Ivory tower needs to make commitment to diversity hiring

In May 2018, 26 female professors signed an open letter to the media asking that coverage of a celebrated Latino author’s #MeToo scandal be treated with restraint and fairness.

They did so not because they doubted the veracity of the allegations, but because his characterization as a sexual predator would add to the degrading and stigmatizing stereotypes of Hispanic men and women.

It was a controversial but important message that sparked discussion about how to react when one of the leading lights of a historically marginalized and underrepresented group gets in trouble and his or her fall threatens to undermine all the other members of the group.

Part of the open letter’s power came from the stellar credentials of the signatories — a long list of distinguished scholars of color with a professional and personal stake in ensuring fair treatment for all people of color, even those accused of sexual misconduct.

Whether you agree or disagree with this premise, it is a matter for contemplation. And the letter was an act of courage and intellectual leadership by scholars of color who often don’t wield the same kind of power at their institutions as their white colleagues.

Among the co-signers was Lorgia García-Peña, an internationally renowned scholar and the Roy G. Clouse professor of romance languages at Harvard University.

García-Peña, who has been described by many students as “a monument on campus,” was denied tenure even though she was awarded Harvard Professor of the Year in 2015, the Roslyn Abramson Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and Harvard Professor of the Year by the Graduating Class of 2017.

García-Peña has other honors to her name, but the teaching awards are especially notable considering that college professors have been singled out for prioritizing research over the craft of teaching.

And the awards speak to the subtext that underlies far too many conversations about people of color in higher education — that they waltz into positions that should go to more accomplished white candidates and then bring down the quality of the greater group’s work.

By these measures, it seems like making García-Peña a tenured professor would be a slamdunk, checking off the boxes for excellent teaching as well as diversifying the faculty. Given that only 1% of full-time professors at degree-granting postsecondary institutions are Latina, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, you’d think that Harvard would jump at the opportunity. It didn’t. And the snub inflamed students and others who see the denial as unacceptable business as usual in the rarefied realm of academia.

“We are dismayed and do not understand why she was denied tenure,” wrote a coalition of graduate students and concerned scholars, numbering in the thousands, who are demanding Harvard review and make public its rationale for its decision. “This denial strikes us as a disavowal of Harvard’s recent commitment to invest in ethnic studies. Denying tenure to a faculty member of color who is actively serving on the committee for new hires in ethnic studies undermines Harvard’s commitment and betrays efforts to advance diversity and inclusion at this institution.

“Although Harvard has responded to the call of the student-and-alumni group Harvard Ethnic Studies Coalition (HESC) by pledging to hire a cluster of four ethnic studies faculty members, the outcome of Professor García-Peña’s tenure case damages this important cause.”

This whole episode would be puzzling if it weren’t so typical. Big, major organizations from corporations to media institutions to nonprofits that specialize in uplifting people of color regularly pledge to diversify their ranks and their leadership teams.

Then they throw up their hands, shrug, and declare that they tried, but just can’t find qualified people, all while not looking very hard. Or looking only in the places they’ve always looked — in majority-white networking circles, social clubs or professional organizations.

The worst, though, is when they ignore their own employees. If Harvard was looking to cripple its own diversity hiring efforts, rebuffing its very own beloved educator of color was a sure way to do it.

Harvard is a private institution that has every right to make wise or ridiculous tenure and hiring decisions. But for bigname brands, sometimes there’s a difference between what you can do and what you can get away with.