Walter Broadnax
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Walter Doyce Broadnax is the second President of Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia.
He was born on October 21, 1944 in Star City, Arkansas to a railroad worker, Walter Broadnax, and Mary Lee Broadnax. He earned his BA degree from Washburn University in 1967. Through a Ford Fellowship he earned his MPA degree from the University of Kansas in 1969 and his PhD from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs in 1975. For more than 35 years, Broadnax has served in senior and executive level positions in both public service and academia. Prior to his presidency at Clark Atlanta University, he served as Dean of the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. In 2002, Broadnax, School of Business Dean Myron Roomkin, and Ben Ladner awarded an honorary doctorate to the Smithsonian Institution's Lawrence Small[1]. Broadnax serves as a trustee of Syracuse University and the CNA Corporation. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Metro Atlanta Chamber of Commerce, the Georgia Research Alliance, and the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors of the Atlanta Regional Consortium for Higher Education.
Broadnax has been president of CAU since August 2002. Since then, there have been a number of student demonstrations demanding his removal from the school. He introduced a new philosophy to Clark Atlanta University: "A Student-Centered, Quality Driven Institution." When installed as President, one of the planks of his "platform" was the contention that the university was in financial trouble and that he was the man to rectify the problem. He, along with his staff, created a plan to bring Clark Atlanta University into recovery. His plan has been thought to be successful, however large sums of money gone missing from the school's endowment remain unaccounted for. Requests for financial reports by the students have been ignored and scoffed at. In addition, the campus of the university has been said to be undergoing major renovations along with a new university brand, however buildings that were roped off with construction tape for months reopened with no changes made. As a result, his popularity among the students and faculty has dropped at an alarming rate. At the 2007 Commencement Service, the graduates held a boycott against posing for photos shaking the President's hand upon receiving their degrees. Instead, a large number of the graduates did their own poses, either waving or otherwise refusing to touch the hand of Walter Broadnax.
In April 2007, a majority of the Clark Atlanta University faculty voted no-confidence in President Broadnax.
