As of fall 2011, Boston University’s faculty was made up of about 2 percent black and 3 percent Hispanic or Latinx individuals. In 2015, compared to 17 of its peer institutions, BU ranked 14th in percentage of black faculty. This is an objectively poor history.
However, the university has taken strides to tackle this issue head on. In the summer of 2015, it created a Task Force on Faculty Diversity and Inclusion to facilitate discussions on how to make BU more diverse. The task force ultimately came up with five measures to promote diversity.
“We’ve now got incentive programs in place to help encourage departments to make sure that they recognize the importance of hiring black and Latinx faculty,” University Provost Jean Morrison said, “and that they have the tools they need to ensure that they can identify and recruit those individuals.”
Some six years later, BU’s improvement in faculty diversity has been gradual at best. During the 2017-18 academic year, the university’s faculty was made up of only 3.5 percent black, 3.6 percent Hispanic and 0.8 percent multiracial individuals.
We recognize that drastic improvements in faculty diversity cannot happen quickly, as staff turnover rates in higher education are low. This is not a bad thing. Still, it is important the university makes every effort to grow the number of non-white professors in its ranks.
Diversity in academia is important not just in the people teaching, but also in the readings they assign. Many academic texts are authored by white men. Diversity of thought and experience is necessary for fostering critical thinking, especially when these texts are being used to frame students’ perceptions of the world and train us for our careers in it.
What’s more is it’s much more impactful to be taught a subject by a professor who has personally experienced, or who can deeply relate to, that subject area. This is especially important in, for example, humanities classes that focus on a specific region of the world or culture.
The United States is becoming more diverse, and colleges must continue to reflect that diversity. At BU, the fall 2018 freshman class was certainly diverse: 22 percent Asian American, 6.5 percent black/African American, 10.1 percent Hispanic American and 32.6 percent white, with the rest being international students or having other identities.
Universities tend to treat diversity like a buzzword, but at the same time, it is a buzzword for a reason. Diversity of race, religion and socioeconomic status allows for better and more enriching discussions in academic and extracurricular contexts.
We must not forget that Boston itself is a city that can detract minorities. There is an ingrained history of racism and exclusion here that may dissuade especially black academics from applying for a job. A 2012 university report titled “Recruitment and Retention of Underrepresented Minority Faculty” outlined some of these concerns.
“In meeting with current black faculty, many expressed reservations about moving to Boston,” the report stated. “Without support they didn’t know where to live, where to obtain culturally appropriate services, etc.”
The university must do everything it can to make the city we call home as welcoming as possible to as many people as possible. Diversity is vital at any academic institution — especially at one as urban and multifaceted as BU.
