Hiring a Diverse Faculty Isn't Enough. They Need Protection, Too.

In recent years, colleges and universities have demonstrated an increased interest in hiring and retaining racially diverse faculty members so that their teaching ranks better reflect those of the students they teach. However, as institutions of higher education aim to achieve these goals, it is crucial to understand that they must actively work to protect these faculty members as well. Bringing in professors from various racial and ethnic backgrounds means embracing these individuals for their diverse lived experiences and necessitates work to make academia a safer, more inclusive space for scholars of color. In the United States, where higher education was initially designed for the white man and systemic racism is woven into the fabric of our institutions, being mindful of how our faculty of color are treated, listened to, and compensated for their labor is essential.

New America recently interviewed three professors from top research institutions – Dr. Camille Z. Charles from the University of Pennsylvania School of Arts and Sciences; Dr. Sharon Fries-Britt from the University of Maryland College of Education; and Dr. Gina Ann Garcia from the University of California, Berkeley School of Education (and formerly the University of Pittsburgh School of Education) – to discuss their experiences as scholars of color on their respective campuses. We conducted these interviews in an effort to gain insight on best practices for institutions aiming to retain and protect their faculty from underrepresented racial groups.

In a first interview, Dr. Charles discussed the emotional and mental labor that faculty of color often experience while doing service work in academia. When there are limited numbers of faculty from underrepresented racial groups at higher education institutions, they are often tasked with a heavy load of duties that fall under the broader umbrella of university or departmental service – which is disparagingly known as the “minority tax.” Faculty of color are often asked, for instance, to serve on committees and task forces that colleges have created to reckon with racial injustice as a systemic issue facing the nation and their campuses. Serving on faculty panels considering issues of race, inequity, inclusion, and social justice on campus are often uncompensated and expected of professors, but this work is not deemed as important for promotion and tenure as compared to academic research and publishing.

Having honest conversations is a critical step towards advancing racial justice. However, colleges need to recognize that there is an added layer of emotional labor involved in participating in these discussions for faculty from underrepresented backgrounds who have lived through and personally experienced racism throughout their lives.

Committee service factors into faculty members’ annual performance evaluations at the University of Pennsylvania, but Dr. Charles said that “the financial reward may not be indicative of the extra weight carried by faculty from minoritized groups (e.g. race/ethnicity, gender, sexuality/sexual orientation),” particularly “when it comes to being on committees and doing service that is in the name of diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging.”

Dr. Charles explained that serving on these committees can be especially difficult because faculty of color are often “in the awkward position of addressing peoples’ insensitivities or biases,” and that colleges often fail to recognize how taxing that can be. “You’re asking me to do a particular type of service that has to do with my identity,” she says. “You’re draining me from my perspective and knowledge without acknowledging that I’m somebody who is directly impacted by the issues the committee is addressing.”

Serving as an educator and mentor on issues that are deeply personal and potentially triggering can become exhausting quickly. As colleges aim to protect and appropriately compensate their faculty, acknowledging this is crucial.

At some institutions, the landscape is brighter. Dr. Fries-Britt said that the promotion of scholars of color to leadership positions at the University of Maryland led to positive changes regarding how service labor is distributed. Dr. Fries-Britt said that recent department chairs in the College of Education “have done a much better job of distributing labor.” She explains that “both of these are men of color, and they get it,” and that the dean of the college is a Black woman who also understands the importance of “thinking about who is doing what.” Having leaders who recognize the burdens these types of committee assignments have on faculty of color has made these professors more optimistic about the future of racial equity and inclusion in the profession.

Aside from service, faculty of color also often serve as mentors and role models for students from underrepresented backgrounds. Seeing and working with scholars who come from similar backgrounds can inspire these students and give them more comfort seeking guidance and support. At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Garcia noticed that administrators tended to view diversity as a Black-white issue rather than one encompassing all racial groups. To combat the feeling of erasure, she organized a group of grassroots leaders on campus to plan and launch the University's first Latinx & Hispanic Heritage Month in 2018 and became the founding advisor of the university’s Latinx Student Association.

“It’s invalidating, and a different type of microaggression to not have your experiences seen,” Dr. Garcia said. Like the country as a whole, higher education institutions only will become more racially diverse with time. Knowing this, it is critical to bring in, listen to, and uplift the voices of faculty from each of these historically underrepresented groups.

As colleges seek to bring in more diverse faculty, they must also commit to policies and practices that protect these scholars. Understanding that racial diversity encompasses a wide array of lived experiences and backgrounds is essential. Nobody should have to fight to be seen in the first place.

Part of seeing faculty of color fully also includes acknowledging the emotional labor that goes into university service related to race equity and justice. College and departmental leadership must be considerate of how this labor is distributed so that it does not fall too heavily on one or a few individuals. Employers have historically provided hazard pay to compensate workers who perform tasks associated with extreme discomfort and distress. Faculty of color may deserve this type of compensation for performing service work that is emotionally and mentally laborious.

Further, colleges can embrace more inclusive ideas of what it means to be a successful scholar for purposes of tenure and promotion. While research output is a critical component of these institutions' missions, faculty of color also do important work by creating spaces on campus for historically underrepresented student groups and mentoring those students through their own research projects.

Across the nation, faculty of color are bringing benefits to their campuses and uplifting students who have not always been embraced by the higher education system. It is no longer enough for colleges and universities to just have these scholars from underrepresented minority groups. They must put in the work to make academia a safer, more inclusive space for them as well.