An outgrowth of the post-George Floyd anti-racist movement has been heightened awareness that the black share of college faculty nationally has languished, reaching only 5.5% in 2018. Recently, a few influential articles have claimed that a substantial part of the problem is that black faculty face discriminatory treatment particularly when being considered for tenure. Black faculty does have distinctive factors that weigh on their academic careers. However, the lack of a significant pipeline of qualified PhDs is the most important explanation for the dearth of black college faculty in a large number of academic disciplines.
In a Five-Thirty-Eight article, Mathias, Lewis, and Hope point to three cases of a refusal to grant tenure to black faculty: Hannah Nicole-Smith, Cornell West, and Lorgia Garcia Pena, all of whom immediately obtained tenured positions at other prestigious universities. Two were older public intellectuals who had particular issues surrounding their decisions but Pena’s experience has circumstances similar to many younger Black professors. Black faculty invariably have a much larger student engagement than other faculty. They often counsel students seeking personal guidance who are not even in their classes. Often, these are first-generation students who are often attending colleges that have alien cultures and demands that can be hard for them to navigate.
Read Full Article »