This is not oversensitivity by liberals or “activists” (although that does sometimes happen in academia these days.) This comment from the President of a major university is simply and breathtakingly racist. Shocking actually.
The fact that Mitch Daniels, a longtime Republican politician before this job, felt it was OK to publicly voice this opinion speaks volumes about how normalized open bigotry has become in just three short years of Trump, Stephen Miller and the white nationalism they openly espouse. On civil rights, civil discourse and simply respect for all people, this country is zooming backwards at lightning speed.
67
This fallacy is a pervasive one because both Black political leaders and white Progressives cling to that other powerful myth, that Blacks are fatally disadvantaged, impoverished, and incapable of rising above racist, imposed circumstances. They need that myth.
To believe otherwise would mean that legions of young gun-toting Black men are responsible for their actions -- actions that are corroding the quality of their neighbors' lives, of our schools, and indeed of our urban centers.
Plenty of middle-class and upper-class Blacks. We rarely hear about them because they are living contradictions of Black victimhood.
7
I am a student at Purdue. President Daniels has (rightfully) been under a lot of fire recently; student outcry clearly isn't important enough to galvanize him into to make a statement, but it seems this Letter has.
He just responded earlier:
https://www.purdueexponent.org/campus/article_417b5124-16d5-11ea-bbba-2b0206f8b320.html
4
Institutional racism inhibits black scholarship. Or the rarity of black scholars is a pervasive myth. Choose one.
6
I’m not offended by “creatures” because it is a figure of speech - but it was still a damaging and stupid thing to say. The emphasis on “really leading” bothers me more, I think. And as the author points out, just the insinuation that they effectively don’t exist is an issue. My point is - it would’ve been offensive whether “creature” was used or not. We should focus on the totality of the statement instead of the minutiae of whether “creature” is a racist term.
19
On behalf of graduates of Purdue, of whom I am one, I apologize to black scholars everywhere. From Booker T. Washington (and maybe earlier, but he's the first I can think of), black scholars have proven their worth in this country, often under the most trying of circumstances due to racial discrimination.
Even when I attended Purdue a half century and more ago, there were black scholars on campus and no doubt some went on to become well-known.
I am embarrassed and disturbed.
4
We all have Academic/Occupational Biases. Otherwise we would have not "Majored"/"Worked" in the field(s) that we have chosen to be in. But the attempt to quantify who is "better/rare" is doomed to Futility. How smart a person "is" is usually measured on a Subjective Standard(s). As a holder of both a BSEE and JD, I prefer an Objective Standard. Which sadly to say is maybe possible only in STEM fields. Can a person "fix"/"know-the-workings" of Systems/Humans? Such a person as (ex)Neurosurgeon Ben Carson. [who was not mentioned in this article]. Is this b/c he does not fit in the Liberal Narrative of this article? Even some STEM fields tread a nebulous line between Correlation/Causation? Which again is a Subjective/Objective Argument. Are Biological/Neuroscience(s) among these fields? IDK (I Don't Know)
I'm somewhat confused by this piece. Does the author take issue with the word "creatures" or the word "rare?"
If "creatures" is the complaint, that does seem to me to be hyper-sensitivity. It is an ordinary figure of speech and in no way dehumanizing. If he had referred in such a way to a (white) professor who, for example, specialized in both Mathematics and Art History (which I assume to be rare), I doubt anybody would take offence, or even notice.
As to "rare," that's mostly a question of simple statistics. I did not know before reading this if black scholars are rare, and I still do not know, because this article does not actually address that question. It lists a number of prominent black scholars, but that only tells us that some do exist. To know if they are "rare" we would need to know how the proportion of scholars who are black compares with the percentage of the overall population that is black. This article provided no actual numbers to that effect.
If it is indeed the case that black scholars are not rare, that would seem to imply that there is little or no discrimination or other disadvantage to black individuals advancing in academia. Is that the author's position?
I would have expected more rigorous and critical thinking from a "scholar" of any color or creed than this piece seems to provide.
9
I don't believe Professor Starr is sincere.
I don't believe she actually feels that Mr. Daniels' (perhaps) awkward phrase "strips" anyone of their "humanity."
I don't believe someone who genuinely feels the pain she expresses could function day-to-day, let alone be capable of being president of a college.
She is just wielding the power of the "offended" for the sake of wielding power. Her play-acting is just another perversion and debasement of the values of non-discrimination by the "social justice" left who is not interested in increasing mutual understanding, but serving as our cultural Pharisees.
16
The starting place to fixing a problem is to be honest about the problem, and it doesn't take a doctorate to determine that compared to such groups as Jewish, Asian, or female scholars, there is a paucity of those who are African-American (and Latino, for that matter). Things are especially depressed when one is in the STEM areas, or gets away from the areas cherished by the Great Awokening, such as critical studies sociology, gender studies, social justice studies, children's literature, or any one of the other burgeoning but squishy arenas penetrated by social Marxism.
20
"The idea that scholars of color are rare is a damaging fiction."
Define "rare".
"As an English professor, ..."
That could explain why the author never cites any statistics.
"This is in no way a comprehensive list of leading African-American scholars, but I have to stop somewhere."
Listing confirming cases only proves that there are SOME examples. That does not prove that they are not "rare".
102
@WKP
To me having only 1, 2 or maybe 3 black scholars would be rare. The author, whom I agree with, sites more than that and I have to believe there are many more. So I take umbrage to someone saying a black scholar is a rare occurance.
Also hurling insults like this- ""As an English professor, ..." That could explain why the author never cites any statistics," does not help make your case and shows your bias against academics.
10
@Gaston Corteau Not really. Hundreds of black scholars would be rare compared to the many thousands of scholars of other races. Check out this .gov source, and the chart, specifically the racial breakup of professors.
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=61
81% White, 4% Black. So white professors outnumber black professors 20:1. Is that not rare? @WKP is merely pointing out that anecdotes are not statistics, and while it is wrong that black people are underrepresented in the academic field, and we need to take drastic, immediate action to correct this, it is still a fact that they are rare. And I would hope that the democratic party can continue to be both the party of facts and realism, as well as big ideas.
5
I work at a tech company. I’m one of the only black women there. If someone said about me what the Purdue pres said, I would be offended. It’s not that I’m not aware that black women in tech are rare. It’s not that I think “rarest of all creatures” is racist. There is an almost condescending or patriarchal sentiment behind those words. It’s hard to explain but it really does feel offensive. Part of it may be because I know that there are more qualified black people than are being hired or considered for jobs in tech. Or maybe the implication that I am somehow super special and super smart, unlike all those other black people, when that’s not even the case, I just have the right pedigree. If you haven’t been the “rarest of all creatures” then it’ll be difficult to understand, but I get where the author is coming from. I do not stand alone, I am not “rare”, not in the sense the Purdue pres means anyway - everyone else is being ignored.
56
You are correct, but Black Conservative scholars are rare. Thomas Sowell is the first name to come to mind as maybe the brightest economist I've ever read. I have heard enough from all "progressive" scholars, which rules out most Black scholars, unfortunately. I don't find it scholarly to talk about victim mentality as though it's a good thing or beneficial in any way to any demographic.
5
Could it be that characterizing African American progressive scholars as purveyors of a “victim mentality” is simply a way of dismissing perspectives that you are not truly willing to engage? Working scholars in academia are not victims nor are they engaging victimhood when they critique society. If criticizing society is an expression of victimhood, then a huge proportion of conservative discourse is an exercise is victim mentality.
