#Academia and Racism

[ausetkmt]

An exodus of Black women in academia hurts the workforce

The burden that Black people, particularly women, in academia carry is rarely recognized by the outside world.

But just weeks into 2024, it’s made national news. First, it was the resignation of former Harvard President Claudine Gay after a prolonged public campaign of harassment that culminated with plagiarism allegations. Now it’s the suicide of Lincoln University’s vice president of student affairs, Antoinette “Bonnie” Candia-Bailey, who alleged she was “intentionally harassed and bullied” by Lincoln University President John B. Moseley after disclosing her mental health struggles.

To be sure, Gay created some of her own problems with her legalistic congressional testimony on antisemitism, which was roundly critiqued. The plagiarism allegations, which she’s addressed, also hurt her. But we would be remiss if we discounted the extent to which racist and sexist undertones, rooted in antagonism of what her appointment represented, played a role.

The public experiences of Gay and Candia-Bailey have compelled other Black Americans in higher education to share their own stories. Take a scroll through social media, and you’ll see Ph.D. candidates and graduates sharing stories of feeling depressed, being passed up for tenure, and leaving programs because they were mistreated.

It’s no wonder why only about 6% of all faculty in colleges and universities are Black (it gets lower as you go up the ladder). And it’s no wonder the number hasn’t moved much since the early 1980s, when it was 4.2%. Black faculty navigate the typical academic hurdles and many invisible yet consequential ones, such as managing implicit and explicit messages about their belonging and bearing a disproportionate responsibility for supporting students of color. Add unprecedented levels of public scrutiny to the already high invisible costs of leadership, and as Zaire Z. Dinzey-Flores notes, “This is how Black women leaders do not survive.”

As businesses reconsider their commitment to diversity and look to colleges and universities as partners to develop and recruit diverse talent, these troubling trends jeopardize their aims.

Not only does seeing Black leaders on campuses affirm that Black students belong and are a source of inspiration for what they can aspire to. But for White and non-Black students of color, it helps counter the default belief that leadership can only be synonymous with whiteness. This is a subtle impression, of course, but an important one. College plays an outsize role in educating and mentoring the next generations of the workforce and shapes their workplace expectations.

And since many US students have never had a Black teacher — much less a principal — throughout elementary and high school, encountering them as leaders in higher education is an opportunity to challenge unconscious biases with exposure. Yet our paucity of Black leaders at present inhibits this aim, and we risk a new generation of leaders witnessing this moment and sitting leadership out.

We must figure out how to attract and keep Black leaders in academia. A good place to start is acknowledging that the adage, Black people work twice as hard to be recognized half as much, is not from a bygone era. Sexism, for Black women, and racism have kept that expectation alive and, unfortunately, well. If you need proof, I’d start by considering how many reports you’ve seen in recent years that still include “the first Black woman to…”

But recognizing the uneven playing field without actively working to level it is, to borrow loosely from biblical scripture, faith without works. After organizations shed a race- and gender-blind approach to a gender- and race-specific reality, they must be prepared to offer support and guidance to ensure the success of the candidates they recruit.

When it comes to bringing Black women into predominantly and traditionally White male spaces, this means anticipating challenges that may stem from the change and not treating biased attacks as an opportunity for them to demonstrate that they can do their job.

If not, in addition to Gay and Candia-Bailey, we’ll have more stories like Lesley Lokko, who called her decision to step down as dean of the Bernard and Anne Spitzer School of Architecture at City College of New York “a profound act of self-preservation.”

In a public resignation letter, Lokko, who came from teaching in South Africa, wrote, “The lack of respect and empathy for Black people, especially Black women, caught me off guard, although it’s by no means unique to Spitzer.”

She left after only 10 months in 2020. Candia-Bailey’s passing was eight months into her role. Gay stepped down as Harvard’s president after six months — the shortest tenure in the university’s history.

But simply focusing on those who did not thrive in their roles would miss another crisis surrounding Black women’s leadership. Last year, JoAnne A. Epps of Temple University and Orinthia T. Montague of Volunteer State Community College died while in their roles. While their devastating deaths weren’t officially linked to the stress of their jobs, the untimeliness of their passing sparked conversations about the high cost of success.

If we want to turn the tide, we can no longer stand by and watch Black women suffer in silence — at the cost of their own well-being. We must acknowledge the load they bear and provide meaningful support to manage it. If we do not, an exodus of Black leaders is coming, and that will shape the lives of students — and, by default, our future workforce.

[hussyknee]

ID in alt.

