Inside Higher Ed
November 18, 2010
Supporters of Quinetta Shelby released documents Wednesday suggesting bias in her tenure denial at DePaul University. Shelby is the only black faculty member in the chemistry department at the university, and while she was rejected by her department, a university appeals panel found that she was treated unfairly.
Full Story: http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/18/qt#243838
Showing posts with label faculty tenure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label faculty tenure. Show all posts
Thursday, November 18, 2010
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Tenure decisions can’t remedy racial imbalance
The Boston Globe
By Robert Zelnick
February 28, 2010
NOT TOO MANY years ago the dean of an Ivy League college described a no-holds barred battle at his institution over tenure for an African-American candidate.
“He tried once before and didn’t come close,’’ my friend said. “This time he’s screaming discrimination, racism, God knows what else.’’
“Will he make it?’’ I asked.
“I doubt it. We’re talking tenure, not undergraduate admissions. There’s a world of difference.’’
There certainly is and anyone offering an assessment of the so-called “under-representation’’ of tenure track minorities at leading institutions of higher learning should understand that, while most professors are committed to student diversity and support the affirmative action admissions practices needed to achieve it, many will fight against making race a “plus factor’’ in tenure situations. Here the “publish or perish’’ mandate is as essential as it is race neutral.
The reasoning is simple: An undergraduate is gone in four or five years and few, no matter how talented academically, leave a body of work behind capable of influencing the school’s standing or reputation. But a professor granted tenure at, say, age 30, will remain on the faculty for perhaps the next 35 years. His or her scholarly research and writing will influence the reputation of the department over a period of many years, attracting or repelling other young scholars wishing to enter the same academic field.
Full Story: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/02/28/tenure_decisions_cant_remedy_racial_imbalance/
By Robert Zelnick
February 28, 2010
NOT TOO MANY years ago the dean of an Ivy League college described a no-holds barred battle at his institution over tenure for an African-American candidate.
“He tried once before and didn’t come close,’’ my friend said. “This time he’s screaming discrimination, racism, God knows what else.’’
“Will he make it?’’ I asked.
“I doubt it. We’re talking tenure, not undergraduate admissions. There’s a world of difference.’’
There certainly is and anyone offering an assessment of the so-called “under-representation’’ of tenure track minorities at leading institutions of higher learning should understand that, while most professors are committed to student diversity and support the affirmative action admissions practices needed to achieve it, many will fight against making race a “plus factor’’ in tenure situations. Here the “publish or perish’’ mandate is as essential as it is race neutral.
The reasoning is simple: An undergraduate is gone in four or five years and few, no matter how talented academically, leave a body of work behind capable of influencing the school’s standing or reputation. But a professor granted tenure at, say, age 30, will remain on the faculty for perhaps the next 35 years. His or her scholarly research and writing will influence the reputation of the department over a period of many years, attracting or repelling other young scholars wishing to enter the same academic field.
Full Story: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2010/02/28/tenure_decisions_cant_remedy_racial_imbalance/
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Panel faults Emerson on diversity
Boston.com
Says school has ignored role of racial bias in faculty tenure, promotion
By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff February 2, 2010
For too long, Emerson College has ignored the role racial bias plays in tenure and promotion, leading to an overwhelmingly white faculty and leaving blacks at a disadvantage, according to a pointed external review released yesterday.
The college commissioned the review last fall following the uproar over college officials’ denial of tenure to two black professors, a controversy that prompted soul-searching at the communications arts school in downtown Boston.
The three-member panel found no overt racism barring the recruitment and retention of black professors. But it said enduring stigma and negative bias leaves black academics in a “caste-like position,’’ in which their intellectual worth and contributions are often undervalued and their advancement slowed.
“It is not intended, but it’s the result of patterns that perpetuate forms of discrimination,’’ said Ted Landsmark, a civil rights activist and president of Boston Architectural College who headed the review panel.
Only four of Emerson’s 117 tenured and tenure-track faculty are black. Of those, just three have been tenured in the school’s 129-year history; two of them had to sue for the promotion.
The review panel - which included Evelynn Hammonds, dean of Harvard College, and JoAnn Moody, a national consultant on faculty diversity and development - recommends that Emerson provide better mentoring and professional development for tenure-track faculty, clarify departmental tenure requirements, and increase the multicultural competency of faculty and administrators to better recognize biases.
The college commissioned the review last fall following the uproar over college officials’ denial of tenure to two black professors, a controversy that prompted soul-searching at the communications arts school in downtown Boston.
The three-member panel found no overt racism barring the recruitment and retention of black professors. But it said enduring stigma and negative bias leaves black academics in a “caste-like position,’’ in which their intellectual worth and contributions are often undervalued and their advancement slowed.
“It is not intended, but it’s the result of patterns that perpetuate forms of discrimination,’’ said Ted Landsmark, a civil rights activist and president of Boston Architectural College who headed the review panel.
