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Speaker: Faculty can help increase campus diversity
Professor believes schools must alter their hiring process
REBECCA McKEAG/Herald photo
Cal State University Professor Thomas Landefeld speaks at UW Thursday.
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A California State University, Dominguez Hills professor told a crowd at the University of Wisconsin Thursday that faculties in all academic institutions are responsible for promoting diversity in the sciences.
Thomas Landefeld, a teacher and administrator who regularly deals with issues concerning minority students, said the lack of minority groups in the sciences in the United States is problematic.
He went on to say the ultimate responsibility to solve this problem lies with faculty and administrators in all of the nation’s schools.
According to Landefeld, the percentage of minority students enrolled in school — especially programs in science — declines sharply at each level of education. In the grades between kindergarten and 12th grade, 35 percent of enrollment is made up of underrepresented minority groups.
This declines to just under 17 percent of minority students receiving bachelor degrees in the sciences. The number continues to decline to just under 6 percent who receive Ph.D.s in the sciences.
Landefeld said faculty is responsible for improving this situation, especially when it comes to hiring.
He pointed out statistics showing a low percentage of minorities in the top 50 graduate programs in the U.S.
“We should be embarrassed by this,” Landefeld said. “This is crazy. We have people who are getting Ph.D.s and we aren’t hiring them.”
According to Dorothy Sanchez, an assistant dean in the UW Office of Diversity Resources, the number of possible minorities for science positions is actually less than what Landefeld thinks.
She said faculty is still looking at Graduate Record Examinations for admissions into programs, and minorities traditionally score lower on this test.
Therefore, the pool of minority students is even further reduced, according to Sanchez.
UW and other schools need to recognize the needs of minority students, faculty members and school departments in order to increase diversity, Landefeld said.
He went on to say UW is going to have a tougher time recruiting minorities for things such as graduate programs than other places, due to the school’s low percentage of minority students.
“Nobody is talking of lowering standards,” Landefeld said. “It’s about the right fit. One of the things we do as faculty: we decide the best fit.”
Landefeld said faculty should actively strive for more diversity by expanding the pool of minorities into science programs and mentoring students throughout their schooling, starting with increased outreach in the elementary to high school years.
He said school officials and teachers should recruit more minority undergraduates into science and help retain them by mentoring.
“Everything has to be personalized,” Landefeld said. “If you mentor a student, you have to know that student.”
According to Landefeld, a lower percentage of black students graduate from UW than white students. He went on to say he would venture a guess that the reason lies with faculty not spending enough time with black students.
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“According to Landefeld, a lower percentage of black students graduate from UW than white students. He went on to say he would venture a guess that the reason lies with faculty not spending enough time with black students.”
Why not treat students equally at the UW? Certain groups of students already get all kinds of help that isn’t available to others.
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What crap.
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“Nobody is talking of lowering standards,” Landefeld said. “It’s about the right fit. One of the things we do as faculty: we decide the best fit.”
No they aren’t TALKING about lowering standards. That would just get people mad as hell. Instead they talk about Embracing Diversity, as if that had equivalent value to hard work and merit based advancement.
They’ll tell you what Diversity is because they know what is best for you. They decide the “best fit” and, if your hard work and acedemic excellence doesn’t fit their definition of Diversity, please apply elsewhere.
Hope….. Change…… Crap.
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The comments that were posted in response to my talk only confirm that the University of Wisconsin has a LONG way to go to embrace diversity. C’mon folks, give up some of that white privilege and do what’s right, not what’s white!
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Hey folks. This isn’t 1950. Wake up!
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If the previous comments accurately represent the feelings of students at Wisconsin, it is no surprise that students of color are not beating down the doors. A campus so mired in white privilege is not going to be on too many highly qualified minority students’ wish lists. Dr. Sanchez, when students (I assume it was a student) write things like “Hope….. Change…… Crap” maybe you should look closer to home to see why “the pool of minority students is even further reduced.” Furthermore, using a graduate admissions screening tool that by your own admission discriminates against minorities is hardly walking the walk of redressing past imbalances. I am on faculty at a minority serving institution, and I would now be reluctant to advise our best and brightest to apply to Wisconsin for the PhD.