Faculty question merits of minority recruiting strategy

Penn's track record in recruitment and retention of black faculty has been mixed at best recently, leaving some professors concerned about the University's approach.

This shortage of minority faculty is not unique to Penn. In fact, all top tier institutions have been competing to attract the same small pool of minority scholars.

The limited number of black faculty across academia -- 5 percent nationally, with half located at historically black institutions, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education -- results in constant bidding wars among the elite institutions.

"I think the way we do our recruitment is incredibly snobbish and classist," History professor Robert Engs said, noting that most black faculty at Penn come from a limited, elite set of universities. The individual merit of scholars, he said, should not be automatically equated with institutional reputation.

Even if Penn continues to be competitive in attracting minority faculty from this limited pool, it is unlikely that significant improvements will be made. One possible way to increase the range of applicants is to look for candidates in non-traditional ways.

"There are all kinds of [scholars] at second-tier institutions or at state institutions ... that can probably come here and flourish," English professor and Director of the Afro-African Studies Program Herman Beavers said.

"When you don't cast the net broadly enough, then yes, you will have a limited pool," he added, noting that, at least for the initial interview process, it would be appropriate to look at candidates from a broader cross section of academia.

If the majority of the minority faculty members come from other tier-one institutions, like Harvard, Yale or Stanford universities, it gives the impression to potential minority faculty members that "we only want them when they have a certain imprimatur on them," Beavers added.

In order to recruit from a larger pool, Penn needs to adopt a very careful strategy. For example, Engs noted, it would be important that Penn's efforts not be construed as raiding the faculty of historically black institutions.

To aid in retention and recruitment of distinguished minority faculty, the Office of the Provost has the Diversity Fund at its disposal. University officials would not release information about the size of the fund, but it currently provides at least partial financial support to more than two dozen faculty members.

But, some say, regardless of the strategy, genuine initiative and funding for this issue has to come from high up in the administration.

"Every school that has ever made serious gains in minority faculty, it came from the president and the provost," Beavers said. "If they push it, things happen. If they don't push it, nothing happens. Because if you wait for departments to do it or you wait for schools to do it, they won't do it."

One often-cited example of the success of this top-down approach is Harvard University under the presidency of Neil Rudenstine, during whose tenure from 1991-2001 the Afro-American Studies Department expanded from one faculty member to 16.

Penn, too, should not always be looked at as a monolithic institution. It is clear that some departments have done a better job than others of recruiting and retaining minority faculty members.

What many minority professors want is to make sure that the search process is fair and looks at the broadest pool of qualified candidates. Beavers suggested that the situation would improve if evaluations of deans and department chairs were tied to fair consideration of minority candidates for open slots.

Interim Provost Peter Conn agreed to some extent, saying that it is the responsibility of the deans and provosts to systematically monitor the hiring process and make sure that the broadest range of eligible candidates are considered.

He added that the University has developed an analytic method that compares the diversity of a specific applicant pool to the demographics of people in that same position nationally.

Faculty echo this view of the importance of a fair and considered approach.

"I am completely happy if you have a search for a faculty slot and you have talked to a number of African Americans, Latinos, Asians and women ... and in the end you determine the best candidate for the position is a white man," Legal Studies professor Kenneth Shropshire said. "So for us as an institution, [the goal] is to make sure that these processes are inclusive -- which is not always the case, and there are times it still does not happen the right way."

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