We are concerned however, that administrators will commit additional funding to attract African American men before they provide fully for the needs of the majority group of women.

  * Undergraduate total also includes graduate student count
  ~ 1999 enrollment figures

Curriculum Resources in Women's Studies

In the last 30 years, there has been an extraordinary growth in the scholarship about women. Not only has this body of knowledge made significant advances in documenting the lives and experiences of women, it also has challenged traditional paradigms and contributed to major rethinking in almost every discipline. The inclusion of scholarship on women in the curriculum, therefore, serves as an indicator of the value an institution places on women's contributions, as the subject of study and often as scholars, as well as the value an institution places on hiring and rewarding faculty whose research and teaching is explicitly concerned with women and/or issues of gender.

We are encouraged by the fact that all of the institutions studied have some curriculum resources for women, however small. Although neither Delgado nor Southeastern offer women-focused courses (defined as courses in any discipline indicating they are about women and/or rely on feminist theoretical foundations), Delgado houses a large collection of literature written by women and Southeastern has an annual women's history week event. Among the other institutions, there were as many as 30 (Tulane University) and as few as four (Xavier) women-focused courses listed in the course schedule or catalog. However, few of these courses are offered every semester, or even every year. The majority of women-focused courses are listed as offerings of a specific discipline - demonstrating an interest in feminist scholarship across disciplines - and are usually cross-listed with a Women's Studies Program, where one exists. Tulane is the only institution offering the academic major and minor in Women's Studies though three other institutions, Loyola, LSU, and UNO, offer a minor in Women's Studies.

These same institutions, Loyola, LSU, Tulane and UNO, along with Nicholls State, have made an additional commitment of resources to women-centered activities by housing a women's center. Though largely underfunded and understaffed, the centers provide a "home base" for women students as well as a physical safe space for students to gather. Most of the centers sponsor lectures and other women-focused public programming and provide information and referral services. The Centers are also strongly tied to the women's studies academic program by formal structures or collaboration and, in the case of Nicholls State's Center for Women in Government, provide internships for students from other institutions in the state. Tulane's Newcomb College Center for Research on Women also houses an excellent collection of women's studies books and periodicals, sponsors student and faculty initiated research in women's studies, and is the only center affiliated with the National Council for Research on Women.

Campus Services for Women

Our class considered the services offered to women concerning reproductive health, child care and victim resources. We examined these factors because we, as students, understand the importance these services play in making everyday campus life more convenient, safe and friendly for women. Having an on-campus gynecological clinic is essential in educating women about their sexual and reproductive health, and conveys the institution's attitudes concerning the importance of professional health care for women students. The convenience of walking across campus for services helps facilitate an atmosphere that is comfortable for women, especially for those who are away from home for the first time. Similarly, we feel the availability of birth control on campus is very important in the lives of college women, whether it's simply the accessibility of condoms or access to prescription and/or oral contraceptives. It is also important for health centers to have birth control available at a reasonable cost as college women are sexually active, yet often are not financially independent.

An overview of the campuses we studied reveals that six of the 11 institutions house on-campus health centers that provide gynecological services. Of the five campuses that do not offer such services, one, Southeastern University, offers free visits to a local family planning clinic and Southern University in Baton Rouge plans to add a gynecology clinic, complete with a female gynecologist, by July 2000. Five of the six campuses that offer GYN services also make birth control available to students. Loyola University, a Jesuit school, does not provide birth control, though it can be administered in the health center. For example, if a woman acquires a Depo-Provera shot from elsewhere, she can bring the needle, syringe and injectable contraceptive to Loyola's gynecology department where a qualified person will administer the shot. Two of the five campuses that do not offer GYN services do dispense birth control, one giving out condoms only, the other making oral contraception available.

Child Care

The availability of affordable childcare benefits both mothers and fathers. However, mothers remain the ones who are most often in need of such benefits to assist them in meeting their childcare responsibilities while allowing them the freedom to work the hours they need to in order to succeed, whether that be as students, faculty, or staff. Seven of the 11 schools provide such facilities, though many variations exist. Four campuses (Delgado, Tulane, UNO, and Xavier) make child care available to everyone - students, faculty and staff. Loyola, with a traditional aged student population, and supposedly few student parents, provides services for faculty and staff only; Southeastern and Southern provide services for students only. At several institutions there are waiting lists for services - Tulane currently has a 15-month waiting list. Costs of childcare vary widely and at some institutions, the cost makes it unaffordable to lower income women or women with several children requiring childcare services. Southeastern houses a Head Start Program thereby making childcare available to low income women, though largely excluding faculty and staff. The schools with the most flexible programs are more ideal for women in a university setting, as a 7:30 AM to 5:30 PM. schedule may not permit library time, evening classes, after-class meetings, or late hours.