8
Somewhat defensive about the undisputed facts: the percentage of black scholars is lower than expected and the percentage is leading black scholars is tiny. If you can't cut it, don't complain.
9
The premise that there are few Black Scholars perpetuates the same view of how many view Black Americans through the lens of unconscious bias and restricted exposure.
It harkens to the comments I heard growing up when the Cosby show debuted: that the professional family unit presented on television was "unrealistic." Never mind that my own family resembled the Huxtables. Never mind that my Aunt was the first Black tenured-track professor in the country to teach at a majority Law School... which, incidentally, makes her a Scholar during a time when both women -- and Blacks were rarely represented.
But times have changed. And I look forward to the day when these "achievement debates" are no more. It's past time.
2
It's a clumsy statement at best, and offended quite a few people on campus. Indiana is not a particularly welcoming state for people of color, and Purdue has had its share of publicized racism on campus in the past years (whether we've had more than a typical college campus, I can't say). So given this context, Daniels should know to choose his words carefully (or really, why even bring up the whole 'rarer' point anyway?), but he didn't. I don't think he had bad intent, and we all mis-speak, but beyond the words I am dismayed by his inability to appreciate that he may have offended people, and that different terms can come across as offensive when applied to other (marginalized) groups. A simple apology for using the wrong words would have gone a long way, and likely precluded the controversy and this editorial, but instead he wants to double-down with a party line of "I didn't mean to offend anyone and therefore what I said wasn't offensive". And this lack of apology comes in the current political context of never apologizing. So.. overall, not very nuanced for the head of a large institution of higher learning.
5
@David Well, I stand corrected... literally as I wrote my comment, he published an apology. Probably as a proactive step in response to this editorial, but it's still some progress in the right direction.
1
I graduated from a leading HBCU over 50 years ago. Most of the students in my class, and in the undergraduate student body were Black. I think back to their scholarship and the scholarship of various Black professors whose classes I took (and to the thousands of students and professors who came before them).
Thousands of students graduated from the university in the decades since I received my diploma, and from HBCU's all over the country. Among my classmates, and since, at that university and others, more than a few of those students went on to earn doctoral degrees in many fields (one of my roommates earned his Ph.D. in physics and went on to be a university professor).
The lack of "black scholars" is not the problem. Rather, it is the history — old and continuing — of the unwillingness of the powers-that-be in the Academy (e.g., white males) to recognize they are not scholarly enough to see and understand the systemic racism that exists. The scholars that hold the reins in department after department fail to address the academic paradigm of their creation that excluded and excludes people who are well prepared to teach others.
5
Daniels himself may be one of those rare creatures: president of a major research university, but lacking in academic credentials ( he has a JD).
4
You can't read people's minds. I'm no fan of Mitch Daniels, but if someone told me that Black scholars are rare, then I would think that something is wrong with the education system that is denying Black students equal opportunity of achievement, and if I had the power I would try to do something about that.
23
For those people complaining about the lack of data in this essay--and defending Mitch Daniels' "rare creature" assessment--here are the facts:
Per the Chronicle for Higher Education, in 2018 there were 40,839 African American full-time instructional faculty at US colleges and universities, making up 6.1% of the total faculty. In contrast, 77% were white, 5.1% hispanic, and 10.1% Asian.
Now, that's not ideal--there is still more work to be done encouraging bright young African Americans to pursue advanced degrees--but this is hardly my definition of "rare." 2016 data suggests that about 12.7% of the US population is African American, while 61.3% is white, so representation in academia is clearly not yet proportional. But there's a good argument that this is due to systemic inequality and racism: after all, 55% of the African American population still lives in the South, where educational standards are poor and the legacy of Jim Crow lives on.
In my large humanities department at an R1 public university, about 16% of my colleagues are African American--and they are, to a person, leading scholars in the field. In a recent search for a distinguished endowed professorship in our department, half the finalists were African American. What this suggests to me is that, far from being "rare," African American scholars are, relative to their general representation in the overall pool, MORE likely to be "leading scholars" at excellent institutions.
6
@David Thank you. My issue has to do with what percent of your date provided reflect actual African American descendants of enslaved people versus newly arrived Africans since the 1965 immigration reform act?
There is a movement now of conflating all blacks as if they have similar histories here and are deserving of the same redress. It is similar to the persons of color connotation that used used often in these type discussion.
Thanks.
3
@David Thank you. My issue has to do with what percent of your date provided reflect actual African American descendants of enslaved people versus newly arrived Africans since the 1965 immigration reform act?
There is a movement now of conflating all blacks as if they have similar histories here and are deserving of the same redress. It is similar to the persons of color connotation that used used often in these type discussion.
Thanks.
1
@David Thank you for this post. I left a comment quasi-defending the use of "rare" on the grounds that the author had provided no numbers to prove otherwise. Given your numbers I tend to agree that "rare" is too strong a word. It may not be newsworthy, but it's a fair critique.
I'll also say that your comment comes across as written by someone who cares about scholarship. The original opinion piece that we're commenting on comes across as written by someone who cares about politics.
2
I always try to read the comments section for articles like this because I suspect that they represent more about how people feel which guides their actions rather than a more rigorous intellectual process.
Putting the particular phrases aside, I rather suspect that Purdue's President is generally on the money.
I also rather suspect that the number of African-American Ph.D.s has not increased as substantially as one might expect (take a guess before looking at the numbers), and certainly not as much as I would have personally hoped for.
The focus on black individuals as representive of trends for the entire group I suspect is grossly misleading. Taking President Obama as an example, were race-related matters better in 2016 than they were in 2008? Not that I coulld tell.
In terms of Purdue, if there was competition, as there always is for top talent regardless of race, would West Lafayette, IN be a desired destination?
2
Oftentimes when "creatures" become rare it is because of adverse environmental factors. With this in mind, let's ponder on what macro factors (past and present) serve as impediments to the advancement of African-American "creatures" as well as Latino/a/x "creatures", Native American "creatures", et al. To quantify merit based singularly on how many Nobel Prizes various groups have secured, as someone on here commented earlier, belies historical inequities, current preferential treatment of some, and unequal distribution of resources.
I have read many versions of President Daniel's comment regarding Black scholars. But what troubles me equally as much is having folks, when discussing matters of the racial spoils system as it currently exist in the USA, refer to black Americans, among others non-whites, sort of, in the catch-all as "person of color" or "scholars of color" or "students of color". As many writers on this thread have noted, once one breaks through the person of color trope, for example and the like, we then see the real disadvantage the descendants of enslaved Americans are actually up against. By clumping the descendants of American slavery into the of persons of color trope, for example, disarms their claim for actual and direct redress for their over 300 years experience here. So, the context as to how we are described has consequences for us now and our future.
2
I have read many versions of President Daniel's comment regarding Black scholars. But what troubles me equally as much is having folks, when discussing matters of the racial spoils system as it currently exist in the USA, refer to black Americans, among others non-whites, sort of, in the catch-all as "person of color" or "scholars of color" or "students of color". As many writers on this thread have noted, once one breaks through the person of color trope, for example and the like, we then see the real disadvantage the descendants of enslaved Americans are actually up against. By clumping the descendants of American slavery into the of persons of color trope, for example, disarms their claim for actual and direct redress for their over 300 years experience here. So, the context as to how we are described has consequences for us now and our future.
