Racial Inequality in Academia: Systemic Origins, Modern Challenges, and Policy Recommendations

Abstract

In an ideal world, academia serves society; it provides quality education to future leaders and informs public policy—and it does so by including a diverse array of scholars. However, research and recent protest movements show that academia is subject to race-based inequities that hamper the recruitment and retention of scholars of color, reducing scientific impact. This article provides critical systemic context for racism in academia before reviewing research on psychological, interpersonal, and structural challenges to reducing racial inequality. Policy challenges include (a) the cultivation of harmful stereotypes, (b) the education of racially ignorant future leaders, and (c) the dedication of resources to science that informs only a few, rather than many. Finally, recommendations specify critical features of hiring, retention, transparency, and incentives that can diversify academia, create a more welcoming environment to scholars of color, and maximize the potential for innovative and impactful science.

Fighting racism in research

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Much has been written about gender, racial and other inequalities, biases, and discrimination, in research in general, especially in psychological research (Roberts et al, 2020;Dupree and Boykin, 2021;Gruber et al, 2021). Recent events such as the murder of George Floyd in the United States and racism toward people of Asian descent, including blaming them for the COVID-19 pandemic, have led to calls for anti-racist action in the scientific community (Wagner et al, 2020;Galán et al, 2021).

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How narratives of racial progress create barriers to diversity, equity, and inclusion in organizations

“…Critically, the DEI policies that tend to have more success involve making direct (and costly) structural changes to organizational operations, including mentorship networks and hiring outreach programs [27]. Overcoming the narrative of racial progress can be as straightforward as investing in, and then actually executing, structural changes within an organization that are backed by a clear evidence base for positive change toward diversity, equity, and inclusion [36][37].…”

Decentering whiteness: Rethinking the instruction of undergraduate research methods within developmental science

“…In particular, we argue that the curricula offered in undergraduate research methods courses can be a transformative space to invite students of color into developmental science when taught in a manner that is equity-minded, inclusive, culturally-affirming and relevant, anti-racist, and epistemically inclusive. In addition to addressing pervasive racial-ethnic inequities in our science, such changes also meet Dupree and Boykin's (2021) call toward "modify[ing] curricula to educate racially sensitive citizens and signal the importance of race" (p. 15).…”