Committee confronts lack of minority faculty

The number of minority faculty members at UB is failing to keep pace with the growing percentage of minority students, according to a report from the UB Affirmative Action Committee to the Faculty Senate on Wednesday.

According to committee chair Mattie Rhodes, 50 percent of university students nationwide will be minority students by the year 2015, which is vastly disproportional to the percentage of minority faculty at UB.

"American universities are educating a larger and more diverse group of students than ever before," Rhodes said. "The diversification of faculty hasn't kept pace."

According to the committee's statistics, only three percent of the current full-time faculty at UB is black, while only 2.4 percent is Hispanic.

While modest gains have been made in the representation of women, Hispanics and Native Americans within the last few years, a university-wide commitment to faculty diversity is necessary, according to Rhodes' report.

"The rationale for diversification extends beyond equal opportunity and equity," Rhodes said. "To serve current and future student populations, multiple and diverse perspectives are needed at every level of college teaching and governance."

Among the ideas proposed by the committee for recruiting and hiring minority faculty were targeting departments where many excellent minority candidates were available, and offering creative hiring packages.

The concept of "block hiring" was also suggested. According to Sharon Nolan-Weiss, a committee member and assistant director of the Office of Equity Diversity and Affirmative Action, when a department hasn't employed a minority or female faculty member in many years, asking a potential minority candidate to enter this department is a bit of a stretch.

"By hiring a block of people, we can hopefully make that group far more comfortable, and set up a basis for further hiring," Nolan-Weiss said.

The comfort level of minority candidates was a point of emphasis for the committee and for the members of the Faculty Senate Executive Committee. Retaining minority faculty depends on their level of happiness and comfort at UB, officials said.

Officials also stressed the use of mentors and other ways for faculty members to allow the currently small number of minority faculty to connect with one another.

The legality of targeting minority candidates was also discussed at length. According to Nolan-Weiss, although the Supreme Court has ruled that diversity is a valid basis for treating a candidate differently, there is a very fine line between promoting diversity and discriminating against non-minority candidates.

While much of the discussion revolved around making comfortable and finding ways to hire top minority candidates, the faculty also expressed concern at being held accountable for their departments' demographics.

"The faculty was very honest with the barriers they've experienced in attempting to hire minority faculty, and we really appreciated that," Nolan-Weiss said.

According to philosophy professor William Baumer, the competition is fierce for the very best minority candidates, and too much focus on only these candidates can potentially leave departments empty-handed.

Professor Samuel Schack, chair of the mathematics department, noted one major issue in hiring is timing.

"If our number one choice is a top woman candidate, she may have six interviews lined up, and we should absolutely expect her to pursue every possibility in order to find what's best for her," Schack said. "Meanwhile if our number two candidate is not a minority, he may jump at an offer and while we're waiting around for number one, he's lost."

While departmental accountability may be examined eventually, for the time being there is simply an administrative emphasis on seeking out the very best minority candidates, according to Rhodes.

Nolan-Weiss said Wednesday's meeting was a step in the right direction.

"I thought it generated really good discussion, and I was especially impressed with the specific suggestions offered by faculty members," Nolan-Weiss said after the presentation. "I really like to see that this is an issue people care so strongly about."