Daniels has chosen to lead in an environment where every word is parsed for correctness. He’s also part of the perceived suspect privileged- white, older, male. However, his choice of words, while stupid , hardly rise to a newsworthy moment- except in a university.
6
Ibram X. Kendi's "Stamped from the Beginning," is a brilliant survey of the contorted twists and turns of tropes used to justify racist ideas and practices. Kendi, he himself a esteemed Black scholar, discusses how the concept of Black achievement being extraordinary (in other words, not ordinary) coveys that this achievement is freakish -- something like the unexpected capacities of an idiot savant. It is common throughout racist and sexist history to point to a few token people as high achievement flukes in order to diminish the general capabilities of multitudes in the suppressed group.
This is true also of the scholarship of Tribal members, such as the late John Mohawk who wrote incredibly insightful works on how Western ideas have been used to justify colonization. And of course, the fine scholarship by women dismissed as an interesting oddity is incalculable. It amazes me how such important scholarship is buried again and again simply because the thinkers are not White, heterosexual men, but then again, by diminishing any scholar as an example of a 'rare creature' keeps the system intact and allows White, heterosexual men to continue to believe that their achievements are primarily due to meritocracy rather than dependent on a system of White privilege and supremacy.
5
The "rare" comment also seems to come into play when
discussing African Americans in ANY discipline that requires more than a HS diploma.
2
The great thing about myth is that you don't have to think.
4
In the 70s my husband's boss at SUNY was a third generation PhD. Grandfather, father & son--a black family.
5
I appreciate what Dr. Starr, Pomona President, has written, but I believe that she has partially misinterpreted what Mr. Daniels, Purdue President, statement meant.
My experience in engineering and the physical sciences and my interest in continuing to educate others (as a quasi public intellectual) inform this response.
Over more than four (4) decades in increasingly responsible professional work, I recognize that (as a white man) colleagues of color (especially African Americans) are vastly underrepresented in professional work (especially in the Academy).
YES, I have been working to increase the numbers of ALL superbly qualified people (and to encourage them to reach for the stars). Since I live in the shadow of "the Horseshoe", I am aware of and I am inspired by the stellar achievements of Dr. Michael V. Drake, MD, President of The Ohio State University (OSU).
Dr. Drake is retiring as OSU President next year. His shoes will be enormous (and well nigh impossible) to fill. In his quiet manner, many indicators at OSU are at the highest levels that they have ever been. [More than just football!]
Dr. Catherine Squires, Professor of Communication Studies and Director of Race, Indegeniety, and Gender Studies at the University of Minnesota.
Isn’t this what the whole Diversity & Inclusion bureaucracy is is for? To exclusively look for people of color and other marginal backgrounds (i.e. LGBTQ+) and to filter them in every space they can? Looks like colleges are working as hard as possible on this “problem” as they can.
4
I mean they are rare no? I'm sure the author would agree that the many programs to support POC through college are needed; and potentially say even more are needed.
We talk about how unfair it is that POC have lower graduation rates then whites, but when a sentence like this is said everyone backfires.
Perhaps he shouldn't have used the figure of speech but he's not wrong. I went through undergrad without a black professor.
8
Here's what I don't understand. You say that the myth of black scholars being rare "leads to small recruitment budgets for minority candidates." But if black scholars are well-represented, why are recruitment budgets for minority candidates necessary? Why not just hire the people who are most qualified, regardless of race? It's almost as if you're saying indeed, there aren't enough black scholars - but don't you dare call them rare! Sort of splitting hairs, isn't it?
15
Far and away, the most important intellectuals for America's still failing experiment in democracy have been African Americans [Du Bois, Dr King, and on and on]. But the real issue here seems, whether he's a racist or just muddleheaded, how does someone who can make such a ridiculous utterance become president of a major university? I suppose it's because he's *not* one of those truly rara avises--a big shot in America who isn't rich and white.
2
"The idea that scholars of color are rare is a damaging fiction. "
Well - no - more magical thinking will not overcome hard empirical data. Real life is that there are vanishingly low number of Black PhDs - especially in some STEM fields - part of improving that is recognizing it is true - Black scholars - especially Black male scholars are the rarest of creatures.
Does the author know that according to the National Science Foundation that there were multiple categories where not a single STEM Phd was awarded to a black candidate in 2017? Not a SINGLE one.
https://ncses.nsf.gov/pubs/nsf19301/data
Part of our attack on this performance must include the elimination of magical thinking and the right to call it out for what it is.
10
Mitch Daniels is himself a "rare creature:" a President of a world-class university with no significant academic record of his own, who was appointed to his position by the Board of Trustees he "hired" when he was Governor of Indiana. As to the comments that appear to support his ignorance by pointing to the paucity of blacks in high academic positions, you don't need a Ph.D. in history to understand that this lack is due to the same institutional racism and misogyny that has kept women and minorities from attaining those goals up to now. Our last President - Barack Obama - is an example of a black scholar who was clearly more intellectually gifted than most previous Presidents (and, beyond a doubt, the current one), but still had to endure years of disrespect and disbelief that he deserved to be in the White House.
7
Thank you for your article. Daniels' ignorant and patronizing comments are typical of somebody who has always been seated at the high end of the table. I am glad they were not left unchallenged.
9
Mitch Daniels was actually worse when he was Governor of Indiana. He believed strongly that a black worthy of holding public office was "one of the rarest creatures" in America. His actions demonstrated that a black worthy of holding public office was one pf "the rarest, rarest phenomena", even rarer than a leading Afro-American scholar. He did not back blacks running for office, he opposed them. He certainly would not choose them to be on his ticket. I have not reviewed all his appointments to positions of responsibility, but I bet he appointed few above the rank of minor functionary who sits by the door.
It is good that such an entrenched racist is now being called out on opinions that he thinks as natural as that the sun rises in the East. Daniels is unlikely to ever become a paragon in this regard, but perhaps some young racists will become less inclined to follow his path.
5
Mitch Daniels--Ah yes, the man who as director of Office of Management and Budget (2001-2003) happily looked the other way as books were cooked to make it look like the Bush tax cuts wouldn't blow a massive fiscal hole through the United States which would wreak havoc with the budgetary health of the country for decades to come.
And as governor of Indiana, of course, Daniels became known for wishing to prevent Indiana students at public schools from being able to read the writings of Howard Zinn. Because how could you have sufficient cannon fodder for George W. Bush's forever wars if students were reading U.S. history that didn't glorify militarism?
Honestly, no surprise Daniels said such a thing about black scholars. I'll tell you what's rare: White male Republican politicians from Indiana (see Dan Quayle, Mike Pence, Dan Burton) who aren't utterly blinkered and clueless.
He's a Democrat, but Peter McKinsey Buttigieg doesn't sound much better.
5
James Baldwin referred to himself as a creature, but it isn't a word you should use to refer to anyone else.
2
Just at Purdue alone there are folks like the writer Roxane Gay and my college buddy and Classics scholar Paul Rankin. I know many many people like these and not just because I'm a black academic myself. Kinda normal for some of us.
5
In using that figure of speech, President Daniels was referencing a specific individual and a unique opportunity to bring that particular individual to Purdue, not making generalizations. He was praising a genuine superstar academic and expressing eagerness about the prospect of bringing that specific academic to Purdue—an exciting opportunity for our university. The president agrees that his word choice was clumsy and imprecise and, in retrospect, too capable of being misunderstood. He accepts responsibility for the misunderstanding and the poor judgment he exhibited in using the word. Like many universities in our nation, Purdue is focused on the important work of adding diversity to our faculty. While Pomona’s experience may be different, a host of others have pointed out the challenge and difficulty of growing the universe of tomorrow’s faculty. Below are just a few of the many recent commentaries.
