Editorials

As part of a week-long series of events dedicated to realizing integration and diversity on UC campuses, the Coalition to Defend Affirmative Action and Integration and Fight for Equality By Any Means Necessary, BAMN, held a forum Thursday night on the fight to increase women and minority faculty at UC Berkeley.  

Students and professors joined a panel to discuss the current composition of women and minority faculty on the campus, their declining numbers, obstacles for diversity, and the significance of these groups’ presence.  

Angelica Stacy, professor of chemistry at Berkeley and director of the UC Berkeley Faculty Equity Office, discussed the disproportionately low numbers of women and minority faculty on campus.  

Only the second woman hired in the chemistry department, Stacy is the first woman to receive tenure in that department.  

But, she said, between 1996 and 1999, the rate of hiring women faculty decreased 20 percent, from 35 to 28 percent. Today, only 38 percent of associate professors are women at Berkeley; 21 percent have tenure.  

Susan Ervin-Tripp, retired professor of psychology and a member of the Association of University Women, cites three reasons for the small number of women and minority faculty at Berkeley. First, under the initiative that ended affirmative action, also known as Proposition 209, interest in outreach diminished, she says.  

Because the language of the initiative was so vague many people thought outreach was not permitted. Secondly, targeted opportunity positions, a practice which resulted in the hiring of more women and minorities, is no longer allowed. Lastly, there is no real pressure on administrators to make sure schools hire fairly or support promotion.  

“Deans are not responsible to hire diversity,” she said. “No one checks their record of hiring at their previous jobs.” 

Professor Charles Henry, chair of the African-American Studies department, discussed obstacles in the way of creating a diverse environment on Berkeley’s campus.  

Berkeley is a public university that considers itself elite, he says. As a public university, Berkeley is accountable to the state and the citizens of the state and it should reflect them, he said.  

“But, there is another twist when you also want to be an elite university. The elite status is not measured by how well you meet your public mandate it’s measured by a very narrow set of criteria. That criteria essentially involves research and production,” said Henry.  

Women and minorities are traditionally not a part of the fields whose research is typically rewarded, recognized and draw the school resources. 

According to Henry, “decentralized faculty hiring” is another obstacle. Decisions made within departments before pools are considered, limit women and minorities from being considered for new positions.  

Additionally, Henry says search committees that recommend candidates to departments often do not have women or minorities on them because they already are lacking on campus.  

“You’ve got a repetitive process – the search committee is replicating themselves,” said Henry.  

Henry also cites conflicting messages at the federal and state level as an obstacle.  

“When they do encourage affirmative action the Supreme Court and federal courts often are saying something else,” said Henry. “At the state level, we’re also getting conflicting messages. The state legislature is saying to us: Why don’t you have more minorities and women? 

“The institutes following (Proposition) 209 are saying you can’t do affirmative action,” said Henry.  

Beyond the obstacles impeding the path of diversity on Berkeley’s campus, Henry says he is convinced that diversity is crucial in terms of research.  

“Women and minorities study different basic research issues than do white men,” he said. “The most significant thing to diversifying the faculty would be a diverse student body. That’s saying OK, we want our interests reflected up here and in your research and in your teaching. I think there is a crucial link between the admissions process and faculty hiring,” said Henry.  

Perhaps the most important issue surrounding the presence of women and minority faculty at Berkeley, or lack thereof, is its impact on female and minority students. Tina Prevatte, a Cal Engineering student, says women and minority faculty serve as role models to the female students of color on campus. In a field dominated by males, Prevatte has considered leaving, but she says her female teachers give her hope and a reason to put up with a lot of frustration.  

Prevatte said of one of the 19 female professors (out of 220 in the Engineering department): “I look at her and say ‘she did it, there’s room for me here.’”