A new research initiative co-led by the University of California, Merced aims to uncover and address the deeply rooted biases that hinder the promotion and tenure of Black and Hispanic faculty members in research universities. This groundbreaking study sheds light on the systemic challenges these underrepresented groups face, offering insights and strategies to create a more equitable academic landscape. Academia and affirmative action are key topics explored in this thought-provoking piece.
Uncovering Systemic Bias
Over the course of five years, a research initiative led in part by the University of California, Merced, has found distressing patterns when it comes to promoting Black and Hispanic faculty at research universities. The study found this was true for underrepresented minority faculty members, who on average receive 7 percent more negative votes by the evaluation committees than their non-minority peers. Even worse, they are 44% less likely to be approved for promotion and tenure with unanimous support.
Published in the prestigious journal Nature Human Behavior, the results of these efforts paint a worrisome picture of what these scholars are up against. Reviewing data from 2015 to 2022 across five universities, the analysis encompassed promotion and tenure decisions for over 1,500 faculty members, accounting for candidate assessment variability campus by campus. Comprised of experts from the University of Houston, Texas Southern University and other top institutions, the JAMI research team is dedicated to investigating what underlies these biases and finding ways to redress them.
Amplifying Minority Voices
This underrepresentation of Black and Hispanic faculty in higher education is a longstanding problem, comprising 14% of assistant professors and a measly 8% full professors throughout the United States. Yet, this discrepancy not only inhibits the career progression of these researchers; it also makes an indelible impression on minority students who often seek to be mentored and inspired by their professors.
As Christiane Spitzmueller, a psychology professor at UC Merced and lead investigator on the research initiative, explained, “Learning from Black and Hispanic professors enhances students’ probability of staying in STEM career paths or even remaining on academic paths more generally. This further highlights the great need for more equitable and inclusive academic workplaces, enabling a faculty of various backgrounds to excel in order to pave way for these scientists of tomorrow.
Rebuilding the System of Tenure
The results of the research initiative contradict a widespread narrative that fewer minority professors make it to or stay in senior ranks not because they’re enduring a toxic campus climate, are socially isolated or lack professional support. Instead, this data suggests to us that the promotion and tenure decision-making itself needs a major overhaul.
Tenure is essential for faculty, and provides them with the liberty to pursue cutting-edge, sometimes unpopular lines of research without worrying about being sanctioned against,” explains Spitzmueller. We need to completely redo the way we award tenure if we want any type of academic system that resembles equity. Among the team’s recommendations are policies and training programs that could reduce bias and foster equity in promotion and tenure decisions, thereby enabling more minority scholars to ascend into positions of prominence within academia.
