STAFF EDIT: Two percent is too little

Despite being a university that prides itself on diversity among many other things, Boston University is among some of the least diverse colleges in Boston with respect to faculty.

Though BU does offer competitive salaries to entice minority professors, there are so few minorities that make it through academic hurdles in order to become fully tenured professors that in daily academic life here, they are hard to come by. The percentage of tenure-track professors that are black at BU is two percent, the lowest along with Brandeis of those colleges surveyed in a Feb. 16 story by The Boston Globe. And while the United States average is just five percent, schools often compared to BU, such as Boston College, Northeastern University and Tufts University, have double that with four percent. University of Massachusetts Boston and Wheelock College have 7 and 19 percent respectively.

While BU does boast internationally and racially diverse students and faculty, the low percentages of minority (i.e. black and Hispanic) professors tenured is discouraging. Though the university should hire the best person for the job, it should also nurture its own talent. Two percent is just too low for tenured faculty, and even worse is the one percent BU has for its Hispanic professors. Part of the appeal of a large, ostensibly diverse research university is that it is offers perspectives from all backgrounds and from many different professors. Different being the operative word.

Instead of focusing on a public relations campaign that markets BU as an internationally diverse school in terms of both students and faculty, the university should put its energy into making all-inclusive diversity a reality. Anyone who has walked this campus or been in these classrooms could tell you that these numbers aren’t surprising, though it’s disappointing that amidst diversity issues all over the city, BU couldn’t put out a better showing.