Only four of Emerson’s 117 tenured and tenure-track faculty are black. Of those, just three have been tenured in the school’s 129-year history; two of them had to sue for the promotion.
The review panel - which included Evelynn Hammonds, dean of Harvard College, and JoAnn Moody, a national consultant on faculty diversity and development - recommends that Emerson provide better mentoring and professional development for tenure-track faculty, clarify departmental tenure requirements, and increase the multicultural competency of faculty and administrators to better recognize biases.
Picture: Ted Landsmark, Boston Globe
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
Blacks’ fight for tenure roils Emerson
Boston.com
College, antibias agency reviewing policies
By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff October 6, 2009
In its 129-year history, Emerson College has granted tenure to just three black professors. Two of them had to sue for the distinction. Last year, when two more black scholars were up for tenure, school administrators denied them both, despite approval from colleagues in their departments.
The result has been a flurry of accusations and investigations that have swept across the downtown campus and into the academic world around it. The local chapter of the NAACP has cried foul. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has launched an inquiry.
And the controversy has heightened worries about Emerson’s ability to attract minority candidates and raised questions about its commitment to retain the few who are already there.
William Smith, director of Emerson’s five-year-old Center for Diversity, acknowledges that, in light of the school’s history, he is often nervous when he talks to people about recruitment. “They say, ‘What happened?’ I say, ‘It’s growing pains.’ It’s an embarrassment.’’
College officials, including president Jacqueline Liebergott, say the rigorous standards for tenure are applied fairly to all candidates at Emerson, which has 76 tenured professors among a full-time faculty of 177. Those who are deemed qualified are granted lifelong jobs at the communications arts school at the end of the six-year tenure process.
But amid pressure from faculty, Liebergott announced that the private school, which has 3,200 students, would convene an outside panel to review how promotion and tenure policies are applied to minority candidates.
The panel, which began its work two weeks ago, is expected to issue its findings and recommendations by January, a report, panel members hope, that will have effects beyond Emerson and will influence other New England colleges struggling to diversify their faculty.
“Students and parents are selecting schools where there are role models of the professionals whom the students aspire to be,’’ said Theodore Landsmark, president ofthe Boston Architectural College and a civil rights leader who is serving on the panel along with Harvard College dean Evelynn Hammonds. “Schools that lack diversity are finding that they are less competitive in a global marketplace,’’ Landsmark said.
While Liebergott said she could not discuss the two disputed cases because tenure deliberations are confidential, she acknowledged in an interview last week that “there are issues for underrepresented minorities here as elsewhere, and we’re trying to work through those.’’
“I’m hoping that what will come out of this committee is recommendations for more aggressive recruiting and ways to build a climate here that will support the community we’re trying hard to build,’’ she said.
Full Story: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/06/emersons_tenure_policy_under_review/
College, antibias agency reviewing policies
By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff October 6, 2009
In its 129-year history, Emerson College has granted tenure to just three black professors. Two of them had to sue for the distinction. Last year, when two more black scholars were up for tenure, school administrators denied them both, despite approval from colleagues in their departments.
The result has been a flurry of accusations and investigations that have swept across the downtown campus and into the academic world around it. The local chapter of the NAACP has cried foul. The Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination has launched an inquiry.
And the controversy has heightened worries about Emerson’s ability to attract minority candidates and raised questions about its commitment to retain the few who are already there.
William Smith, director of Emerson’s five-year-old Center for Diversity, acknowledges that, in light of the school’s history, he is often nervous when he talks to people about recruitment. “They say, ‘What happened?’ I say, ‘It’s growing pains.’ It’s an embarrassment.’’
College officials, including president Jacqueline Liebergott, say the rigorous standards for tenure are applied fairly to all candidates at Emerson, which has 76 tenured professors among a full-time faculty of 177. Those who are deemed qualified are granted lifelong jobs at the communications arts school at the end of the six-year tenure process.
But amid pressure from faculty, Liebergott announced that the private school, which has 3,200 students, would convene an outside panel to review how promotion and tenure policies are applied to minority candidates.
The panel, which began its work two weeks ago, is expected to issue its findings and recommendations by January, a report, panel members hope, that will have effects beyond Emerson and will influence other New England colleges struggling to diversify their faculty.
“Students and parents are selecting schools where there are role models of the professionals whom the students aspire to be,’’ said Theodore Landsmark, president ofthe Boston Architectural College and a civil rights leader who is serving on the panel along with Harvard College dean Evelynn Hammonds. “Schools that lack diversity are finding that they are less competitive in a global marketplace,’’ Landsmark said.
While Liebergott said she could not discuss the two disputed cases because tenure deliberations are confidential, she acknowledged in an interview last week that “there are issues for underrepresented minorities here as elsewhere, and we’re trying to work through those.’’
“I’m hoping that what will come out of this committee is recommendations for more aggressive recruiting and ways to build a climate here that will support the community we’re trying hard to build,’’ she said.
Full Story: http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2009/10/06/emersons_tenure_policy_under_review/
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