Faculty of Color

Obviously this past year has been quite eventful in terms of issues surrounding diversity, multiculturalism, and issues of access to power in and around the Bi-Co. For example, the killing of Mike Brown, Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, and many other people of color by police sparked many important conversations and events about race in the Bi-Co. However, one race-related topic which I wish received more attention is the decreasing number of faculty of color at Haverford. Based on reading makalaforster’s post, it seems like this is also an issue at Bryn Mawr. However, I know very little about this topic at Bryn Mawr, so I am going to focus my post on Haverford.

Before I continue I should say that I am complacent as well, and am not nearly as knowledgeable about this issue, even on my home campus, as I should be. I have not pushed for this to be a big topic at Haverford, and have not been involved in organizing any formal discussions about this topic. To be entirely honest, it is unlikely that this will change, despite my belief in its importance. I realize that as I write the rest of this post, I am and will continue to be guilty of the same thing I am criticizing.

My knowledge on the decreasing number of faculty of color comes from a few conversations with friends, and also this Haverford Clerk article (http://haverfordclerk.com/college-losing-faculty-of-color-to-peer-institutions/ ). To sum the article up, it explains that Haverford has a similar percentage of faculty of color (22%) to other comparable liberal arts colleges (Swarthmore- 20%, Williams- 21%, and Wesleyan- 21%). However, Haverford’s number is shrinking while other colleges’ number is growing. Some attribute this to a small pool of applicants of color to choose from, while others blame the college for not being “aggressive about the commitment,” and supportive of the already employed faculty of color. It also speaks about the benefits of having many faculty of color, including viewing “curriculum from the voice of “the other”, the voice of the oppressed.” My perspective on this issue has not shifted too much from when I first learned about it. 

While I can’t speak about the hiring process, I can speak to the fact that I (and I am guessing many other students) do appreciate the diversity of opinions that a diverse body of faculty introduces. For instance, last year I took an anthropology class which was focused on a certain part of the world. The professor had lived in that region for most of their life, and their personal experiences greatly enriched the class (I believe more so than if they had just conducted their research there). I also find it a little ironic that Haverford so proudly states each year that it has accepted the most diverse class ever, yet is losing much of its racial diversity in faculty. I realize that diversity comes in many forms, but Haverford’s body of students of color is growing, and I wonder what those individuals  think when they see that more than ¾ of the school’s faculty is white.

On a different but related note, I wanted to comment that I really struggled to write this post. I thought about what we have been talking about in class, such as awareness of our own biases, positionality, privileges, etc. I know that as a white student this issue has not affected me as personally (and likely as profoundly) as it might affect a student of color. I also know that sentence sounds pretty self-righteous. I think I am struggling with how to be a good ally, and I am guessing this struggle is pretty large for teachers (such as Huang) who teach/taught predominantly students from a less privileged background than themselves.