Gina DelSanto, Ph.D.
Purdue University
https://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2019/04/lack-of-black-doctoral-students/587413/
https://www.chronicle.com/article/Dearth-of-Black-PhD/234469
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2017/08/22/study-top-public-universities-finds-limited-faculty-diversity-and-yet-signs-progress
https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2015/11/30/student-activists-want-more-black-faculty-members-how-realistic-are-some-their-goals
https://www.aacu.org/aacu-news/newsletter/2019/march/facts-figures
5
The expectation of low intellectual prowess is an ongoing prejudice that educated blacks have to face. While I'm not a professor, I am black and an experienced literature teacher, one who has supplemented my "book knowledge" with real life experiences that I've brought back to my classroom for years. I've traveled abroad 10 times, lived in Paris on a writing grant awarded by a prestigious foundation, and have served as a literacy activist in urban education for years.
And yet, when I attended a job fair in suburban Philadelphia one year, the Dean of Faculty at a "progressive" independent school marveled at my ability to answer questions during the on-the-spot interviews. "I cannot believe how articulate you are," she gushed, her observation punctuated by a slow shake of her head. "You are just so well spoken!"
I was stunned. A bit younger and in need of a job, I tried to shake her mystification off. I struggled to wipe the stain of her words from my face before she became alarmed. "Well, I am an English teacher," I quipped, tempering my response so as not to offend her. She nodded, rather starry-eyed, my response soaring over her head.
My gut told me that racial toxicity was an issue in the school if the top brass was dumbfounded by educated black speech. Had I listened to instinct, I would have avoided the worst two years of my career, a hostile work environment, and the depression that blacks endure when one's humanity is both invisible and a bull's-eye.
106
@Nita I am so sorry you had that experience. I guess I shouldn't be dumbfounded that the dean of faculty thought that was OK to say out loud, but I am. And I'm black.
13
@Nita
On the other hand, she may have said the same thing if you were of any other race - sadly, there are fewer and fewer people able to answer questions in an articulate manner today, regardless of race.
3
@Nita
Is it possible she might have been impressed by how articulate and well-spoken you were compared to everyone else with whom she spoke that day? Or how articulate and well-spoken you were for your age?
3
Until recently I worked in a large science department for the University of California. One of the top programs of it's type in the world, we employed several scientists rated in the top 100 in their discipline, including the number one Material Scientist on earth. Of about 110 "principal investigators" (employed scientists), zero were African American. The only black employees were in the clerical staff, except for the one technician who worked for me. Rare indeed were black grad students or post docs, and those few that I did see were mostly from outside the US. While there are black scholars in the Humanities and Social Sciences, at the high level afforded by UC, there are very, very few in the physical sciences.
6
I am uncertain as to whether Nobel Prizes are still an indicator of anything, especially after they awarded the Literature Prize to Bob Dylan, but according to Wikipedia, out of 916 recipients to date, only 16 have been black, and only four have been African-American, winning in just two fields: Peace (3 times) and Literature (once). Black academic excellence, as far as the Nobel committee is concerned, seems to indeed be a rare creature.
22
@George Haig Brewster But racism is common enough.
15
@George Haig Brewster That's not a lack of black academic excellence, that's institutional bigotry and racism in the Nobel Prize selection committees, of which there are five. They have been predominantly composed of white European men. As we move forward in history I imagine these demographics will change.
Presenting data like these without context or consideration as to where they have originated from is rather poor form for the Times.
5
Good call out. We should be normalizing minority excellence not announcing it's rarity for "humble bragging" rights. And a university leader should be held to a higher standard of metaphor than one that we might forgive a middle schooler for. The whole thing smacks of "gosh, we found one of the GOOD ones."
6
I just wanted to say that "creature" is not necessarily an animal metaphor (thus, I could contend, not on par with "women/dogs, black people/monkeys, immigrants/vermin). In the past (and perhaps in a specifically Christian context?), it referred simply to "created beings," including human beings, and I know that Irish people (for example) sometimes use it in that sense, "Oh, the poor creature"--regarding a fellow human. So that word in itself should not necessarily draw our ire, though in modern parlance it IS typically understood to mean "non-human" being. And as Starr points out, the real issue is seeing and defining African-American scholars as "rare."
It's amusing/deflating that Daniels thought he was improving on the expression "rare creatures" when he said, "rarest birds" (!) thus making the somewhat vague metaphor "rare creatures" into an explicitly non-human metaphor. "Rarest phenomena" is hardly better. Egads...
3
Not every awkward phrase is an insult or a racial call to arms. It sounds like he was excited and chose some poor words but was ultimately pleased to have this person joining their faculty.
I don't see it in any way a dismissal of sustained black excellence - whatever that is, but rather a recognition of someone being a really leading scholar.
Why not be happy about the appointment and leave it at that?
19
"...just leave it that."
No. Let's call out the hurt, the harm, and leave it THAT.
10
@Norville T. Johnstone
You completely missed the point of Dr. Starr's article, or perhaps, exemplify it.
6
@Norville T. Johnstone
You truly did miss the entire point of Dr. Starr's article, didn't you?
3
President Daniels certainly could have chosen a better term than "creature," but I think his assessment of the rarity of the person Purdue is searching for is pretty much on target.
First of all, "really leading" scholars of any skin color are rare - more or less by definition. I assume Daniels is not talking about recruiting a "well-qualified" scholar but rather, one who might occupy an endowed chair or be worthy of a distinguished professor title. It's a pretty small pool to start - a pool that, for any given field might contain only a handful of candidates.
Second, among senior professors (the group most likely to contain the "really leading" scholars), African Americans are even more under-represented than they are among university faculty overall. NCES reports that in 2016, Blacks comprised only about 3.7% of senior professors nationwide.
Finally, most universities who have a really leading scholar will fight hard to keep that person on their faculty. Since Daniels was talking about this recruiting effort publicly, it seems likely he's talking about someone rarer still - a really leading, African-American scholar who can be persuaded to move from her/his current position.
15
But white (male, straight) appointments are not announced as "really excellent" for their race.
4
Are there no place for facts in this conversation? ‘Rarity’ is an objective, measurable metric that can easily be supported or disputed by facts. While Daniels chose some sloppy words, the argument against him should not be equally sloppy.
29
@Brian
"After Mr. Daniels’s remarks, Purdue faculty members said in a statement that “the idea that there is a scarcity of leading African-American scholars is simply not true.” Indeed, one might look to scholarly societies for leading figures: Alondra Nelson, president of the Social Science Research Council; Elizabeth Alexander, president of the Mellon Foundation; Cecilia Conrad, a managing director at the MacArthur Foundation; and Claude Steele, chair of the board of the Russell Sage Foundation. Or leaders at American colleges and universities like Jonathan Holloway, provost of Northwestern; Raynard Kington, president of Grinnell College; and Michael Drake, president of Ohio State University." "Take Andre Fenton, whose work in neuroscience explores the mechanics of memory; or a rising star like Sanmi Koyejo at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, whose work on neural networks has been recognized by the Kavli Foundation. Political science? Omar Wasow at Princeton. Math? Edray Goins at Pomona. Or on the rise, John Urshel at M.I.T. Literature? Saidiya Hartman, Columbia. Henry Louis Gates Jr., Harvard. Art history? Richard J. Powell, Duke.
