Chapter 1: Influences of Social Gospel: The Institutional Leadership of Benjamin Elijah Mays and Robert Maynard Hutchins

While higher education comprises multiple institution types, educational researchers often frame their examination of higher education through the default lens of the four-year, traditional, majority institution. The tendency to limit the individual identity of distinct mission institutions such as HBCUs creates a challenge in comparative analyses of Black college leadership and its similarities to predominately White institutions (PWIs). Historically, Black college leadership is relegated to a universal “labeling process” (Chambers, 1972, p. 271) that rarely considers the potential likeness to mainstream college leadership. To deepen the understanding of shared institutional leadership traits among HBCUs and PWIs, this study examines the question: How did the ideals of social gospel influence Benjamin Elijah Mays—Morehouse College and Robert Maynard Hutchins—the University of Chicago, as they each led and collaboratively developed the academic and social missions of their respective institutions? This chapter investigates the methodologies by which Benjamin Mays and Robert Hutchins infused social gospel into the leadership and curricular mission of their respective institutions.