Dive Brief:
- National Center for Education Statistics data show black and Latino students as the fastest-growing portions of the student body, portending an even greater gap between the portion of students of color and faculty.
- Amit Mrig writes for Forbes that these students are the pipeline for future faculty and university leadership, and if they feel slighted and harassed on campus as students, forgoing a career in an unwelcome academia, it will present a significant business challenge down the line.
- Mrig advocates for a new hiring model that removes biases from the entire hiring process and offers a comprehensive approach that develops, rewards, and retains faculty of color through onboarding, inclusive environments, mentoring, and aligned incentives with diversity priorities.
Dive Insight:
Diversity and inclusion experts say academia is far behind the corporate world when it comes to systemic efforts. In the corporate world, there is a more direct line to greater profits when companies better reflect their communities and learn how to cater to them.
Besides the new hiring model, Mrig recommends taking advantage of the opportunity on institutional boards. Diverse boards of trustees can initiate the conversations around diversity that students have begun to have more publicly, holding presidents accountable for concrete, long-term goals. Many schools are attempting to catch up on such policies at the urging of student protesters. In the long run, such movement can only help.