I guess those facts weren't enough for you?
5
@Julio Cruz The relevant facts would be statistics and proportions, not just a list of people.
3
@Julio Cruz
Right or wrong, I think Brian was simply asking us all to rely in part on objective measures when judging Mitch Daniels' remarks. A list of a dozen or so individuals - in a country with more than 2 million scholars - doesn't shed light on the rarity question.
Below is a website which suggests that 4% of tenured faculty members in America are Black; I don't know if that qualifies as rare or not but it begins to shed light on the topic.
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=61
1
Words matter, but so does imagery. In commercials, television magazines, movies, people of color are not depicted in leadership roles, as scholars, in technical roles and so on. Stereotypes abound.
So when the majority comes across someone who is not what they've experienced or seen on tee-vee, then they reject it as a possibility.
Media is largely propaganda.
6
As a Black male working in technology over the past 30 years I can say with complete confidence that I am rare so I have no issue with being called a "rare bird" or even a "rare creature". I don't even qualify as a "scholar" although the years I have in the trenches may add some value. I do mentor young men and women of color when I occasionally encounter them in the industry and that is the extent of my contribution to educational realm.
We must be honest: There are times when an entire season may pass and there are no PHD's granted to Black candidates. 2017 was the most recent example. This lack of pipeline combined with normal attrition and growth of demand creates scarcity.
45
@Stefon I'm in aerospace and see quite a few smart, qualified people of color. The barriers are getting the promotions into leadership.
Data shows that people hire and promote those who look like them.
The conference rooms in aerospace largely look the same as they did when I began my career, proving my point.
16
@Stefon
The point is the title: Black Scholars Are Not 'Rare Creatures." Purdue President Daniels said that they were, which is not only an insulting, condescending insinuation, but is also a lie. That is the problem. The head of a major university should know better than to make stupid, inflammatory statements like this.
3
@eheck Black Scholars are not creatures, but they are rare. Check out the makeup of professors in the US, the chart is helpful for visualization.
https://nces.ed.gov/fastfacts/display.asp?id=61
4
I agree that President Daniels's words were demeaning and hurtful, but I wish that Prof. Starr had included some statistics on the numbers of African-American scholars in American universities in this essay.
17
@Chris Rasmussen Why?
What I find striking about Mitch Daniels' comment, and one reason I think it's worth calling out, is the way that he is proactively acting defensive about hiring an African-American scholar by pointing out how rare those scholars are. That is the intent behind his words: to protect himself from criticism in his lack of hiring people of color by essentially insulting people of color. (Sure, there may be African-American scholars, but most of them aren't "really" leading scholars, Mitch Daniels wants students to know, as he announces that he has hired one.) What is a "really" leading scholar, anyway? One of the reasons why African-American and female scholars fail to be recognized as "real" leaders is because their topics of interest (especially in the humanities) are viewed as niche and small -- a circular definition, since "niche" is defined by white men as anything that doesn't primarily apply to white men. Never mind that women are 51% of the population. Studying women's lives over the course of history is "niche" to this day.
Mr. Daniels obviously wouldn't be thinking this way and defensively arguing about his hiring choices if there were nothing to defend. It is absolutely a subtle form of racism, and it's worth calling out.
32
@RVC
Or, a not so subtle form of racism, as the case may be. This sort of "exceptionalist" mindset concerning people of color knows no disciplinary or professional boundaries.
1
Far be it from this ancient mariner to say it, but we did this. A big part of student demonstrations in the 1960s was faculty diversity. We demanded more women and minorities and ethnic studies programs. Blacks, Hispanics and LGBT groups together formed a coalition of student activism that was hard to overlook. We may not have arrived, but we're well on the road.
OK Boomer. You're welcome.
3
Two points: First, one of the black scholars mentioned in this article (Edray Goins) actually left Purdue because of the racism he experienced there. Second, the racism and sexism which are rampant in academia (especially in STEM) are the reason why underrepresented scholars are so rare. It is not a matter of ability, the real issue is that academics know the words to say to sound progressive, but they will go to extreme lengths to protect their terrible peers and defend their actions whenever someone dares to speak up.
26
@Christopher Perez I hadn't noticed that Goins was mentioned in the article; I referenced the NYT article about him in my own response. Goins's experience is strong evidence for the unfortunate accuracy of Daniels' unfortunate remark, at least in certain fields. Goins is a rare phenomenon, an American black research mathematician (the statistics exist to support the use of "rare" here) and, while he is a very good research mathematician, he was so frustrated by the way he was treated that he left research for teaching. The fact that he is at Pomona is evidence *against* the assertions of this article, not *for* them.
I have no political axe to grind here: I have no knee-jerk reaction to how to fix this situation, and it would be a good idea to refrain from such reactions.
1
@Christopher Perez
Not just STEM.
And, generally, I'd point out that women and scholars of color-- and their allies in the trenches of scholarship, research, and post-secondary teaching-- often use or develop frameworks of analysis and interpretation that challenge fundamental assumptions about meaning, worth, validity, equity, and admissible data or evidence to do their work. Among the "givens" that they challenge are the constructed meanings of race, gender, and class and the expression of socially constructed power, which often arises from how those givens are enacted in the world. Say by claiming that African American scholars, real or really leading ones, are rare creatures. Right alongside Dr. Johnson's poodle preaching: "Sir, a woman's preaching is like a dog's walking on his hind legs. It is not done well; but you are surprised to find it done at all."
2
One other thing: Mitch Daniels forced the Latino Cultural Center at Purdue to move so they could bulldoze the building to make a parking lot for his fraternity.
3
Purdue's President is being ridiculous.
Having met the late great historian, John Hope Franklin, the Philadelphia Franklin Institute's planetarium director, Derrick Pitts, having taken a course with renowned historian Nell Irvine Painter, and having known the late choreographer, Professor Percival Borde, it's hard to imagine how Mr. Daniels could make such a ridiculous statement.
I'm just one man, and, yes, I'm White, but it took me no time to list a range of great Black scholars, in just my own, personal experience, both as a student and later in life that I have personally known or met.
15
'“It’s a figure of speech. You must have taken some literature,” Mr. Daniels said.'
In less than a minute on Google Books, I found this quote:
"Anne Sexton is that rare creature in American culture, a popular poet."
Source: "Selected Poems of Anne Sexton" edited with an introduction by Diane Wood Middlebrook and Diana Hume George (1988).
11
@WKP But there is no history of using dehumanizing language to describe poets, so there's no reason not to choose that word when talking about Anne Sexton. There is a long history of using such language to talk about black people, so it's not a good figure of speech to use in this context.
5
@WKP Find one about a man. Now.
1
Katy: "... there is no history of using dehumanizing language to describe poets ..."
That's the wrong category in this case.
Anne Sexton was a *woman*. There is a long "history of using dehumanizing language to describe" WOMEN.
Also note that Middlebrook taught feminist studies, and George is a Professor Emerita of English and Women’s Studies. (both per web research)
Obviously they are not "dehumanizing" Sexton when they call her a "rare creature".
2
This is an old and always appalling problem. If white research universities and liberal arts colleges had taken their historically black counterparts seriously they would not have had to reinvent African studies as a largely white discipline after World War II. And if their facilities were not so horrifically biased against black students, more of them would have gotten doctorates and pursued careers in academics. But there are still plenty of brilliant people out there, not getting the credit they deserve.
