Similar colleges. Similar population of black students. So why the disparate graduation rates?

By Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, The Washington Post

Rutgers University-New Brunswick and Purdue University share a few things in common. They have roughly the same size student body, similar admission requirements and a similar percentage of black students. Yet in the decade ending 2013, graduation rates for African Americans at Rutgers climbed about 12 percentage points, while they slipped five points at Purdue.

Read the story here.

Related content:

• Graduation Rates for Black Students Aren’t Increasing at Same Pace as for Other Students (The Chronicle of Higher Education)
• Report: Many Black, Hispanic Science Majors Err in Choosing Elite Cal Campuses (Diverse Issues in Higher Education)

Ten Ways To Retain Faculty of Color

Diverse Issues in Higher Education
by Dr. Marybeth Gasman, June 22, 2010

Recently I gave a talk at the American Association of University Professors’ annual meeting. The talk focused on the retention of faculty of color—unfortunately only one White faculty member attended the session. My comments were directed at those in positions of power within historically White institutions—I was saddened that many of these individuals did not attend the session.
Below are the 10 ways to retain faculty of color that I discussed in my talk. Many of these suggestions can be used with all faculty members. I invite you to add more in the comment feature of this blog.
1) Hire a critical mass of faculty of color. Quite a few historically White institutions have done this and it works. Not only does hiring a critical mass show commitment on the part of an institution, it also helps to create a less isolating and alienating atmosphere on campus and in individual departments. [For those who object: we hire critical masses of White faculty all the time.]

Full Story: http://diverseeducation.com/blogpost/272/ten-ways-to-retain-faculty-of-color.html

Minority Report

Newsweek.com
American universities are accepting more minorities than ever. Graduating them is another matter.
By Evan Thomas and Pat Wingert NEWSWEEK
Published Feb 19, 2010
From the magazine issue dated Mar 1, 2010

Barry Mills, the president of Bowdoin College, was justifiably proud of Bowdoin's efforts to recruit minority students. Since 2003 the small, elite liberal-arts school in Brunswick, Maine, has boosted the proportion of so-called underrepresented minority students (blacks, Latinos, and Native Americans, about 30 percent of the U.S. population) in entering freshman classes from 8 percent to 13 percent. "It is our responsibility, given our place in the world, to reach out and attract students to come to our kinds of places," he told a NEWSWEEK reporter. But Bowdoin has not done quite as well when it comes to actually graduating minorities. While nine out of 10 white students routinely get their diplomas within six years, only seven out of 10 black students made it to graduation day in several recent classes.
The picture of diversity—black, white, and brown students cavorting or studying together out on the quad—is a stock shot in college catalogs. The picture on graduation day is a good deal more monochromatic. "If you look at who enters college, it now looks like America," says Hilary Pennington, director of postsecondary programs for the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which has closely studied enrollment patterns in higher education. "But if you look at who walks across the stage for a diploma, it's still largely the white, upper-income population."

Full Story: http://www.newsweek.com/id/233843

MIT faculty study finds diversity is lacking

The Boston Globe
By Tracy Jan
Globe Staff / January 15, 2010

MIT must do a better job recruiting and retaining black and Hispanic faculty, who have a harder time getting promoted than their white and Asian colleagues, if the university expects to remain competitive, according to a strikingly candid internal study released yesterday by the university.
In some departments - such as chemistry, mathematics, and nuclear science and engineering - no black and Hispanic professors have been hired in the last two decades, according to the report, which was more than two years in the making.
MIT’s first comprehensive study of its faculty’s racial diversity and the experience of underrepresented minority professors highlights a national problem across academia: the need to improve the pipeline of black and Hispanic scholars, especially in the fields of science and engineering.
The report urges the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to become more self-reflective and to better appreciate the challenges facing minority faculty, who feel that their qualification to be at the institute is sometimes questioned and who are more likely to leave MIT in their first three to five years.
“There is a tension between the ideas of maintaining high excellence and including a broader range of groups,’’ said Paula Hammond, an African-American chemical engineering professor, who chaired MIT’s Initiative on Faculty Race and Diversity. “But we believe that inclusiveness can lead to excellence, rather than impede it.’’
Blacks and Hispanics make up only 6 percent of MIT’s 1,013-member faculty, an increase from 4.5 percent since 2000 but far below the university’s goal of achieving parity with the nation, where underrepresented minorities constitute 30 percent of the population. MIT’s rate is comparable to research universities such as Harvard and Stanford.
The report indicates that the university needs to provide more mentoring and expand professional opportunities to make the climate at MIT more welcoming to underrepresented groups, which include blacks, Hispanics and Native Americans.
Asian faculty, which make up nearly 13 percent of MIT professors, are not underrepresented, but share some of the same concerns about MIT’s racial climate.