Palestinian and pro-Palestinian students and academics are being actively persecuted beyond all precedent at universities right now. Can confirm Palestinians who're losing family members are being institutionally terrorized in both the North America and Europe. Students have been suspended for putting up Palestine flags. Palestinians posting on social media about their families and neighbours are being reported and doxxed and getting death threats and their employers and supervisors refusing support them. A colleague of a friend who lost her entire family went to talk to the university counselor about her anger and grief and was immediately reported to the administration. An entire think tank was dissolved because of its members spoke in support of Palestine at a lecture. This level of witch hunting and purging hasn't been seen since the Red Scare. It's fucking terrifying. Please boost this.

[belle-keys]

"Every single empire in its official discourse has said that it is not like all the others, that its circumstances are special, that it has a mission to enlighten, civilize, bring order and democracy, and that it uses force only as a last resort. And, sadder still, there always is a chorus of willing intellectuals to say calming words about benign or altruistic empires, as if one shouldn't trust the evidence of one's eyes watching the destruction and the misery and death brought by the latest mission civilizatrice."

- Orientalism by Edward Said

[punkeropercyjackson]

I've said it and i'll keep saying it that the reason Todomomo is and was so hated is that it's an extremely asian ship,not just in the characters being japanese but as in that they're WRITTEN instrictvely and designed super japanese/asian(Shouto is closed off with his emotions due to an aggressively traditionalist dad who stripped his mom's rights with his high scial status but learns to let himself feel and express emotions as healing and straight up lives in an old school home in modern day and Momo is a 'silk hiding steel' girl who's pressured by her parents to be the perfect student and lady and this manifested in adultification and objectification even though she's underaged but this dosen't stop her from standing up for herself and being a total badass)and so is their dynamic(Shouto expressed his admiration for Momo silently to not cause a big show since he was taught not to but did a grand love confession-esque speech when he realized he accidentally hurt her and Momo openly gushes about how cool and charming she thinks Shouto is because it's normalized for teen asian girls to fawn over asian boys their age but it IS important to note that Tdmm's genders are never brought into the equation in-universe or by Horikoshi so that removes the cisheteronormativity element and that's why it's such a good ship and their interactions and little bits/hints across material are basically a japanese romance fantasy that's healthy and positive for men AND women)

This really gets under white western gays' skin because poc4poc romances make them uncomfortable since they 'can't relate to them'(see how they react to western shows making poc4poc ships canon instead of pairing up one of them with a white character and even just woc x white boy endgames instead white gay boy ships that were never even hinted at)so they whitewash Shouto and Momo's characters to make them act like white queer people,as if queer poc don't exist and when there's nothing stopping TODOMOMO from being a queer ship and as an afrolatino queer person,you cannot convince me Todomomo isn't also a transgender abd autistic4autistic love story just like it is a poc4poc one.Shouto and Momo are trans autistic asians so Tdmm is a t4t autistic4autistic asian ship,not 'heteronormative' because they're not palpable to white american gays.This is why it's so popular with Bnha fans who're actually asian,older asian women especially and y'all's colonizer asses got some fucking audacity clowning them for it because you assume they're all cishets cause just like with Shouto and Momo,you don't think poc can be queer and are homophobes who hate trans people BECAUSE they're poc.Ntm i've literally never gotten hate for my Todomomo headcanons INCLUDING that i see Shouto as part bangladeshi on Rei's side and Momo as a blasian latina from Todomomo shippers and in fact i've gotten tons of support from them because they think they make sense and are super cute

Todomomo is a good ship and i'd go as far to call it the best Bnha ship,if not THE best shonen ship fullstop.Y'all are just racist

[deesi-academia]

what did the basic ass privileged whites do to deserve this wonderful spectacle

[weareuniqueandimportant]