9
In my own area of interest, it should be a scandal how few American black PhD mathematicians there are. It isn't a lingering fewness which will get better as the legacy of discrimination fades (which is the situation for women); it continues to be almost none.
There are black men and women capable of doing this work in the United States. But they never get there.
Here is a fairly recent NYT article on this subject:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/18/us/edray-goins-black-mathematicians.html
10
Nice PC article, but no more statistical support for Starr's views than was cited in Daniels' speech. Of course Daniels' was not trying to prove anything -- for him it was just a wayward remark -- and Starr is trying to prove the wayward remark incorrect by citing to a few examples.
Of course, if there really is a surfeit of black scholars, perhaps we can do away with pro-favored-minority racism, AKA affirmative action?
15
@james Just to let you know, you are perpetuating yet another MYTH with your statement about Affirmative Action.
Affirmative Action has helped one category of people overwhelmingly: White women.
Your belief that Affirmative Action is pro-favored minority racism is a great inaccuracy and is one of the great myths perpetuated in order to deny minorities opportunities.
6
A few problems here. For one, "leading" is a subjective word, and very susceptible to institutional racism. I suspect that a black scholar has to accomplish more, publish more, than a white scholar in order for someone like Daniels to consider them "really leading."
But leaving all that aside, even if Daniels were accurate about the statistics (and I don't think he is), it's still an appallingly tacky and rude thing to say. He's talking about a new hire, not in terms of their considerable scholarship or accomplishments, but just in terms of race and rarity - as if they were a prize cow of a particularly desirable breed. That's a disgusting thing to do.
19
So what business does Bush's budget guy have leading a top engineering school in the first place?
5
I have been an academic in a STEM field for 10 years and can count on one hand the number of black colleagues I've had. In my area, yes, black scholars are indeed still rare.
57
@KM Not only are black colleagues rare in my field (mathematical physics), but few black students enroll in freshman calculus-based physics classes.
7
@KM
What?? Where have you been isolated? I was a dean at one public research university and at that institution alone I became friends with 2 such scholars. One was the president of the Optical Society of America. He taught physics and is an expert in fiber research. The other was a woman whose work in biomedical engineering led to her being recognized at a ceremony at the White House.
That’s 2 fingers on your one hand and with over 4700 degree granting colleges in the US I’m quite sure you will need many more fingers to count them.
6
@KM I'm not sure where you're at but at my work, STEM is all around us and half the conference room attendees during any given meeting is minorities and women. Heck, as a white guy, my immediate boss is a woman of Hispanic decent whose family hails from TX going back to the 1800's (as she tells me). Her boss is a black woman with two PhD's in STEM fields. My co-worker at the desk to my right is African-American and my co-worker to the left of my desk is a white female. No one looks at your color here, just your work and ideas.
13
As a student about to graduate from Purdue, I’d just like to say that President Daniels is very good at his job, and that the few “activists” on campus have been trying, at least as long as I’ve been here, to try and find any way to take him down, likely because he generally stays apolitical. That includes taking quotes out of context, which is likely what is happening here.
In such a divisive age of politics, Purdue has been a good respite, with most people focused on their education, not petty arguments. Hopefully that doesn’t change any time soon.
95
@Christopher Loonam Is it possible that "activists" are not "trying to take him down," and that the campus community is responding to his consistent unwillingness to address both systemic inequalities and demonstrative racism on campus (such as when Purdue students were targeted by white supremacist organizers)? But the football team is passable this year, so white guy alum are satisfied.
20
@Christopher Loonam Daniels comments about AA scholars and the reaction to it are not "petty"! And his phrase "....and I mean a 'really' leading [scholar]" implies that other organisations are hiring unqualified minority candidates, but he on the other hand will be hiring a (truly extremely rare...) "really leading" AA scholar. I find this point more telling about his mindset and the beliefs he's perpetuating than comments on the scarcity of minority scholars or his poor choice to use "creature."
And Daniels does not stay "apolitical," as you assert. His statements to the Purdue community are awash in self-promoting conservative innuedo. And recall, he was a Republican governor and potential Republican presidential candidate. He's far from apolitical, and what he says matters.
Finally, it's a myth that conservatives are apolitical while liberals are political. Purdue is a conservative university, and Indiana is a conservative state. Fish don't sense water, and you don't sense the conservative politics at Purdue because conservative just seem normal, while liberals seem to be "activists." I'm not guessing here: I graduated from Purdue in engineering, and I keep up with Purdue's press releases, reports, alumni letters, etc.
38
@kay day Purdue is certainly a liberal university, like most universities, if you go by the majority political party of the student population. I graduated from Purdue with a BSME last year, and can attest to that.
Daniels has done a good job, and is very popular at the university and among the students. Since the start of his tenure there has been a vocal minority in opposition to him because he was a Republican governor, but I'm telling you, as someone intimately aware of the situation on the ground, he enjoys considerable support.
5
A lot of Purdue folks don't understand the uproar. Some of it is that we just aren't that progressive - in fact, we're quite conservative and make a lot of decisions to please a conservative donor base - and that we're so astronaut- and quarterback-identified that we can't stand criticism of our golden boys.
But surely folks who don't understand the social justice issue at question here, the perception that black excellence is rare when in fact it's all around us, including here on Purdue's campus, can understand the business risk. Purdue needs to recruit talent, and Purdue needs to retain that talent, and part of good academic recruitment is diversity, and racism of any flavor full stop is bad for business, academic or otherwise.
62
For everyone hoping to excuse Mr. Daniel's words as a "poor choice" please note that he repeated the word "rarest" 4 times in one sentence: "One of the rarest, let me say, rarest birds, rarest, rarest, rarest phenomena".
That repetition of the word demeans black scholars by making them seem like an unlikely, almost miraculous discovery. As though they appear by magic! And Mr. Daniels seems to put himself in the grand position of discoverer of this rare (times 4) miracle.
95
In this day and age, scholars of almost any race are "rare creatures" -- at least among people under age 40. Most schools are using mostly underpaid and overworked adjuncts in order to force down wages for professors and have as few instructors as possible on the tenure track where there is an opportunity to make a decent living. Most people I know who have PhD degrees go to work in industry or if they do stay in academia they become administrators instead of professors so that they don't have to take a vow of poverty. The situation is probably a little better in the sciences than in the humanities, but not by much, I don't think.
12
Nationwide, just over 5 percent of all full-time faculty members at colleges and universities in the United States are black. This percentage has increased slightly over the past decade.
That's total staff most of whom are not professors.
If under 5% of US professors teaching in colleges are black - they might not be a "rarity" but sure are uncommon
10
@shrinking food
You don't have to be a full-time faculty member to qualify as a scholar. Writers who aren't published, if they're working on material, are still writers. That's the whole point of the article -- they aren't' recruited.
3
President Starr's point is well taken. But it's a point that will also be disputed, for their own reasons, by advocates for more affirmative action hiring. They argue that "nothing has changed" over past decades. But, as President Starr points out, things have indeed gotten better. That doesn't mean we stop aiming for diversity, but it does mean that the indignant, outraged tone often used to advance the argument is inaccurate, inappropriate, and likely to fuel resentment and opposition.