Security

Another concern we address in our research deals with safety for women on campus and the effort put forth by the university to prevent crimes against women. All schools have security or campus police with the majority of them operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The most interesting campus police force is at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette where students are employed on the force in addition to regular officers. This enables the student officers to have an insider's approach to dealing with campus crime and also helps to foster the open friendly atmosphere on campus. We examined the victim resources offered by the schools and found that all schools offer general and more specific counseling, though three of the schools do not provide specific counseling for rape or sexual battery cases. One school offers services for rape counseling with an outside agency (see Table 6).

Workshops on crime prevention contribute to the overall atmosphere on campus. By offering workshops that allow women to feel more comfortable with themselves or with the environment in which they live, an institution demonstrates concern for the welfare of women on campus. Roughly half of the schools offer such instruction, ranging from handgun safety courses specifically for women to self-defense classes. Tulane has an extensive program that addresses women's safety concerns. The University sponsors eight courses in safety and self defense, such as Women Defending Themselves-Rape Aggression Defense, and provides numerous resources such as Tulane REACH, a student run organization that assists women who have been sexually assaulted or raped, and Tulane Issues of Recovery-A Support Group for Survivors of Sexual Aggression. Tulane, UNO and Southern University-New Orleans were recently awarded a two-year grant for $500,000 to improve safety for women on the three New Orleans campuses, primarily by training students to be peer advocates.

Student Activities

At many of the universities, sororities are the only women focused groups available and their overall benefit to the female student body is a debated issue - while sororities can provide opportunities for leadership, networking, community service and personal support, the Greek system can also support patterns of exclusion, female objectification, and male domination. Some schools have Lesbian and Bisexual groups, yet they are few in number and only address the needs of a certain group of women. Moreover, several of the groups are currently inactive. Tulane and UNO have chapters of NOW (The National Organization for Women) on campus. Southern University has three student government organizations, one of which is the Association of Women students and is operated completely by women, for women. Standing out from the other institutions we researched was Tulane and its opportunities for women that come from Newcomb College, such as extra student government opportunities, and funding for programs and research experiences. Tulane is the only institution to have women focused publications, though both publications have had difficulties arranging financing and sponsorship.

Women are taking active leadership roles in student government on many of the campuses. Several of the schools have female student-body presidents and/or other high level cabinet positions. For example, at UNO, the president of the student government is a black female, three of the four members of the cabinet are female, and an impressive 21 of the 33 senators in the legislative branch are women. While men occupy five of the six seats in the judicial branch, the chief justice of the branch is a black woman. However, because student government positions change annually, a gain one year does not necessarily mean women have equal access to and are equally rewarded for participation in student government. Women need to make a continuing commitment to mentor younger women to assume leadership positions.

Athletics

Equitable sports participation for both sexes became a focus for universities when Title IX of the Educational Amendment of 1972 banned sex discrimination by recipients of federal funds, whether in academics or athletics. The amendment states: "No person in the U.S. shall, on the basis of sex be excluded from participation in, or be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal aid." However, it has been largely the enforcement in the athletic arena that has made Title IX so controversial. The legislation stresses the overall equity of treatment and opportunity in athletics, particularly on the necessity for women to have equal opportunities as men on a whole, not on an individual basis. This includes coaching, equipment, practice and competitive facilities, travel allowances, housing and dining facilities, and scheduling issues, among others. The 1979 Policy Interpretation applies a three-part test to assess whether an institution is providing nondiscriminatory participation opportunities for individuals of both sexes. In brief, the three-part test addresses proportionality, program expansion responsive to developing interests, and whether an institution effectively accommodates the interests and abilities of its students. (An institution need meet only one part of the test to be in compliance.)

