Increasing the climate of diversity on the University campus has been an important goal in the past few years.
But increasing diversity does not just involve students; faculty are also an important component. This year, the University welcomed almost 50 new tenure-related instructional teaching faculty. Among them, seven are of color or minority status.
The issue of diversity gained momentum when a group of students concerned with intolerance and racism participated in a sit-in at Johnson Hall in the spring of 1999.
The sit-in, which was sparked by a sexist comment in a class e-mail discussion group, resulted in the creation of a number of diversity committees and internship positions.
Almost a year and a half later, the seven new minority faculty hirings are viewed by some as among the positive results of those efforts.
“Seven out of 49 is not a great number, but it’s not horrible,” said Mark Tracy, who serves as assistant dean for diversity programs. “I think Oregon has a variety of issues surrounding its recruiting of minorities, like salary, atmosphere and location.”
Tracy said when applicants are choosing between different schools, the University’s location puts it at a disadvantage.
“Professors will pick Washington with comparable salary over Oregon, because it’s near Seattle as opposed to Eugene, which doesn’t have a visible, vibrant African-American community that big cities offer,” he said.
Aggressive and broad job searches and offering more competitive salaries are just some of the ways the University has attempted to increase minority faculty, Tracy said.
“They need to broaden their searches. When a department looks for people who specialize in one thing, they exclude minorities,” Tracy said. “Rather than picking the person who is specialized, they should go with the minority, who has the specialty topic in their background, who will add something extra to the University.”
Others, including Ken Lehrman, director of the Office of Affirmative Action and Equal Opportunity, agree that while having only seven new minority faculty members doesn’t seem like very many, it is a good number compared to past years.
“These numbers are not typical of the University,” Lehrman said. “It’s rather good in fact. Looking back historically, we typically get half that.”
He also credits the increase to the existing faculty and search committees, who use their contacts and connections to get a diverse pool.
“We advertise broadly to bring in a diverse pool,” Sid Moore said.
Moore is a Human Rights Investigator and Affirmative Action Equal Opportunity officer.
But for some fields, it may be hard to find qualified minorities.
“Physics, for instance, is a department that has traditionally been taught by males,” Moore said.
For the most part, new faculty seem to be positive about the University and its diversity efforts.
“I knew that it wasn’t as diverse here,” Mark Unno said.
Unno is a new assistant professor of religious studies.
“The good mix of politics and a liberal campus give it a good potential for growth,” he said.Unno also noted the large numbers of Asian and Asian-American students on campus, as well as growing numbers in Latino and African American groups.But Unno said he has not just seen diversity among students.
“The department was very welcoming. There is all kinds of diversity just within my department,” he said. “There are two faculty members who are Canadian citizens, one from Australia, I am a Japanese-American, and there is also an American citizen.”