merson College: Faculty “Diversity” Has Meaning
Posted By The Editors | September 25th, 2011 (3 seconds ago) | Category: Education | No Comments »
Print This PostBy Kenneth J. Cooper
A public controversy erupts over the denial of tenure to a black professor. The college goes into a defensive crouch and may conduct an internal review of its hiring and promotion practices. Then the racial and ethnic composition of the faculty usually changes little.
Emerson College, a private communications arts school in Boston, faced such a controversy in 2008 after denying tenure to two African-American professors. Each promptly filed a complaint with the state’s anti-discrimination agency. The Boston NAACP criticized Emerson for the tenure denials.
But Emerson’s response differed from a college’s typical reaction. Both professors were offered a chance to reapply for tenure three years later. One accepted the offer; the other rejected it.
When faculty advocates of diversity pushed for an external review, the college’s president, a white woman, took the unusual step of adopting that recommendation. A panel of three experts was named to conduct an independent review of personnel practices.
The three-member panel reported last year that stigma and bias had left Emerson’s black faculty in a “caste-