Of the 11 institutions we studied, seven sponsor NCAA Division I athletic teams and most of these have an uneven record with respect to providing nondiscriminatory participation opportunities. LSU was under sanction by the NCAA and in January of this year, the 5^th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the LSU Athletic Department in 1994-95, intentionally violated Title IX regulations requiring equal access for male and female college athletes. While other institutions may be Title IX compliant, the records are not always glowing. According to The Chronicle of Higher Education, of the 306 NCAA Division I institutions, three institutions we studied rank among the ones farthest from meeting the test of "substantial proportionality:" Southern University - Baton Rouge, University of Louisiana at Lafayette and Nicholls State. UL-Lafayette also scores among the institutions giving the lowest share of operating expenses to women's teams, among those giving the lowest share of coaches pay to women's teams, and among those giving the lowest share of the recruiting budget to women's teams. In addition to ranking among the institutions with the greatest disparity in the proportion of female athletes (a challenge to predominantly Black institutions in general because of the high percentage of female students), Southern was also among the institutions giving the lowest share of pay for coaches to women's teams, yet it was among the top 25 institutions where female athletes receive the most aid. Tulane also scored on the bottom and top. It was among the institutions committing the lowest share of the recruiting budget to women's teams and the lowest share in pay for coaches for women's teams, but among only 46 institutions meeting federal requirements for the proportion of athletic scholarships given to women. Southeastern is ranked among the institutions giving the highest share of operating expenses and recruiting budget to women's teams.

Faculty

The women science faculty at MIT performed a great service for faculty women generally by bringing to the attention of the MIT administration a number of discrepancies in their division including underrepresentation, lower salaries, slower advancement, and fewer resources compared to their male counterparts. The report of these findings "A Study on the Status of Women Faculty in Science at MIT" (1999) has galvanized women faculty at numerous institutions. And for good reason. Nationally, women comprise 34.6% of full-time faculty members. According to the findings of our study shown in Table 3, women faculty members comprise from 27.8% to 50.6% of the faculties at the 11 southern Louisiana institutions studied. Southeastern Louisiana University and Southern University-Baton Rouge have reached just over 50%; Tulane and UNO are below the national average in the percent of women on the faculty with 27.8% and 31.7%, respectively. However, even though Tulane has a below average percent of women faculty, the ratio of women faculty to women students is the best of the 11 institutions (see Table 6).

* Tenure track - may not be tenured
** Those holding a position as Assistant, Associate, or Full Professor - tenure status unclear

 
Because our tenure data is not fully comparable across institutions with respect to the number and percent of women faculty who are tenured or in tenure track positions, little can be said with confidence concerning the advancement of women to tenured positions. However, Tulane appears to be particularly low, whereas the HBCU appear to be more favorable to women's advancement with 80% or more women in tenure track positions, or at the level of assistant, associate or professor. This contrasts with Nicholls State, for example, which has almost 42% of the women faculty employed at the level of instructor. Women remain overrepresented at the instructor level, usually non-tenure track, particularly in the humanities, nursing and education where the most women are employed. LSU has 141 members in its Education Department: 102 (71%) are women and 79 (77%) of the women are employed in non-tenure track positions. The fact remains that the higher the position, the fewer the women. This is true of the HBCU institutions as well. For example, at Xavier, women are 32% of the full professors yet almost 47% of the assistant professors and 64% of the instructors. Of the 87 full professors at Loyola, only 20 are women (23%); of Tulane's 383 tenured full professors, only 60 are female (15.6%).

Women faculty, like women students, continue to be concentrated in education and nursing and underrepresented in the hard sciences and engineering. LSU has 100 tenure track faculty in engineering, only three of whom are women. Southern has 30 faculty in Engineering, all of whom are men. Comparable statistics exist for mathematics, physics, computer science and business. Although these fields of study are traditionally male-dominated, more women are enrolling in these programs thereby increasing the pipeline of potential female faculty and also making it more important for women to teach in these fields and serve as mentors.

Also of interest, at some of the HBCU, where African-American female students predominate, white male professors outnumber black female and male professors. For instance, at Xavier, there are 75 white male faculty members but just 34 black male and 33 black female faculty members. By contrast however, of Southern's 490 faculty members, 196 are black women and 144 black men. As 12% of the Southern faculty, white men can still be said to be overrepresented relative to Southern's enrollment. Many institutions, such as UL-Lafayette and Southern, have strong affirmative action programs and are actively seeking to achieve a more diverse and representative faculty in terms of race/ethnicity and gender.

