If diversity can be measured in numbers, then many University departments may need to re-evaluate their hiring policies.
The Multicultural Center presented 11 University departments with a “Zero Award” Wednesday for having no tenure or tenure-tracked faculty members of color. The awards were announced and posted from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the EMU Amphitheater as part of this week’s Dr. Edwin Coleman Conference events.
Multicultural Center resource director Abby Lovett said she hoped the third annual event would “encourage departments to hire outside the majority.”
Departments receiving Zero Awards included political science, economics, theatre arts, and geography. Zero Awards were also given to the departments of planning, public policy and management, arts and administration, landscape architecture, and Germanic languages and literature. The School of Dance, the School of Music, and the Honors College were other recipients.
Sophomore Nilda Brooklyn, who is considering a major in planning, public policy and management, said she was disappointed to see that department included in the awards.
“It makes me stop and think if it’s a department that will prepare me for the things I want to do after college,” Brooklyn said.
For some departments, the lack of a diverse faculty is a result of unavoidable factors. Honors College Director David Frank said because his department is small, its ability to hire new professors is limited. The last time the department hired a new faculty member was 15 years ago, Frank said.
But, Frank added, he and other faculty members of the Honors College are actively working to improve diversity within the program.
“The Zero Awards are an indication of what we once were, and not what we are,” Frank said.
One way the Honors College is working to increase diversity in the department is by recruiting a more diverse student body. Out of next year’s incoming student body, Frank said, 17 percent are students of color.
There are also plans to bring three faculty members of color from outside the Honors College to teach classes in the department next year, Frank said.
Along with the Zero Awards, a “speak out” was held in the amphitheater so students could voice their opinions on diversity and political activism on campus.
During the “speak out,” Bola Majekobaje encouraged anyone interested to come up and take the microphone. Majekobaje, one of the event’s coordinators, reminded students that diversity is not an issue concerning one particular group.
“Diversity affects everyone, no matter our race, our culture, our beliefs,” Majekobaje said.
Dr. Edwin Coleman Conference events continue tonight at 7 p.m. with a debate on affirmative action, which will be held in the William W. Knight Law Center.
Friday, the MCC will host a benefit dinner to raise AIDS awareness, which will take place at 6 p.m. in the EMU Fir Room. Then at 7 p.m., activists Amiri Baraka and Elaine Brown will present the conference’s keynote address in Columbia 150.