Why Is There So Little Faculty Ethnic Diversity?

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The good news for universities that want to hire faculty of color is that the pipeline in most disciplines is diverse. The pipeline of professors for positions in psychology, my discipline, is as diverse as the United States. Recent data indicate that 30% of psychology graduate students were not White, which is representative of the country: The U.S Census Bureau indicates that in 2016, nearly 30% of the United States population was not White. So, there is much potential. But Center for Workforce Studies data indicate that in 2017-18 only 16% of faculty in psychology graduate programs were not White. Moreover, nearly 90% of full professors in psychology were White. The U.S. professoriate in psychology and most disciplines have much catching up to do before they look like the society they serve. Why is this so and what might be done?

Cultural diversity is an espoused value at most universities. For example, “An equal-opportunity, affirmative-action institution committed to cultural diversity and compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act” is on my university’s letterhead. Ethnic and racial diversity is typically an emphasis on an institution’s diversity efforts. The consensus of research suggests that the quality of higher education is improved when university faculty represent the diversity of the country. I have observed four common sources of resistance to hiring faculty of color.

Sources of Resistance to Hiring Faculty of Color

One source of resistance to hiring faculty of color is colorblindness. This is the idea that attention to a person’s racial, ethnic, or cultural background is racist or even illegal. However, counseling psychologist Helen A. Neville has conducted research to demonstrate that colorblindness is an ideology that perpetuates the White dominant status quo. Those who espouse colorblindness fail to recognize racial, ethnic, and cultural identity as assets that can bring diverse perspectives to academia and attract diverse students.

Several years ago, I was invited to a conference at an elite private university on graduate training in psychology. The topic of discussion was diversifying the field. I suggested that one way to attract diverse students was to hire diverse faculty. One senior White man from the university claimed that this was identity politics, another source of resistance. This is the idea that people promote the interests of their own group for political gain. But isn’t the all-White, mostly older male faculty at that and many other universities its own form of identity politics?

A third source of resistance is redefining diversity. Some faculty will defend the status quo by claiming that although there is not racial, ethnic, or cultural diversity, there are other forms of diversity, such as intellectual diversity. One of my favorite examples of this was from a land grant university. On a university-wide diversity committee, a faculty member from the agricultural college argued that the study of wheat should be considered a form of diversity. Although racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity certainly are not the only forms of diversity, the underrepresentation of faculty of color in psychology and other fields merits particular attention.

Some academic departments are willing to hire a solo faculty member of color. This form of resistance is checking the box. The presence of this single faculty member is evidence to some that their department values diversity. Often this single person is expected to shoulder major diversity responsibilities, such as chairing diversity committees and mentoring students of color. Although the faculty member may welcome these responsibilities, the danger is that they can become the diversity point person and other faculty members become absolved of diversity responsibilities. Checking the box also may mean that faculty are comfortable with some diversity but not too much of it.

These sources of resistance to hiring faculty of color are likely a product of being in non-diverse environments. A lack of diversity is viewed as the norm. But this is a biased view of an increasingly diverse society.

A Possible Solution to Increase Hiring

Social psychologists have consistently demonstrated that intergroup contact reduces ethnic and racial bias. Simply spending time with someone unlike yourself can reduce bias. Even vicarious intergroup contact can reduce such biases. Because my work environment has limited diversity, much of my day-to-day contact with colleagues of color is via listservs and social media. One easy way for faculty who are in non-diverse environments to become more open to diversity in hiring would be to join listservs or social media groups focused on diversity in their discipline. Another would be to participate in professional organizations focused on diversity, such as the American Psychological Association Society for the Psychological Study of Culture, Ethnicity, and Race, the National Society of Black Physicists, or the Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science. These professional organizations are also sources of referrals for job candidates of color.

Which faculty would be most open to such contact with colleagues unlike themselves? It is likely those who value diversity but whose everyday lives lack it. In clinical psychology, motivational interviewing, in which one is presented with the discrepancy between their goals and current behavior, has consistently been found to create motivation for change. Pointing out the discrepancy between diversity goals (e.g., an institution committed to cultural diversity) and actual diversity can motivate change.

The group open to hiring diverse faculty is probably relatively large. I have described Passive Supporters of diversity who value it but have yet to prioritize it. They may be open to change. I estimated this group to be approximately 50% of the population, whereas those who are critical of diversity efforts (Dissenters) or Active Supporters of diversity efforts are at about 25% of the population each.

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A few years ago in Coos Bay, Oregon, I met one of Olympic runner Steve Prefontaine’s high school cross-country teammates from the late 1960s. He and his teammates thought Prefontaine, who won state titles and set a national record in high school, was good. But they assumed that every high school had a star runner like Prefontaine. Not long after Prefontaine starred at the University of Oregon and became an Olympian, I was an undergraduate psychology major at the University of Washington. The University of Washington psychology faculty at the time included Asian American Stanley Sue and African American Claude Steele. Analogous to Prefontaine’s teammates, I assumed that every psychology department had faculty members of color. Later I discovered that faculty of color in psychology departments were almost as rare as world-class runners.

Similar to world-class runners, ethnically diverse faculty, particularly those with diverse experiences and expertise who want to mentor diverse students, should be recognized, valued, recruited, and retained. To those who see this treatment as unequal or unfair, the colorblind approach has resulted in the current dearth of faculty diversity. The United States professoriate has much catching up to do before it looks like the society it serves.