6
Interesting. By my count, there were 15 highly qualified African American academics mentioned in the opinion piece. As someone has already written, no numbers have been cited. My guess is that virtually every big time university in the country would love to hire all 15 of those folks mentioned. But they can't because those few are already distributed quite widely and each is probably situated in the position of his or her choice, there being so much competition to hire them.
In this day and age, no, the word choice could have been better. But the point was made: President Daniels was very pleased to have won the inter-university competition that undoubtedly surrounded the hiring of a highly qualified African-American scholar. As he should have been.
19
@Larry
Exactly. The top tier schools can throw tons of money, prestige, and other resources where other less well off and slightly less prestigious schools (by comparison) cannot. Plus, if that school manages to identify, groom, and promote an African American scholar into a name in his or her respective field, you can be sure the Stanford's, Harvard's, and Yale's will come calling.
4
@Larry
Having attended and worked at outstanding public (one of which truly was an adjunct and grad instructor mill) and private institutions, the issue of both the availability AND rarity of outstanding scholars of color in all fields is real, and the issues related to availability and rarity are complex. Hiring 'rocks star' scholars is a coup, period; whether at an ivy or nondescript u. The trickier issues include not only dedicated $$ to hire, but also an environment to retain.
Among my colleagues/acquaintances was a scholar of color rock star in her field who was being wooed by Duke. When I asked how the wine-n-dine/meet'n'greet had gone her reply was: "It's a plantation. A lovely plantation, but a plantation nonetheless." Ultimately, she chose not to subject herself to the environment. The personal and professional toll required is not one that every 'rara avis', regardless of the respective aviary, is able or willing to pay.
1
It’s sad that casual prejudice is so easily expressed by a leader who should know better and probably does. And this is very much the tip of the iceberg. For every college president there are many college deans. For every college dean there are many college department chairs. For every college department chair there are many college professors. And so on down to the high school level. Not all are prejudiced, casually or worse, but enough are that almost every student of color will no doubt run into somebody who will be dismissive or even obstructionist. That is a burden that white students don’t face. But through strenuous efforts of both the students and the academics who help to shape them, increasing numbers of students of color succeed and in some cases climb the academic ladder. Are there enough who succeed? No, not yet. But with continued strenuous efforts, and direct efforts to call out and oppose prejudice wherever it is found and whatever its found, more students of color will succeed and any idea that they are rare will become obviously incorrect.
This same discussion took place years ago regarding women. Women now comprise considerably more than half of collegiate undergrads. Don’t assume that their continued academic will be easy. Now doubt some will hinder them. But women will continue to succeed in increasing numbers as more and more of them enter higher education.
15
In all of the discussion, I haven't seen many numbers given. What would be nice to know is, what's is the number of African Americans receiving terminal degrees over the past two decades or so and in what fields are the degrees being granted? It seems to me this would be a good place to start a more informed discussion.
34
@William Beaver I agree that using data is a good starting place. However, I am always frustrated by comments/suggestions like that because many people already know (or know how to access) those numbers. Comments about "rare creatures" expose our collective ignorance and remind me that too many people don't know that they don't know. Mr. Daniels didn't understand the backlash because he had no idea how uninformed and ignorant he sounded. Then, instead of admitting his ignorance in proclaiming that educated Black people are "rare creatures", he insisted that it was a figure of speech. It would have been more sincere if he had simply said that in his experience, educated Black people have indeed been "rare creatures".
Every day I encounter someone who believes that educated Black people are "rare creatures" and I cringe. It is frustrating to know that so many people still have no idea that educated Black people exist.
3
Of course that was a dumb thing to say, and I'll bet you Dr. Daniels knows it better than most. I recall, clearly and painfully, standing in front of faculty and students and realizing I'd just said something spectacularly silly. Dr. Starr is quite right to point to the large numbers of people of color who are truly "scholars" by anyone's definition. She's one of them herself, of course. But let's not jump to judging someone's career and worth as a person because he used a bad verbal framing to announce a good thing -- adding a distinguished faculty member to the University. Look at Mr. Loonam's letter below and think a moment before igniting the torches.
14
Fun fact.
Throughout the history of Purdue University, the presidents have all been scholars, leaders in research in the respective fields. Mitch Daniels, by training, is an attorney and not a scholar of any sort. And his legal practice is dim memory, having spent much of his career as a businessman or governmental agency leader.
He is, in fact, a rare breed as the president of a first tier research university: a non scholar.
71
@Lalita Unqualified, yet he holds the position and power at Purdue.
Gee, how did he get that job?
7
@Lalita
Another fun fact: only the board members who hire president X, Y, or Z know the true reason(s) that person was selected. Not all presidential hires are created equal.
2
@CommonSenseRules Fun fact: Daniels appointed the board as governor that nominated his university presidency. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitch_Daniels#Controversy_over_selection
3
How about Neil deGrasse Tyson? I don't know (nor care) if Mr. deGrasse Tyson is considered a scholar (is it deGrasse Tyson, or just Tyson?). In our current atmosphere, those who popularize science and the search for truth should be admired. Mr. deGrasse Tyson has done an admirable job of taking up the mantle of Carl Sagan, a job of no small importance these days.
7
@Tom
Dr. Degrasse Tyson is a doctorate in astrophysics and runs the Hayden Planetarium in New York (the one Dr. Carl Sagan ran), an easily Googleable fact, so yeah... He's a scholar.
2
The cost of an advanced degree is a major obstacle. Economics may determine or drive the lack of scholars in all fields. Fellowships, research grants, teaching assistantships and scholarships all work to provide scholars with the academic "seal of approval" which make them more attractive to future employers or collaborators. It takes time to do research, write and publish. If one is concerned about the basics of life - food, clothing and shelter - then, by sheer necessity, research and scholarly pursuits take a backseat to the immediate needs of scholars and their families.
5
@CS Actually, if by 'advanced degree' you mean a Ph.D, they aren't expensive. Most Ph.D. students receive stipends, have access to graduate housing, and have tuition waivers. I assume all scholars, regardless of race, eat, dress, and shelter.
6
@John If only that were true! Some but not all doctoral students have stipends, even graduate student housing costs money, and a tuition waiver, if you get one, doesn't feed your family. And to get to doctoral study you have to complete your (at least) college degree, which isn't free. Advanced study is hardly a money maker.
7
Opportunity costs are also a huge issue as well. In the time it takes for an advanced, then terminal degree, and finally becoming a tenured faculty member, an individual could be gaining real world experience and increasing wages. For those accustomed to the stress of poverty, going directly into industry is a much safer route and the inclination would be to take it.
I would also add Shirley Jackson, president of RPI, and former head of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission under President Clinton. Academia has its own politics and for centuries, grants and other recognition were denied both scholars of color and women. Its astonishing that the president of Purdue seems to have no grasp of history as it impacts his own institution.
20
@Mary
Regarding the president of Purdue (who is/was not a scholar, and is not required to have a grasp of history of ANY sort), a criticism of the former Bell Telephone system applies here: the president of Purdue doesn't care; he doesn't have to.
1
Daniel's choice of words was misguided and unfortunate. Before condemning him to intellectual purgatory, perhaps we should look at what he was trying to say and ask ourselves the question, "Are there 'enough' top rated African American academics?" If the answer is "Yes," then, yes, criticize him both for his poor choice of words AND spreading a mistruth. If the answer is "No," then perhaps some ink should also be spent on acknowledging the problem, providing suggestions to resolve the problem, AND correcting his poor choice of metaphor.
