Conference: College Leaders Highlight Challenges, Role of Diversity During School Transformations: PHOENIX -- Dr. Allen Sessoms took over as president of the University of the District of Columbia 19 months ago with one mandate.Either fix it or close it.
Sessoms was faced with many challenges including: dwindling enrollment, low academic standards for students along with no real tenure for professors. If professors lasted 90 days, they received tenure, he said.
'It was full of folks just put there,' Sessoms said.
The first step was to create a vision for the only public university in D.C., Sessoms said. Within 18 months, officials were on the road to turning around the historically Black institution. One of the first steps was to create a community college and a four-year flagship university with increased academic admission requirements, Sessoms said.
