Boston University student group Minority Connection Initiative recently released a directory of classes taught by minority professors at the university. The goal is to provide minority students with an easy way to take classes taught by minority professors at BU, according to a MCI member.
“It is often overlooked how powerful having a teacher or professor who looks like you can be, even at this high of an academic level,” wrote Kenneth Harvey, an MCI executive board member and a first-year graduate student in the College of Engineering. “Living and succeeding at a predominately white school can be very hard socially and academically for minority students,” he added.
Harvey wrote that the directory was compiled using a combination of self-reported data and referral information.
“We began with minority professors we knew personally … then expanded by reaching out to those professors, as well as student friends of ours, asking for name recommendations for the list,” Harvey wrote. “To supplement and reach departments we hadn’t, we also used directory information.”
The group hopes the directory will not only benefit minority students, but minority professors as well.
“Besides the obvious benefit of arming students with a better ability to sign up for classes taught by professors that look like them, we hope to increase enrollment numbers in classes taught by these professors to show them BU’s minority student body supports them as well,” the group stated in a Facebook post.
As for non-minority students, the list is intended to be a useful way to simply take a new class from someone with a different background, Harvey wrote.
“Diversity in the professors you have is important — just as diversity in life experiences, people one interacts with and ideas are important to shaping people and their world views,” Harvey wrote.
Several BU students commented on the minority directory and their opinion on its release.
Benjamin Saef, a sophomore in the College of General Studies, said he believes the directory is a good way for students to get an “authentic” learning experience in class.
“lf you are taking an Arabic class, you expect an Arabic teacher so I think people will feel more comfortable learning in an environment where there is some authenticity and legitimacy in the classroom, which will in turn help students learn better,” Saef said.
Jae Yong Park, a senior in the Questrom School of Business, agrees with MCI that it is important to give minority professors more recognition.
“Not only because it is good for students to see the variety of professors available to them from all different backgrounds, but also so that minority students could take those classes if they want a teacher with a similar experience or background as them,” Park said.
Stephanie Eggers, a freshman in the College of Arts and Sciences, said she has mixed feelings about the document.
“People should take the classes they want based on their interests and a professor’s place of origin or ethnicity shouldn’t have an impact on it,” Eggers said. However, she added, “I think it’s great that [Minority Connection Initiative is] bringing attention to the diversity of professors at BU.”
Harvey wrote that the number of minority professors at BU is pretty low. The list that MCI gathered currently includes 37 professors.
“In compiling this list, one other take-away that popped up, which I think is getting a lot of attention from students around campus, is the simple lack of minority professors at BU,” Harvey wrote. “Looking at this compiled list I think it really hammers home the lack of diversity at the faculty level, something we at MCI encourage everyone at BU to examine, discuss and address.”
BU spokesperson Colin Riley said it wasn’t his place to comment on the document, and that he and the university could not officially verify or endorse it.
“If those groups and individuals feel that it benefits them and their members, then we’re happy that they’ve done it,” Riley said.
