It Could Be Us: Black Faculty as “Threats” on the Path to Tenure

Abstract

Racial disparities in tenure and promotion outcomes are well known in the existing research literature. Scholarship establishes that Black and Brown faculty experience unique challenges when navigating the tenure and promotion process, such as lack of diverse mentorship, biased student/peer evaluations, and disproportionately high service demands. However, the public has entered this discourse due to recent media attention involving the tenure cases of Nikole Hannah-Jones and Cornel West, and this has prompted minoritized faculty nationwide to reflect on the implications of these incidents on their own careers. This study relies on theoretical and conceptual literature to discuss the professional realities Black faculty face on the job. We make the theoretical claim that the racial threat hypothesis can facilitate understanding of how Black faculty pursuing tenure is a political threat to white hegemony in the academy resulting in an increase of social control. We conclude with concrete recommendations on how Black scholars can wield the label of “threat” to successfully navigate the academy.

Anti-racism in Criminology: An Oxymoron or the way Forward?

“…Without actual, resource-backed commitments and actions to make changes within our departments, our classrooms, our syllabi, our policies and practices, our mentoring, our admissions practices, our promotion practices, and our service allocation practices, we will continue to maintain the status quo to our detriment (Blount -Hill, et al, 2022;Carter & Craig, 2022;Casellas Connors & McCoy, 2022;Hattery, et al, 2022;León, 2021;McCoy, 2021;Montgomery, 2020;Parmar, et al, 2022a;Russell-Brown, 2021;Stockdale & Sweeney, 2022;Sykes, 2021;Taylor Greene, et al, 2018)…”

“…How are we intentionally incorporating policies and practices to retain who we admit to our graduate programs? How are we training the next generation of researchers to consider how racism – and other manifestations of oppression – affect what we decide to study, how we conduct our research, who are considered experts, how we interpret our findings, and how we disseminate our research? How are we combatting implicit and explicit biases that white faculty possess toward Black students/colleagues and other students/colleagues of color? In what ways are we unnecessarily “gatekeeping” instead of “groundskeeping” in academic mentorship? (see Montgomery, 2020) To what extent is invisible service of minoritized faculty made visible, or how can service load allocation be more equitable for minoritized faculty in your department? How are we allocating resources to back up any university or departmental statements with promises to make changes toward anti-racist practice? How are we disrupting and addressing hostile environments for students and faculty of color? Without actual, resource-backed commitments and actions to make changes within our departments, our classrooms, our syllabi, our policies and practices, our mentoring, our admissions practices, our promotion practices, and our service allocation practices, we will continue to maintain the status quo to our detriment (Blount-Hill, et al, 2022; Carter & Craig, 2022; Casellas Connors & McCoy, 2022; Hattery, et al, 2022; León, 2021; McCoy, 2021; Montgomery, 2020; Parmar, et al, 2022a; Russell-Brown, 2021; Stockdale & Sweeney, 2022; Sykes, 2021; Taylor Greene, et al, 2018). It is up to us to make a new status quo, where it is clear - and not questioned – whether Black Lives Matter in our discipline (Russell-Brown, 2021).…”

The Personal is Political and so is Discomfort: Intersectional, Anti-Racist Praxis in Feminist Criminology

“…But universities can and often do use their power to marginalize, censor, and put in their place individuals who challenge how they operate (Ahmed, 2019;Hamer & Lang, 2015). The "complaints" of academics of color are important because they do more than confront the status quo; they expose hidden structural bias and demonstrate that University-sanctioned equity discourses belie their own experiences (e.g., Carter & Craig, 2022). Arguably, by exposing hypocrisy in academia, the narratives of scholars of color make an ethical demand for meaningful institutional change.…”

Anti-Racism and Intersectionality in Feminist Criminology and Academia: Introduction to a Special Issue

“…Beyond the discipline of criminology, there is a lot of additional work to be done. As Carter and Craig (2022) write in their piece, Black and other minoritized faculty face particular challenges while pursuing tenure, and the authors offer concrete recommendations on addressing - and dismantling - these barriers. And finally, Casellas Connors and McCoy (2022) examined 99 presidential statements that were disseminated during the week after the murder of George Floyd on May 25, 2020.…”

“…Two submissions are included in this special issue. Gonzalez (2022) writes beautifully about her first introduction to bell hooks, and what bell hooks taught her about love, letting go, and the steps we can take toward a better world. Moton and Blount-Hill (2022) shared their love letter that expresses their gratitude to bell hooks for teaching them to talk back, speak up, and tell their stories without fear.…”