Full Story: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2010/01/15/mit_faculty_study_finds_diversity_is_lacking/

VAULT.COM AND MCCA LAUNCH 2010 LAW FIRM DIVERSITY DATABASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

VAULT.COM AND MCCA LAUNCH 2010 LAW FIRM DIVERSITY DATABASE

Statistics Reveal Progress in Law Firms’ Recruitment of Minority and Women Attorneys, Less Success in their Retention


New York, NY, (December 14, 2009) Vault.com, the Web’s most comprehensive career resource for career management, and the Minority Corporate Counsel Association (MCCA), the nation’s foremost authority on diversity issues in the legal profession, have introduced the 2010 Law Firm Diversity Database (http://mcca.vault.com). The fully-searchable online tool features comprehensive data on diversity performance at nearly 300 law firms nationwide. The latest data shows continued, albeit slow, increases in diversity at the nation’s largest law firms. However, statistics also suggest that law firm successes in the area of recruitment surpass those in retention.

“The Law Firm Diversity Database provides corporate counsel, job seekers and law firm management with a means to gauge individual firms’ efforts to advance diversity, as well as to measure the progress being made by the industry as a whole,” says Vera Djordjevich, Vault’s senior law editor and editor of the Vault/MCCA Law Firm Diversity Database. “While not all of the trends revealed in our survey data are entirely positive, the increasing transparency of law firms with respect to diversity information is encouraging.”

“Prior to the creation of this database, there was no reliable resource to illuminate and summarize the diversity efforts underway at top law firms. It’s clear that numbers alone don’t offer a complete picture, and so the database offers both quantitative and qualitative information for users to draw apples-to-apples comparisons,” said Veta Richardson, Executive Director of MCCA.

Overall Numbers Improve

Overall numbers for minority and women attorneys continue to show gradual improvement. For example, minority lawyers made up 21.35% of the associate population in 2008, up from 20.76% in 2007, while women accounted for 45.70% of all associates, compared to 44.68% in the previous year. Although both minorities and women remain under-represented at higher levels, they have made some gains within the partnership ranks. Attorneys of color represented 6.05% of equity partners in 2008 — an increase from 5.62% in 2007. The number of women equity partners, meanwhile, inched up from 16.03% in 2007 to 16.43% in 2008.

Law firm data also offer some encouragement when it comes to the hiring of diverse attorneys: 27.18% of the 2008 summer associate class were minorities, while 44.58% were women. Of new associate and partner hires in 2008, 21.54% were minority lawyers and 40.27% were women.

Retention Remains a Concern

Although law firms have made some strides in the area of recruitment, they have had comparatively more difficulty retaining diverse lawyers, especially lawyers of color. While minorities represent just 21.35% of the total associate population, 24.08% of associates who left their respective law firms in 2008 were attorneys of color. Attrition for minority attorneys is especially high at the junior level: nearly 30% of first- and second-year associates who left their firms last year were minority men and women. The rate of attrition of white women at junior and mid-levels did drop slightly in 2008, although attrition among women in senior ranks increased.

Because the survey solicits statistics as of calendar year end, a fuller picture of the impact of the current recession will not emerge until 2009 statistics become available in the next few months.

The Vault/MCCA Law Firm Diversity Database is compiled from responses to an annual diversity survey, a detailed questionnaire that was written by MCCA with the input of several of its corporate members and has been distributed in partnership with Vault to law firms nationwide since 2004. This year, 248 law firms, including the majority of the Am Law 200, took part. Survey results feature statistical data on law firm demographics, with breakdowns by race/ethnicity and gender, GLBT attorneys and individuals with disabilities, as well as qualitative information regarding firms’ diversity plans and initiatives. Through this free online tool, the corporate counsel community, graduating law students and prospective employees can make side-by-side comparisons of diversity metrics, track firms’ progress over the years and evaluate their performance against industry-wide benchmarks. The database also includes access to law firms’ complete, self-reported survey responses, to present a comprehensive picture of the diversity commitment and programs at participating firms.

The Vault/MCCA Law Firm Diversity Database was initially developed in cooperation with Accenture, Bank of America, Microsoft, PPG Industries, Sara Lee and Wal-Mart, to support the Call to Action, a corporate counsel initiative devoted to increasing diversity at U.S. law firms. With widespread support from the general counsel and law firm communities, the Vault/MCCA Law Firm Diversity Survey has become the primary tool for measuring law firm diversity.

The new edition of the database includes data for 2007 and 2008 collected over the last two years. Free registration is required. The next edition of the Vault/MCCA Law Firm Diversity Database, which will include statistics for 2009, is expected to be released during the second quarter of 2010.

