In an analysis of Doing Diversity in Higher Education,
it is understood that majority populations, whites, in higher institutions use
legislation such as the 14th Amendment to argue their victimization
as a result of affirmative action. Not only is this a dirty move in that it
spits in the face of abolitionist and civil rights advocates from the 18th
century on to the 21st, but it also fails to paint a true picture of
the real situation of diversity at higher ed institutions across the country.
“Whites are often presented as victims of affirmative action
policies, which are described as mechanisms of reverse racial discrimination.
This argument’s success is a tribute to the skillful ways in which
reconstructive opponents have captured the civil rights movement’s language of
equality, reshaped it to promote their own agendas, and thus reversed the
movement’s goal of expanding resources and access to all citizens.” (Brown-
Glaude 6)
In the midst of this white privilege in higher ed
institutions, faculties face three distinct challenges in continuing their work
to transform the campus climate and they include: funding, obstacles to pooling
resources, and long term university support. Many ethnic study programs are
either underfunded, isolated, or seasonal with no real commitment to their
longevity and scholarly integrity.
In addition to this stifling climate, faculties have
identified three strategies that serve as useful ways to secure funding,
organize like-minded folks, and gain long term commitment from the university.
The strategies include: making scholarship central, producing and publicizing
the fruits of their labor, and changing existing university patterns of
recognition and reward. (Brown- Glaude 35)
In addition to the white-black paradigm often illustrated at
predominately white college campuses, faculty members at HBCUs also have a
problem with diversity.
There are many complexities when talking about diversity at
HBCUs (historically Black colleges and Universities), they include how the expectation
of conformity to race, class, gender, and sexual orientation standards at black
institutions not only suppresses difference but also creates structures of
authority and silence that can stifle the rigor and excellence associated with
diversity. Diversity is also about
individual selves seeking the freedom of choice to reveal the most basic and
fundamental aspects of who they are. (Brown- Glaude 56-57)
What is essential to the progress of ethnic studies and
diversity in higher ed institutions is the recognition that efforts to organize
minority students and faculty members as well as developing pertinent
professional development and further academic intrigue in the form of
conferences, forums, and festivals, are seen as academic enterprises rather than
trivial cultural celebrations. Perhaps the most significant contribution of the
current study is a broader understanding of service. We believe that this study
challenges the existing literature, specifically about faculty diversity work
that is considered service in the tripartite faculty responsibilities of
teaching, research, and service. In fact, the patterns and themes that emerged
demonstrate that intellectual work undergirds the efforts even in initiatives
with differing goals, histories, and futures. Institutional service is also
embedded in intellectual work, and should be understood and rewarded as such.”
(Brown- Glaude 78) Similar to the work of Cornel West and accusations from
Harvard that his efforts were misguided and adrift from the scholarly publications
that were expected from him, high profile university professors should have the
opportunity to build social academic mechanisms that help mobilize a community
and provide opportunities for academic dialogue.
If universities are concerned about keeping minority faculty
members they should also be concerned as to whether such members are
comfortable on and off campus. Microclimates are critical for the retention of
faculty: if they do not have alternative microclimates available to them,
faculty members in chilly or actively hostile environments are more likely to
disengage from the institution, or to leave it completely. (Brown Glaude 84)
There is a disconnect among our respondents, then, between
the value that individual faculty members place on their service work and the
value they feel it is accorded by those they feel have the power to validate.
Finding new ways to bridge the gap may therefore be one relatively simple
strategy for enhancing faculty microclimates. (Brown- Glaude 95)
Along with minorities, women too have been shut out of
academic circles. The narratives of the women we interviewed for this study
reveal the importance of inventing of a new paradigm for assessing the
diversity, transformation, and activism of women STEM faculty at HBCUs.
Regardless of race and ethnicity, these women share common political and
sociocultural issues that form an agenda for combating their marginalization.
(Brown- Glaude 115) Partnerships along gender lines are thus as important, if
not more, for identities along racial lines.
Without vocal leadership at the top, it is very difficult to
bring the message to faculty at the department level that they must diversify
both their hiring methods and their results to reflect the current composition of
the PhD recipients in their academic fields. If faculty hires do not feel the
pressure to do things differently, they won’t—they will just continue to hire
those candidates their friends recommend and with whom they feel most
comfortable. (Brown- Glaude 133)
Without built-in structures, systems, processes, and
resources to protect and promote progress, faculty members who work to support
educational excellence through racial and gender equity are dependent upon the
individual interests and priorities of a few key university leaders. (Brown-
Glaude 164)
Finally, if domination and patriarchy are part of the
organization and operation of the academy (hooks 1993), we must create a new
model that includes diversity and respect and is not measured solely according
a specious conception of merit. Working with institutional leaders may improve
the campus climate for diversity, but faculty activists must consider whether
their strategies replicate the patriarchy or are expanding into a new and
vibrant model of success that dismantles hierarchy and domination. (Brown-
Glaude 182)
Doing Diversity in Higher Education: Faculty Leaders
Share Challenges and Strategies edited by Winnifred R. Brown- Glaude,
published by Rutgers University Press, New Brunswick, New Jersey, 2009
