When Bernie Malonson was a freshman at Harvard University, he and a group of black peers were asked who among them were thinking of being teachers and professors. From a group of 40 or 50 students, only a few hands were raised.
“He said unless you chose to go into academia there won’t be any black professors,” Malonson recalled. “That was one of the key drivers — if not me, who?”
That moment was key in Malonson’s career. Now pursing his doctorate in management at MSU, he aspires to become a professor.
Individuals such as Malonson are rare at MSU. While other minorities slowly increase their presence at MSU, the number of black professors at the university has plateaued. Between fall 2000 and fall 2009, they were the only minority group not to increase the number of tenured track faculty. And the history goes further back than merely this past decade, said Paulette Granberry Russell, director of the Office for Inclusion and Intercultural Initiatives.
“Looking between 1980s and now, 20-plus years later, (the fact) that we’re not seeing significant differences is disappointing,” Russell said.
Persisting problem
When it comes to the student population, blacks are the largest minority on MSU’s campus with 8 percent of all undergraduates identifying as black in 2009.
However, only about 4.7 percent of all faculty members are black. Whites and minorities, such as Hispanics, have percentages of faculty corresponding to the percentage of students.
Former vice president of student affairs and services and current faculty member Lee June said although MSU is conscious of the problem, correcting it depends on many factors, some out of the university’s control.
“If you look nationally, many institutions have problems in terms of attracting and keeping a large number of faculty of color,” June said. “MSU is in that picture. We have done better in the past than we are currently doing.”
There is no single reason why the ratio of black to white professors is so uneven compared to the ratio of black to white students. Some faculty attribute socioeconomics as one factor, quality of school districts as another. A report from Princeton University’s Office of Population Research stated that blacks and Hispanics are less likely to score well on SATs and ACTs.
Matt Anderson, the associate dean for Diversity and Inclusion in the Eli Broad College of Business, said although the U.S. has moved beyond its racist past, remnants of its unequal history still exist.
“I think we are more in a national mindset of we’ve removed the legal restriction to advancement and therefore everyone has somewhat access,” Anderson said. “It’s simply not clear to me that we are in a place where race cannot be used to deny people things.”
Taking action
In the experience of Curtis Stokes, professor of social relations and policy in James Madison College, something as simple as the words of a job description can make the difference.
If a faculty member doesn’t belong to the majority, they might not pursue potential job prospects, he said.
“The language of the job description sometimes includes language like ‘fit,’” Stokes said.
“‘If’ a person fits the particular area, that’s very, very vague. Small things like that can add up over the long haul.”
Although universities are expected to play a role in the hiring of minority professors, they also are responsible for another factor: educating students who can become professors.
“It’s a chicken-and-egg sort of problem,” Anderson said.
“People say there’s no supply. At the same time a lot of programs are reluctant to admit the people of color to the doctoral program.”
Professors at higher education institutions usually have the terminal degree in their fields, but the number of black doctoral students at MSU has stagnated in past years.
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Black graduate students are the only minority group that did not increase enrollment from 2000-09.
The number peaked with 497 students in 2003, but there were only 424 black graduate students enrolled in 2009.
Increasing the number of black doctoral students will lead to more black professors, June said.
And — in turn — more black professors will encourage more black students.
“Faculty members often are role models for persons of their own race or gender,” June said.
“If a black student sees a black professor, he or she sometimes tends to see the person as a role model.”
Sticking together
Although Malonson said he is treated like any other student in the classroom, skin color has not escaped his attention. Since he has been at MSU, he has been the only black student in all of his classes.
But that doesn’t mean he is without support. In 1998, he discovered the Ph.D. Project at a conference in Detroit. The project works to create a network for minority doctoral students and professors, going as far as to seek out professionals in the workplace and encourage them to pursue a higher degree.
“(Getting a) Ph.D. is a solitary journey and you need someone to understand what you’re going through,” Malonson said. “The Ph.D. (Project) shares stories of people pursing it, and it’s very inspiring.”
The Ph.D. Project is a national group designed to support minority doctoral students in business schools. When the program began in 1994, there were about 200 black professors in business schools across the country, less than one percent of about 26,000 business school professors total.
Today, the percentage of black professors has grown to 2.6 percent, with the number of black business professors almost tripling to 790, said Bernie Milano, president of the Ph.D. Project.
“It’s not easy being a minority,” Milano said. “People are carrying stereotypes around — if you have an all-white faculty you’re working with, you’re reluctant to ask for help because you’re reluctant to hear people say, ‘Here’s a student who shouldn’t be here, look at he questions he or she is asking.’ It’s a concern students are carrying around with them constantly.”
MSU is working to alleviate some of the burden. A work environment survey MSU is preparing is expected to identify areas where the university can improve treatment to both minorities and women. The number of minority undergraduate students has increased from a decade ago. And it’s training students, such as Malonson, who hope to become professors and encourage others to do the same.
“It’s easy to sit there an complain there’s not faculty,” Malonson said. “But if you’re in a position to do something (and) you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.”