About Vault
Vault is the web’s most comprehensive resource for career management and job search information, including insider intelligence on salaries, hiring practices and company cultures. Vault features thousands of profiles on occupations, industries, companies and universities, as well as career-related articles, videos, blogs and research tools. The company publishes more than 120 print and online titles, from the best-selling Vault Guide to the Top 100 Law Firms to the Vault Guide to Schmoozing. Vault’s clients include Fortune 1000 advertisers and recruiters, the country’s top universities and graduate schools.

About MCCA
The Minority Corporate Counsel Association advocates for the expanded hiring, promotion, and retention of minority attorneys in corporate legal departments and the law firms that serve them. MCCA furthers its mission by publishing research on achieving diversity and best practices in the legal profession, honoring innovative diversity programs with its Employer of Choice and Thomas L. Sager awards, and assisting diverse law students through the Lloyd M. Johnson, Jr. Scholarship Program. MCCA’s work has been recognized with awards from the National Minority Business Council, Inc., the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the National Gay and Lesbian Law Association, and the Association of Corporate Counsel. Founded in 1997, MCCA is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and also has a Southeast regional office in Atlanta, Ga. For more information, go to mcca.com.

###
Contact:
For Vault.com: For MCCA:
Jon Minners Diane Nowak-Waring
JMinners@vault.com Dnowak-waring@crosbymarketing.com
646.792.6205 410.626.0805

Minority Report

Chronicle of Higher Education
From the issue dated October 24, 2008
By GLORIA Y. GADSDEN

I am an African-American woman who has been in academe for approximately 15 years. I have been affiliated with seven predominantly white institutions (two universities in the Ivy League, another private university, a state university, and three junior colleges) in three Northeastern states. The majority of those institutions offered various employment incentives to African-Americans and faculty members from other underrepresented groups in an attempt to diversify their campuses. However, even colleges and universities that take such steps to eliminate racist hiring practices often fail — or refuse — to understand the complexity of retaining faculty members from underrepresented groups. Missing from the institutions' attempts to diversify the campus population is consideration of the lives of those faculty members beyond the classroom and the office.
My own experience is an example. At one point, I was teaching part time at one university while commuting two hours, each way, to a tenured, full-time job at another university. When a position became available at the institution that was closer to home, even though I would have had to apply for tenure again, I was interested in the job because I was eager to end my years of commuting. I met with the department chair over lunch, and she highlighted two incentives for me: a higher salary than I was earning at my current full-time position, and a "promise" that I would get the job because I am black. Although I never like having my race, rather than my Ivy League credentials or my respectable publishing record, considered to be my strongest selling point, I applied for the position and was hired.
And then the institution pretty much washed its hands of me. Other than inviting me to sit on a number of committees that dealt with diversity, the university took a huge step back and allowed me to "settle in" on my own.
I already lived in the area, so unlike many African-American professors who change jobs, I did not face resistance from neighbors when moving into a predominantly white neighborhood, nor was I steered away from those neighborhoods by real-estate agents. But I know that few institutional mechanisms exist to help faculty members like me find housing that is affordable, appropriate, and safe.
I have experienced another common problem: antagonism from white students who feel threatened by professors from minority groups. Some students — both in groups and individually — have confronted me in class, typically with a great deal of hostility and a complete lack of respect. [To read the entire story, go to: http://chronicle.com/weekly/v55/i09/09b02401.htm?utm_source=at&utm_medium=en ]

When All Efforts Fail to Retain Them, Unintentional Biases May Be at Work

New York Law Journal
By Ellen Ostrow
May 05, 2008

Rates of associate attrition from the largest law firms in the United States are higher than ever, in spite of years of efforts to reduce them. As associate compensation has soared, the tenure of these well-paid young attorneys at their firms has become ever shorter. According to research conducted by the NALP Foundation, almost 80 percent of attorneys at large firms leave within five years of being hired. Minorities and women depart their firms at much higher rates than do non-minority attorneys. Trying to find a woman attorney of color still at her original large law firm employer eight years after being hired would prove more challenging than finding the proverbial needle in a haystack.If affinity groups, mentoring programs, reduced-hours policies, on-site child care, opportunities to trade money for hours and diversity training fail to stem the exodus of associates from large firms, why aren't these efforts producing their desired effects?Women and attorneys of color share with white male lawyers many reasons for leaving, including the assumption that work and life are a zero-sum game; mind-numbing assignments that have little to do with their reasons for pursuing a legal career; and the slim odds of making partner, along with a lack of perceived control over the factors ultimately influencing that decision. Large firm culture continues to cling to norms established by the white men who created and continue to dominate private practice. Current billable-hours requirements require male and female attorneys to choose law over life. As a result, many associates entering firms begin their tenure with a plan to leave after paying down their law-school debt. When, in my capacity as a consultant, I conduct focus groups of associates, it is now rare to hear any aspirations to partnership. Wealthy, burned out partners paying multiple alimonies do not inspire longevity among most junior attorneys.However, diverse attorneys, more than their white male counterparts, bump up against other cultural norms that have been part of law firm mores for so long that they appear to be professional requirements rather than preferences or the way things have always been done.What Are Unintentional BiasesIndeed, I strongly suspect that cultural assumptions - normative in law firms and in the larger social structure in which they are embedded - and the self-fulfilling prophecies to which they lead, play a significant role in many failed efforts to retain diverse attorneys.In particular, unintentional biases may lead many women and attorneys of color to leave their firms. Psychological research indicates that unintentional biases arise from the normal human tendencies to categorize things and people into groups, to prefer familiar things and similar people and to cognitively simplify our complex world. These mental processes evolved no doubt due to their survival value (e.g., it's essential to differentiate dangerous enemies from our kin.) When we engage in social categorization we accentuate the differences between groups. We also attribute greater differentiation between the individuals in the groups to which we belong than to out-groups. We tend to homogenize the behavior of groups with which we do not identify; we underestimate differences within these groups. To read the entire article, go to: http://www.law.com/jsp/nylj/PubArticleNY.jsp?&id=1209632731835 ]

