It was the photo of a Black woman dressed in university regalia that caught Donna J. Nicol’s eye.
“Trustee Claudia Hampton,” the caption read, “appointed by Reagan.”
Nicol, an associate dean at Cal State Long Beach who studies the history of racism and sexism in higher education, was stunned. Ronald Reagan, as governor, opposed mandatory busing as a tool of school desegregation and, as president, attempted to undo affirmative action policies in the workplace. How could it be, Nicol wondered, that he appointed the first Black woman to sit on the California State University board of trustees? And what did Hampton do once she got there?
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