Administrators

Table 4 reveals the impressive list of administrators interviewed for this project. Of the 12 women interviewed, six are African American. The presence of women in some of the highest decision making positions indicates only a few cracks in the glass ceiling, however, not a shattering of it.

As Table 5 indicates, women remain underrepresented in decision making positions, holding from just 20% of the administrative positions at Xavier to 35% of the administrative positions at UL-Lafayette. Of the 11 institutions studied, only one, Southeastern, is headed by a woman. The achievements of the administrators interviewed then, are not ordinary and most are quite recent. Only two of the women interviewed for this study held their current positions five years ago. In other words, if this study had been conducted five years ago, there would have been very few women to interview at these levels of administration.

 

Table 4: Administrative Position of Interviewees

Institution	Administrative Position
Delgado	Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs/Provost, City Park Campus
Dillard	Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs
LSU	Vice Provost for Academic Affairs (former)
Loyola	Associate Provost
Nicholls State	Vice President for Academic Affairs
Southeastern	Executive Assistant to President/Acting Vice President Academic Affairs
Southern	Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs
Tulane	Provost
UL Lafayette	Vice President of Information Technologies Dean, College of General Studies
UNO	Vice Chancellor for Research and Sponsored Programs
Xavier	Vice President for Academic Affairs

With respect to career paths, all but two of the 12 administrators interviewed have had a long affiliation with their current institutions (several having received one or more degrees at the institution) and moved up the career ladder at the institution they now serve. However, not all career paths have led through a traditional track from assistant, associate, full professor to an administrative position. In fact, several administrators specifically mention their career tracks as being quite non-traditional with respect to positions held and also with respect to the timing, lagging behind the careers of men largely because of family responsibilities. The administrators share other characteristics in common as well. First, most state that they did not initially plan to enter academic administration. Many state they did not have specific career goals, but rather ended up in adminstration by "chance." Second, that "chance" often came by way of another administrator (male and female) who tapped the woman for an administrative position, or strongly encouraged her to apply for an administrative position and supported her candidacy. Third, the women see their careers as intimately linked to their institution. They mention often "loyalty" to the institution and making a difference in the institution by the work they are able to accomplish in their position. They define their ambitions within the institution and by and large place the goals of the institution ahead of their own, or see their own and the institution's goals as one in the same. The women appear to see themselves as evolving within one university setting as opposed to evolving through many universities. This may in large part be a function of women's responsibilities to their partners and/or children that limits their mobility, and may limit also their chances of acquiring a high level position in administration. While men have the liberty to move from university to university, gaining different perspectives and advantages along the way, women remain in one spot and wait for an opportunity to become available to them. Finally, along with the support of a mentor or colleague, the women administrators acknowledge the strong support of their families for their movement into administration.
 

Table 5: Administrator Profile

Institution	Administrators	# Female	% Female
Delgado	N/A
Dillard	17	5	29.4
LSU	27	9	33.3
Loyola	18	4	22.2
Nicholls State	25	7	28.0
Southeastern	18	7	32.0
Southern	27	9	33.3
Tulane	33	9	27.3
UL-Lafayette	20	7	35
UNO	17	4	23.5
Xavier	19	6	31.6

Based on the experiences and perspectives of the 12 women we interviewed in higher education administration, we offer six suggestions for improving the lives of women currently occupying similar positions, or for those who would like to pursue a career in academic administration.

1. Mentor other women. Because so many of the women administrators we interviewed mentioned a mentor, or major professor, or other significant academic professional who was instrumental in their decision to consider an administrative position, we encourage women administrators to do the same. As noted above, women do not often consider administration in their career plans, and therefore may need an additional boost in that direction. Also, assuming the role of mentor for a new woman administrator would be an invaluable resource for her and give her a sense of belonging and unity. The Executive Assistant President and Acting Vice President of Academic Affairs at Southeastern Louisiana University stated in her interview, "I believe that women must feel that they have strong backing in their field and offices in order to be able to succeed and to avoid as much unnecessary stress and obstacles as possible."

