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Peril and Promise: College Leadership in Turbulent Times
A former college president and bestselling author offers leadership lessons for today’s troubled campuses
Higher education is under assault from all sides. Scandals, protests, and dramatic resignations dominate the news cycle, and the pressure has grown so severe that the average tenure of university presidents has fallen to less than six years. Even so, Title TK insists, American universities provide the solutions to the ignorance and division that plague our society—but only if wise, courageous leaders step up.
Blending insights from social science with many years of experience as a college president at Spelman and Mount Holyoke Colleges, Beverly Daniel Tatum celebrates the power of leadership to make higher education a force for good. Alongside an unflinching look at the financial challenges, political attacks, and social problems that besiege today’s college campuses, she offers real-life leadership examples of institutions that have overcome the steepest odds and produced real transformation in ideas, student bodies, and society at large.
At once conversational and contemplative, Title TK reckons with the complexities of higher education in our time, while exhorting future leaders to take up the mantle and chart a path forward for our campuses and country.
Higher education is under assault from all sides. Scandals, protests, and dramatic resignations dominate the news cycle, and the pressure has grown so severe that the average tenure of university presidents has fallen to less than six years. Even so, Title TK insists, American universities provide the solutions to the ignorance and division that plague our society—but only if wise, courageous leaders step up.
Blending insights from social science with many years of experience as a college president at Spelman and Mount Holyoke Colleges, Beverly Daniel Tatum celebrates the power of leadership to make higher education a force for good. Alongside an unflinching look at the financial challenges, political attacks, and social problems that besiege today’s college campuses, she offers real-life leadership examples of institutions that have overcome the steepest odds and produced real transformation in ideas, student bodies, and society at large.
At once conversational and contemplative, Title TK reckons with the complexities of higher education in our time, while exhorting future leaders to take up the mantle and chart a path forward for our campuses and country.
384 pages, Hardcover
Published September 2, 2025
6 people are currently reading
66 people want to read
About the author
Beverly Daniel Tatum
19 books221 followersDr. Beverly Christine Daniel Tatum (M.A., Religious Studies, Hartford Seminary, 2000; Ph.D., Clinical Psychology, University of Michigan, 1984; M.A., Clinical Psych., U.M., 1976; B.A., Psychology, Wesleyan University, 1971) is President Emerita of Spelman College, having served 13 years as President until her 2012 retirement. She is a psychologist and writes on race relations.
Previously, Dr. Tatum serves as Psychology Deopartment Chair at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and professor of Psychology at Westfield State College (1983–89). She started her academic career teaching Black Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, 1980–83.
The American Psychological Association presented its highest honor to Dr. Tatum, the 2014 Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology.
Previously, Dr. Tatum serves as Psychology Deopartment Chair at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and professor of Psychology at Westfield State College (1983–89). She started her academic career teaching Black Studies at the University of California at Santa Barbara, 1980–83.
The American Psychological Association presented its highest honor to Dr. Tatum, the 2014 Award for Outstanding Lifetime Contribution to Psychology.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 27, 2025
1837: the year the oldest women's college in the US was founded.
1881: the year the oldest historically black college ("HBC") for women was founded.
And, at some point, who was at the helm of these venerable institutions? This author who holds the distinction of occupying multiple roles as a psychologist, college administrator and faculty professor. Her experiences coupled with her analysis makes this read now more than ever important.
In this fraught socio-political climate, whether you have children on the cusp of attending college, or are yourself are an administrator /faculty member trying to make sense of what the future holds for colleges and universities financially and their longevity, read this book.
Perhaps you are an avid reader who is neither. Maybe you seek to comprehend how the Israel-Hamas tensions that arose on college campuses in 2023 spilled into the US Congress' political spaces. Or, perhaps understand how established precedents via the US Supreme Court have upended and the results that have followed.
All of this is woven into this remarkable, eye opening book.
This ARC was provided by the publisher, Basic Books, in exchange for an honest review.
1881: the year the oldest historically black college ("HBC") for women was founded.
And, at some point, who was at the helm of these venerable institutions? This author who holds the distinction of occupying multiple roles as a psychologist, college administrator and faculty professor. Her experiences coupled with her analysis makes this read now more than ever important.
In this fraught socio-political climate, whether you have children on the cusp of attending college, or are yourself are an administrator /faculty member trying to make sense of what the future holds for colleges and universities financially and their longevity, read this book.
Perhaps you are an avid reader who is neither. Maybe you seek to comprehend how the Israel-Hamas tensions that arose on college campuses in 2023 spilled into the US Congress' political spaces. Or, perhaps understand how established precedents via the US Supreme Court have upended and the results that have followed.
All of this is woven into this remarkable, eye opening book.
This ARC was provided by the publisher, Basic Books, in exchange for an honest review.
October 26, 2025
Truly amazing to learn from Dr Tatum as always- I wish her language was more nuanced and developed around Gaza…
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews