A New College “Racism” Study Really May Be Peak Woke
James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal ^ | November 22, 2024 | Peter Wood
Posted on 11/23/2024 12:57:36 PM PST by karpov
Do black faculty members face discrimination in promotion and tenure? One might think this a simple question with an objective answer. The answer could be, “Yes. Black faculty members face invidious racial discrimination.” Or it might be, “Yes. Black faculty members are beneficiaries of lower standards based on favorable racial discrimination.” Or, yet again, it could be, “Both kinds of discrimination occur, sometimes in the same institution, and both can be hard to document.” Then again still, the answer might be, “Racial discrimination in faculty promotion and tenure is rare and exceptional.”
This is a topic on which I have done no original research, though that doesn’t stop me from having an opinion, based on some 50 years of my life spent in and around colleges and universities. Let me put that opinion out in the open so that no one need invoke “implicit bias.” Every college or university I enrolled in as a student, worked in as a faculty member or administrator, or examined as an accreditor or researcher was strongly dedicated to opposing invidious racial discrimination but was lenient towards black faculty members who fell short of prevailing standards. Often, no leniency was needed, but sometimes it was. A black faculty member might be extended extra time on his tenure clock, granted a reduced course load in order to complete a book manuscript, or given special consideration for exceptional teaching or “service to the community.”
I seldom saw such leniency extended to anyone else, and I never heard anyone in the academic community take exception to it. The prevailing sentiment, whether in a small liberal-arts college or a major research university, was always that it was morally right and socially wise to “go the extra mile.”
(Excerpt) Read more at jamesgmartin.center ...
TOPICS: Education
KEYWORDS: academia; college
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1 posted on 11/23/2024 12:57:36 PM PST by karpov
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