2. Sponsor inter- and intra-university groups for women faculty, staff, and administrators. A common complaint among the administrators, especially among women of color, concerned the loneliness at the top, and the absence of other women in administration both within their university and within the university system. The Provost/Vice President for Academic Affairs at Dillard states, "If a woman wants to develop her mental capacity and achieve her dreams, she may have to deal with loneliness, and this increases at higher levels." Organizing and maintaining an active network or support group of women administrators would provide a place for women to discuss their common concerns and renew their energies. This, in fact, is one of the aims of the LA ACE-Net program. A number of administrators noted the benefit of such groups. Others noted their busy schedules while still wishing to belong to such a group. The Provost at Tulane mentioned the importance of women's networks in her life, among them was one called "Women at the Top," a group that involved top women executives from throughout an Arizona city. The Provost and Vice-President of Academic Affairs at Dillard credited her participation in the Institute for Women in Higher Education Administration at Bryn Mawr College for providing not only administrative know-how, but also a network of female administrators around the country.

Such networking opportunities are also supported by research. Dickens and Sagaria (1997) suggest that because of women's minority status, the professional relationships and friendships a woman faculty member forms with other academic women on her campus may be of particular importance in helping her construct an identity as a legitimate scholar, develop effective research strategies, and over come feelings of isolation."

Activities organized by UNO's Vice Chancellor provide an excellent example of the ways an administrator can bring together women faculty and staff to suggest "there is a way of doing business here in which women can be in support of each other." The Vice Chancellor suggests that inviting women of the university to participate in informal gatherings has positive results and "they are surprised by how much they enjoy it and see it as a beneficial way to get to know one another in support of women." The Vice Chancellor also formed a group of women in the sciences to discuss the rigors of academic life and is forming focus groups for women in mid-level administration to support them in their work at the university.

3. Make administrative positions more available to women in nontraditional career tracks. As mentioned above, many of the women interviewed discussed what would be considered non-traditional paths to academic administration. For example, the Executive Assistant to the President at Southeastern was tapped from her post as the Governor's Press Secretary. Therefore, being alert to the talents and skills of women in staff and faculty positions and bringing them into the administration would allow women to be more mobile and to have greater opportunities at higher salaries and better jobs.

4. Our fourth recommendation is for women administrators to develop and be comfortable with their your own style of leadership, including a commitment to improve the status of women on campus. The Provost at Tulane University commented that a major obstacle for women administrators is the idea that they do not "fit the mold" of an authority figure. As a result, women assimilate into the traditional male role and view campus concerns as gender neutral. The Associate Provost at Loyola stated that "some women try to fit into the institutional politics by taking on the characteristics of the 'good old boys.'" This point reemphasizes the problem concerning the lack of female mentors in higher education. In order to gain respect and authority, women administrators are forced to continue the same sexist rules and standards in practice for generations. However, not all administrators expressed a thorough understanding of women's issues and concerns and several expressed qualms about distinguishing between the experiences of the sexes. This was more evident among the HBCU where the value placed on racial unity may limit discussions of gender discrimination. We hope women administrators will instate new rules and programs beneficial to the female student body, the female staff and potential female administrators.

5. Establish a task force to monitor the status of women at your institution. One of the lessons learned from the MIT report is the power of institutional data in showing where progress is or is not being made with respect to the advancement of women and minority faculty and administrators. Establishing a task force to monitor the status of women in higher education at each university and nationwide seems to be an essential component in advancing women in higher education. Some of the administrators interviewed stated that they either formed or were on such a committee in the 1970s, but nothing since.

The data required for such a task force is generally available since institutions are required by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission to collect data on rank, tenure status, gender and race/ethnicity of the workforce. However, for the purposes of the task force, we recommend that institutions revise their data collection and reporting procedures so as to refine existing categories and improve the specificity of the data collected. Most helpful would be data presented in table form that describes for each department the total number of faculty classified by rank (professor, associate, assistant and instructor) and tenure status for each rank (tenured, non-tenured); and identified by race/ethnicity (black, white, Hispanic, Asian, and other) and gender with totals for each category and summary tables for combined departmental data. From the data, one should be able to determine the race/ethnicity, gender, rank, tenure status and department of each faculty member, and the total for each department. The aim is to avoid confusion such as double counting women and minorities or aggregating data whereby doing so makes unclear the tenure status of women and minorities at a given rank, in a given department. For example, data classified by "female" and "minorities" does not provide sufficient information if one is interested in understanding the race/ethnicity of the women or the gender of the minorities. The task force also should be provided data on each faculty member's salary.