ANNOUNCING AAAA WEBINAR SERIES "RECRUITMENT AND RETENTION OF A DIVERSE FACULTY:A MATTER OF EXCELLENCE AND EQUITY"

Join AAAA on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 for the first of a series of webinars on equal opportunity, affirmative action and diversity topics.

"Recruitment and Retention of a Diverse Faculty" will be taught by Jonathan Alger, Vice President and General Counsel, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, and former Assistant General Counsel, University of Michigan. Most colleges and universities declare that they are dedicated to diversity as a matter of both quality and equality. Indeed, as reflected in the recent University of Michigan admissions lawsuits at the Law School and undergraduate levels, diversity within the student body is often portrayed as a vital component of a university's educational mission. One of the key questions arising out of these cases is whether, and to what extent, factors such as race, national origin, gender, etc. can be taken into account in the employment context at educational institutions.

The Webinar will address:
* The compelling interest in promoting diversity in recruitment
* Lessons from the Michigan cases
* Criteria for diversity plans
* Recruiting and outreach
* The search process
* Hiring and financial incentives
* Growing your own faculty* And other important issues.

Our Expert Speaker: Jonathan Alger is Vice President and General Counsel at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, where he oversees legal affairs for all of the University's campuses in New Brunswick/Piscataway, Newark, and Camden. He also teaches an undergraduate honors seminar on higher education law. Before coming to Rutgers, he was Assistant General Counsel at the University of Michigan. At Michigan, Mr. Alger helped coordinate two landmark admissions lawsuits in the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as legal work in areas such as intellectual property, cyberspace law and media rights.

Mr. Alger previously served as counsel for the national office of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP) in Washington, D.C., and as an attorney-advisor in the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights. He began his professional career in the Labor and Employment Section at the law firm of Morgan, Lewis, & Bockius.Mr. Alger has given hundreds of presentations on higher education law and policy throughout the United States and in Canada, Germany, and the West Indies.

He has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of College and University Attorneys, and is a current member of the Board of Advisors for the University of Vermont's annual conference on Legal Issues in Higher Education.

Mr. Alger graduated with Honors from Harvard Law School, and with High Honors in political science and Phi Beta Kappa from Swarthmore College and its External Examinations Program.

Join us on Tuesday, January 15, 2008 at 2:00 - 3:00 PM EST

Program Materials: PowerPoint presentation and Faculty Diversity Outline prepared by Mr. Alger will be distributed after the webinar.

Cost: $99.00 (AAAA Members) or $149.00 (Non-Members) allows access to one phone line for an unlimited number of people to listen. The conference fee includes program materials and live audio/web conference hosted by Genesys Conferencing.

Sign up today at www.regonline.com/webinar1.

It's easy! Once you receive the link for the webinar, you'll click that link and when prompted, enter your name, select the "DIAL ME" option, and enter your direct phone number and hit continue. Your phone will then ring and you'll be connected via telephone and web. Then, all you have to do is sit back and listen to the presentation! No special equipment is needed.

It's interactive! There will be a Question and Answer period at the end where you can anonymously ask questions by pushing a button on your telephone keypad.

It's convenient! You can call and listen in from anywhere ... your desk, your conference room, your home or your cell phone. And you don't have to spend money or extra staff time out of the office to go anywhere.

It's a bargain! It costs just $99/$149 to participate.

Submit your questions: We invite you to submit your questions in advance to s.j.wilcher@att.net. We plan to answer your questions during the live audio conference. However, time constraints limit the number of questions that can be answered in the Q&A session.