I am not "excusing" Daniels, but in my experience during my Ivy League doctoral studies and my non Ivy League undergraduate work, there was plenty of room for improvement.
17
We read here about efforts to hire, specifically, people of certain races or ethnic groups, with budgets devoted to that. Why is race a criterion for an academic (or any other) appointment?
14
@Jonathan Katz
The criterion should always be first and foremost quality. However, racism and prejudice have closed many doors to promising students/academics of color. Opening those doors does not happen without thoughtfully applied strategies(read: money--everything costs) that address equity and strive toward equality. Counting who is in the chairs is the only gauge to tell whether we are making progress toward equal representation. I won't assume to understand the philosophical orientation behind your question, but I have often heard this question asked by individuals who do not believe that racism endures in today's America. If you are one of the people who believes that racism is "over," I challenge you to take a leap of intellectual curiosity and observe a number of African Americans interacting with sales people in a store or trying to rent an apartment in a non-African American owned building. And yes, racism exists in all populations.
24
@Jonathan Katz
Because they are most likely the ones who study problems facing the communities where they come from that pose a dire risk to our society as a whole (poverty, disease, etc.) If universities are supposed to be training the future leaders of society, then those leaders need to understand and identify with people and problems across a diverse spectrum of American society.
5
How often do you actually stand around and observe African Americans interact with sales people? Or do your ideas come strictly from anecdotal accounts given with an agenda?
Of course there are African-American scholars; many, actually.
However, they are still relatively rare when compared to the numbers and percentages of white scholars, a point that is knowable and quantifiable.
1. Look up the number of tenured and tenure-track Black professors at all US colleges and universities. It is almost certainly lower than the percentage of African-Americans in the US population or in academia (exceptions are HBCUs and African-American studies departments).
2. Look up how many and what percentage of scholarly publications in virtually any field written are by African-Americans and see how often they are cited by other authors in the same fields. It is also likely to be lower than the percentage of Blacks in the US population or in academia.
There are individuals and organizations that compile such statistics so they are readily available; those who report and write opinion pieces should make the effort to look them up.
Lest I be criticized for making a politically incorrect point, for several decades prior to retirement I was one of many who worked to get more African Americans and other minorities into the academic pipeline so they, too, could become scholars. As time goes by their numbers and proportions will increase, no doubt about it.
38
@Mon Ray. I’m sympathetic to the point you have made. My first thought when reading the essay was that while Daniels’ comment was cringeworthy, I could perhaps see why it was made. It’s one thing to cite black scholars who have risen to positions at prestigious institutions, as Dr. Starr does. It’s another to recruit faculty or graduate students at middle-tier (or lower) universities. Like you, I spent 17 years as a department chair in a field that hasn’t had a large number of minority PhDs; it has improved markedly since my entry in the field, but every year I sought out graduate student applicants of color who would apply to our program. We offered as much funding as we could, invited them to campus, encouraged our faculty and students to contact them — as we do for all applicants. It became somewhat demoralizing when April 15 came around and I found that they had accepted a position at a more prestigious program, with greater resources. As of course they should have. But these experiences can lead one to believe that minority scholars are rare.
At the same time, department chairs are under a great deal of pressure to increase diversity among the faculty and student population. It’s demoralizing to do a periodic program review and have to admit that faculty and graduate students of color are still underrepresented in your program, especially when you have tried each year to do something about it.
3
@Ockham9. An additional point that I omitted for lack of space: it is doubly hard to recruit students and faculty of color in a department within a state that has a reputation of racial animus. Racist chants by members of the student body, widely reported in the media, do not exactly welcome prospective students and faculty.
2
Sadly, it is a myth that even some administrators and so-called "leaders" in education still believe. I have had to fight to retain advanced classes in the public, urban school where I work--I mean really fight, to maintain the AP and IB classes we offer to junior and senior students. Even the leadership in my school have admonished me--telling me "the clientele has changed," as our school increased the numbers of Black students. When the Principal and other other administration don't believe even their own children can handle the challenge of advanced coursework, we are in trouble. I keep pointing out all the successful graduates we have had who now attend colleges and universities, and those who have already graduated with an advanced degree, but the pervasive and disappointing truth is that many of my African American students come to me thinking that the only way they can be successful is to become and athlete or an entertainer. We need to do better. We need to tell them from their very first day of school what our hopes are for them and that we BELIEVE in them. We need to prepare them better. We need to instill this belief within our society as a whole. It is so discouraging when we educators stand alone, telling students they can be scientists, engineers, doctors, professors, and no one else believes or supports this. But myths die hard and this one, given our racist society, seems stuck like glue.
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One of the many ironies in president Daniels's statement is that the same words were once used to describe black students at top ranked colleges.
When I arrived at a highly ranked college over 50 years ago I discovered that the class before me had 23 black students, 20 of them scholarship athletes.
In my class there were approximately 60 black students in a freshman class of 1,700. About 45 of those 60 were required to attend a summer program before fall classes started.
This wasn't an academic program. It was designed to "acculturate" black students to the white world that they were now entering. Those of us who weren't in that group already had a full dose of "integration" at our high schools.
My point here is that super star scholars are made not born. Talent needs to be identified early. It needs nurturing in graduate school.
Promising black scholars need opportunities for grants and residencies providing time and support for scholarship. And the burden of being "the only one" must be lessened by hiring black administrators at all levels who can provide the counseling and mentoring that all black students still need.
If Purdue and other universities are serious about a truly integrated academy, from top to bottom, they need to tend to the eggs in the nest at the bottom.
Then those hatchlings will fly and there might not be any "rare birds" at any level of our universities.
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@Drspock
Sorry but there will always be rare-birds. It's a complimentary term not a racial term.
It means that the person is truly unique and standouts among their peers, not just their peers that look or fit into same Left's Identity Politics box.
Be happy for this person, the university is very excited to have them on their faculty.
1
Thank you Professor Starr. I just wanted to add that for every "leading" African American scholar, there are ten whose names are less known but who have a wealth of expertise in their diverse fields. I've sat on English Department hiring and promotion committees for nearly thirty years, during which the problem has never been a dearth of super-qualified black candidates. And yet this misperception persists, and it comes up every time diversification is mentioned at the university.
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Can we put this in context. Mr. Daniels is 70 (I am 68 and for this, that matters). When we were in school, there were very few black scholars. I studied fine art and art history and never saw any black art historians from 1969 until 1976 when I received my MFA. I would hazard a guess that Daniels saw few among his mentors.
Our time is almost over. Our children got to see a black president, a black astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson, and historians galore (if they watch the history channel).
Change takes time, and the perception of change takes even more time.
8
@Terry McKenna: Why some people might think and speak that way is understandable. But we should expect the current president of a major university to have a more up-to-date understanding of the state of scholarship and a greater awareness of the cultural impacts that can arise from the use of language.
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@Terry McKenna
How much time, Mr. McKenna? Decades? Centuries before work and social environments are understood as equitable because it is to our benefit that they be so? Ms. Starr is absolutely correct in shining light into the blind spots of our understanding. We all have them. We can own up to them as well.
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@Terry McKenna I'm older than Daniels and I am appalled by his comment. He is not a run-of-the-mill retiree with his head in the sand. He is the president of a large, diverse university. If he is not aware of the black scholars at Purdue, then he needs to get out more or review his hiring practices. Age is not an excuse for this. I am uncomfortable that Starr still has to list black scholars to convince us that they exist, but it's good to be reminded of my own old prejudices.
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