THERE IS NO RAGE BAIT I CAN'T CONTROL MY ANGER BECAUSE I AM TRAUMATIZED. YOU SHOULD KNOW THAT LOOK AT THE TAGS EVERYTHING CRAZY IS RIGHT THERE. YOU JUST FAILED YOURSELF. BTW WE WATCHED BOKU NO HERO ACADEMIA SEASON 7 NEW EPISODE THIS SUCKS THEY'RE REDEEMING THE WRONG VILLAINS KILL THE WOMAN... MAKE THEM INTO HEROES THAN ANARCHISTS AND THE HEROES STILL SUCK. WE ALSO WATCHED MAKEINE NEW EPISODE THAT WAS AWESOME COOL. I NOTICE MAIN CHARACTER IS IN EVERY EPISODE AND SCENE BUT EVEN THE MAIN WOMAN ISN'T JUST 1 OF THE 3 MAIN WOMAN. OF WHICH THE BLACK ONE FEELS RANDOM AND SHOULD GET MORE FOCUS SHE'S AN OUTLIER. BTW BLACK WOMAN YOU'RE COOL PUT YOUR WOKE IN MY PROGRESSIVE AND THINGS LIKE THAT. I HAVE BEEN GASSLIGHT TO FEEL ASHAMED ABOUT BEING SUPER NOT RACIST... TAKING ADVANTAGE OF OUR TRAUMA WHAT WE'RE TRYING TO OVERPOWER... WHERE ARE YOU ALL. BLACK PEOPLE SHOULD LOVE US SO WE'RE LIKE SOO WOKE AND AMAZING. NOTHING RACIST ABOUT BEING SUPER NOT RACIST. IF ANYTHING THAT IS MEGA PRO BLACK PEOPLE I SOO ROOT FOR YOU. BESIDES. THEY GASSLIGHT ALOT OF ELSE WITH THAT. SAYING NOBODY WILL EVER SAVE US AND WE'RE WORTHLESS AND SHOULD KL ORSLVS... PRETTY INSANE... KNOWING WE'RE ABUSED AND MISERABLE... BUT OH JUST PSYCHOSIS RIGHT...? ALL OUR TRAUMA IS JUST MADE UP RIGHT?

[salty-software-engineer]

Man I just finished Babel and I was excited to read discussions online because there's so much going on in it with so many little things and just....angry white people. Everywhere. Truly a dead dove moment.

[misespinas]

"What does he know of the half-starved wreaths toiling from dawn till dark on the plantations? of mothers shrieking for their children, torn from their arms by slave traders? of young girls dragged down into moral filth? of pools of blood around the whipping post? of hounds trained to tear human flesh? of men screwed into cotton gins to die?"

Harriet Jacobs, Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl

[locksmen]

quite a few of the rc stories are definitely made with a certain background in mind for the main character (don't ask me for examples) but the most interesting example to me is 7 brothers. to ME 7 brothers definitely comes across as being intended for a black mc.

the way mc's grandmother talks is just so reminiscent of a classic christian grandmother—that's what first really drew my eye. but what really cemented the idea 4 me were the hair styles, i feel like more often than not there are (FINALLY n SHOCKINGLY) more black hairstyles iirc—like mermaid braids, the hair wrap, the 3c curls, the 4c bubble braids, the half up hairdo (that looks like smthn u'd see on a box of relaxer u get @ the beauty supply store); hell, i think there's at least one for each outfit choice.

all a theory ofc but it seems very plausible to me!! regardless (if tru) i jus think it's cool as fuck!!

[mindblowingscience]

In 2022, Latinos, as a group, comprised more than 19% of the U.S. population or nearly 64 million individuals. People of Mexican ancestry make up almost 12% of the US population and 62.3% of Latinos. Mexican, Puerto Rican, and Central American Ancestry (MPRCA) individuals represent 4 of 5 of US Latinos but continue to be underrepresented across the board in every job profession in the United States, including STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) careers. The disparity is even greater for Latinas in academia. To help gain a better understanding of the underrepresentation, an intergenerational group of 16 MPRCA Latinas and allies met to identify major challenges to hiring, persistence, and success faced by early career MPRCA Latinas. Their research, titled "Early Career Latinas in STEM: Challenges and Solutions," was released in Cell. The group identified multi-level challenges that present barriers to MPRCA Latinas (and others) and solutions for Institutions, Departments and Mentors, and Individuals that would benefit MPRCA and the entire academic community. The challenges include financial concerns, caregiver and other family responsibilities, academic inclusion, evaluation of service, especially involving community outreach and mentoring, mentoring needs, and safe environments.

Continue Reading.

[hussyknee]

[kelin-is-writing]

There’s just one thing I’m trying to understand right now: Why are we thanking Horikoshi????

[jensorensen]

Quackery Quotas

In Ron DeSantis's Florida, new standards for teaching K-12 African-American history include a recommendation that the curriculum cover “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.” As this excellent LA Times editorial points out, there is no reason for this other than to whitewash the horrors of slavery. 

Help keep this work sustainable by joining the Sorensen Subscription Service! Also on Patreon.

[natandacat]

ok since apparently this is uncommon enough to make government workers panic

I've got 3 but I'm downsizing to 2 very soon (perk if being trans). If like me you have different legal names in different countries, pick the one with the most middle names (I have 0 in another country so I picked 3).

[belle-keys]

one of the absolute worst unironic takes i've seen on the instawebs is "only people from x background can write main characters from x background" like holy shit how can you possibly politicize literature to this extent?

it's genuinely shocking to me that some people's personal motto when it comes to art and media creation is "only write what you are". with this mindset, writing inherently becomes about social and political identity when it should be about "let's do justice to this character and their background the best we can".