Linda Oubré

Oubré grew up in Los Angeles and was a first-generation college student whose grandparents did not finish elementary school, but were labor and civil rights activists.[1] She graduated from Hollywood High School,[2] and earned a B.A. in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1980.[3] After college she worked for a commercial bank[4] before earning an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1984, and an Ed.D. in higher education management from the University of Pennsylvania.[5][6]

After Oubré graduated from Harvard Business School she worked in the admissions department.[3] She was a founder of BriteSmile,[7] and worked with the company from 1998 until 2002,[6] including serving as president of the company when it went public on NASDAQ.[8][9] She has worked in multiple companies including Tri Com Ventures, Times Mirror Company, Syncom Capital, and the Walt Disney Company.[6] In 2003, Oubré was an executive in residence at the University of California, Davis,[6] and she returned in 2011 to work in corporate relations, business development, and was the chief diversity officer for the Graduate School of Management.[10] In 2012, Oubré moved to San Francisco State University where she was the Dean of the College of Business.[10][11] In 2018, Oubré was named president of Whittier College.[12] She is the first African-American[13] and the third female to serve as president of the college.[14]

Oubré's presidency at Whittier College has been criticized as using fear, intimidation and legal threats to silence critics.[15][16] Concerns initially surrounded Oubré's November 2022 announcement of the elimination of football, lacrosse, and the men's and women's golf programs from the college[17] which plagiarized text from a 2019 Forbes article.[18] Concerns about college enrollment, nepotism in hiring, qualifications of senior administrators, and hostility towards critics became more pressing.[19] Alumni and community partners have written open letters to Oubré outlining concerns[20][21] and asking questions.[22]

Prior to her 2023 "State of the College" address, Oubré indicated that the address would be virtual due to safety concerns on campus[23] and going further in March 2023 to indicate that she had received racialized death threats.[24] California Public Records Act requests to the City of Whittier, Whittier Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff's office indicate no such threats had been made.[25] Whittier College's Campus Safety has also indicated that there were no threats made to the president, the board or the campus during the period in question.[26] In April 2023, the Vice President of Whittier College asserted that Oubré was continuing to receive threats and that local law enforcement would not be able to provide information on said threats because they were on-going investigations; the Whittier Police Department again reiterated that there were no threats made and that the police would have no reason to not share this information with the public if requested.[27]

After a failed fundraising campaign, alumni of Whittier College have pledged over $500,000 payable to the College upon the firing or resignation of Oubré on or before May 1, 2023 accompanied by a statement of no confidence in her leadership signed by over 1,000 alumni, former employees, and historic donors to the College.[28]

On May 12, 2023, Dr. Oubré announced her resignation as president of Whittier College, effective June 30, 2023.[29][30][31]

Oubré joined several boards since her inauguration as president of Whittier College. In 2019 she was named to the board of directors for the College Futures Foundation,[8] where she was paid $4,000 for her board attendance in 2019 and $16,000 in 2020.[32][33] Oubré also joined the Weingart Foundation board during 2019-20, alongside Miguel Santana, where Oubré received remuneration of $30,750 for her position.[34]

Oubré was named a “Forever influential woman in business” by the San Francisco Business Times[35] in 2014, and received the Trailblazer Award from the San Francisco chapter of the Council of 100 Black Women in 2015.[36]