Dive Brief:
- Students at the University of Missouri at Columbia want the portion of black faculty members to go from 3% to 10% by 2017-18, but multiple factors could prevent that.
- Inside Higher Ed reports that the supply of black Ph.D. candidates is low and their tendency to leave academia for the corporate world is relatively high — a track record that may skew even more if colleges and universities do not address the racial climates on their campuses.
- Just 6% of faculty members nationwide are black, making such ambitious diversity goals hard to reach — and some have taken issue with the targets as being too narrowly focused, arguing that increasing the number is important but must come with professional development around diversity for white faculty, who will be the majority for many years to come.
Dive Insight:
Mizzou is not the only campus facing student demands to increase diversity. Its students' demands are, however, the most ambitious. Besides the supply problem with black faculty, the school may struggle with finding the money to pay for such an expansion of its workforce. Mizzou likely will not be able to reach 10% simply by replacing faculty who leave or retire. Yale has announced a $50 million commitment, while Brown has committed $100 million for hiring initiatives and strategies to increase minority Ph.D. students and keep them in academia.
Using these student protests as a reminder to step back and look at a comprehensive diversity plan is a good idea. Institutions should think about more than just numbers and assess campus climate, understanding that will also help recruitment and retention.