6. We recommend also the full disclosure of the institutional report and data. A Delgado administrator referred to this information as "the students' right to know." It is also, as we are indicating, faculty members' right to know as an incentive for developing innovative programs and projects to advance women faculty, administrators, and minorities. Information concerning student demographics is easily accessible on most institutional websites. The full reporting of faculty data (save individual salary information) also should be available to all who are interested. Such data would provide useful information to women who are considering employment at the institution or making other career decisions. Similarly, a woman employed at a given institution can compare her salary and job benefits to others at comparable institutions. The potential for this reporting disclosure to bring about change benefiting women is almost unimaginable. Women will become better negotiators and be more knowledgeable about the institution to which they choose to devote their talents and loyalty.

Summary and Conclusions

Results of our study indicate that women in higher education in Louisiana continue to face a number of obstacles. Women students, faculty and staff are not equally represented by the administration. This requires women to continue to appeal to men in order to implement change. This problem manifests in women's attempts to have their concerns prioritized by the administration with respect to services such as childcare, funding for public programming and projects, expansion of the women's studies curriculum, and even obtaining birth control. As can be seen in Table 6, resources and programs designed for women students require implementation or improvement at all Louisiana's institutions. However, we discovered that women students are often unaware of the services available to them and so we suggest that women's services take measures to increase awareness of both their existence and their importance on campus. By and large, regarding the variables we considered, the private institutions (Tulane, Loyola, Dillard and Xavier) provide more services and have a better ratio of women faculty to women students, and female administrators to female faculty, than do the state supported institutions.

There are many areas of academic life we did not consider. Salary data is critically important but was unavailable to us. We recommend more research be done in this area to fully understand the problems and solutions for women in schools. For instance, possible correlations between the various climate factors examined in this research and the actual distribution of female administration and faculty at each institution may help illuminate the specific manner in which these factors are interrelated. Consequential research may be conducted, and its recommendations implemented, to examine each institution's attention to the career tracks of female students, staff and faculty. Further, discussion of an institution's tenure track policies ought to take place, focusing on extensions and leave to accommodate female administrators and faculty who must balance work with family. In several discussions, it became clear that parental leave (maternity leave) policies are often left to the discretion of department chairs or deans, a "policy" that invites differential treatment and opens the door for litigation. We encourage the persistence and valuation of feminist research and are hopeful about its potential to promote a transformation of opportunities for women in higher education.

Table 6: Summary of Findings

	Women's Studies Curriculum	Women's Center	On Campus GYN Health	On Campus Victim Resources	Childcare	NCAA Status	Ratio Female Faculty: Female Students	Ratio Female Adminis- trators: Female Faculty	TOTAL  SCORE
Delgado	0	0	0	1	3	NA	NA	NA	NA
Dillard	1	0	3	3	0	NA	1:32.2 (2)	1:8.8 (3)	1.7
LSU	2	1	3	3	0	-5	1:33.3 (2)	1:52.2 (1)	.87
Loyola	2	1	2	3	1	NA	1:20.3 (3)	1:27.5 (2)	2.0
Nicholls State	1	2	1	3	NA	-1	1:35.9 (2)	1:18.4 (3)	1.6
Southeastern	0	0	0	1	2	2	1:39.3 (2)	1:35 (2)	1.1
Southern	1	0	0	2	2	-2	1:38.9 (2)	1:27.3 (2)	.87
Tulane	3	2	3	3	3	-1	1:20.6 (3)	1:31.2 (2)	2.2
UL-L	1	0	3	3	3	-3	1:50.7 (1)	1:27.3 (2)	1.2
UNO	2	1	3	2	3	0	1:56 (1)	1:40 (1)	1.6
Xavier	1	0	2	1	3	NA	1:31 (2)	1:14 (3)	1.7
	None=0 Courses=1 Minor=2 Major and minor=3	None=0 Resource=1 Research=2	None=0 Dispense prescription birth control=1 GYN clinic=2 Dispense birth control/GYN clinic=3	None=0 Security force=1 Counseling Services=2 Rape counseling=3	None=0 Fac/Staff=1 Students=2 All=3	Among top=1 Among bottom=-1 Under sanction=-5	(Ranking) top third=3 middle third=2 bottom third=1	(Ranking) top third=3 middle third=2 bottom third=1	Score divided by number of categories

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