Check out how to celebrate National Poetry Month on page 20.
DePaulia
The
Max Strus is finally finding some success with the Miami Heat, pages 27-28
Volume #106 | Issue #20 | April 11, 2022 | depauliaonline.com
Number of full-time faculty members by race/ethnicity
2 11
American Indian/ Alaskan Native
‘I don’t see me’ Diversity in faculty continues to lack despite being a priority
Multiracial
By Kiersten Riedford Asst. News Editor
48
Unknown
61
Undocumented
62
African American
62
Asian
62
Hispanic
554
White
Angelina Alvarez, sophomore and political science major, has not had a single professor of color while attending DePaul. She said she hasn’t even had a professor of color for classes that cover Latin American or general social justice issues. “When I first started I was expecting that I would see a lot more professors of color mostly because of the classes I was taking,” Alvarez said. “For example, when the classes cover topics such as Indigenous issues, I was hoping to have a professor who’s Indigenous in one way or another, being Indigenous myself. But sadly, I’m yet to see any Indigenous representation in the faculty, or at DePaul in general.” When hiring full-time faculty, DePaul claims to be dedicated to upholding the Vincentian mission which calls for making education accessible, especially for “underserved and underrepresented” communities. Currently, there are 862 full-time faculty members at DePaul. Full-time faculty members are defined as professors, associate professors, assistant professors and instructors, according to DePaul Institutional Research and Market Analytics (IRMA). Adjunct professors are not included as full-time faculty members. Out of the total full-time faculty members, there are two American Indian/Alaskan Native, 11 are multiracial, 62 are Asian, 62 are African American, 62 are Hispanic and 554 are white, according to the IRMA.
Mikyhia Worsham, sophomore and political science major, felt that there is not enough diversity in DePaul’s full-time faculty. “I am frustrated and disheartened by these numbers,” Worsham said. “It’s a slap in the face to me and all of the other BIPOC students and faculty on this campus.” Worsham is not the only student who is discouraged by the statistics. Flavio Diaz, sophomore and international management major, looked saddened when he heard the statistics. “I am shocked, I thought DePaul was doing a good job, but I guess not,” Diaz said. Another concern students had when looking at the DePaul IRMA statistics on full-time faculty diversity was the language used to describe undocumented faculty members. In the table, undocumented full-time faculty members are referred to as “nonresident aliens.” There are currently 61 full-time faculty members labeled this way on the document. “It completely diminishes [the full-time faculty members’] essential role to the university,” said Carolyn Espinoza, freshman and elementary education major. Diaz said he hated the label. “It marginalizes and criminalizes the faculty members,” Diaz said. Alvarez said she is upset the university is using this language in official documents because it is dehumanizing. “It’s a slap in the face to someone who’s worked hard to get to where they are, just to be referred to as a ‘nonresident alien,’” Alvarez said. “From my knowledge, immigration agencies have been told not to use the term ‘illegal alien’ under the Biden administration.
KIERSTEN RIEDFORD | THE DEPAULIA
Tenured-track faculty feel ‘underresourced’ and ‘overwhelmed’
First Black woman confirmed to the Supreme Court
By Patrick Sloan-Turner Faculty Council Beat Reporter
By Jackson Healy Nation & World Editor
ALEX BRANDON | ASSOCIATED PRESS
Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson made history on Thursday as the Senate voted to confirm her to the Supreme Court 53 to 47, ensuring that Jackson will become the first Black woman in U.S. history to serve on the nation’s highest court. Christina Rivers, associate political science professor at DePaul, noted the historical impact of Jackson’s ascension to the bench. “It’s very significant,” she said. “So much of constitutional law — particularly civil rights law — were initially structured around kind of a Black-white binary, so I think it’s significant that we now have a woman on the bench who can speak from
See DIVERSITY, page 9
Jackson testifies at her Senate Judiciary hearing. She was confirmed in a 53 to 47 vote.
that perspective, and also the intersection of being Black and female.” Jackson herself noted the significance of her confirmation during a speech at a White House event on Friday. “I am the dream and the hope of the slave,” she said, quoting Maya Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise.” “It has taken 232 years and 115 prior appointments for a Black woman to be selected to serve on the Supreme Court of the United States,” she added. “But we’ve made
See SUPREME COURT, page 11
DePaul’s Faculty Council voted unanimously Wednesday to grant four departments exemption from staffing guidelines for term faculty provided in the faculty handbook. The handbook defines term faculty as full-time, non-tenure-line faculty that do not lead to tenure. It also gives the guideline that term faculty should not make up more than 30 percent of the full-time faculty members in a given unit or department unless granted an exemption like the one the Faculty Council voted on last week. The unanimous vote allowed four departments to be exempt from the 30 percent cap policy. Criminology, Modern Languages, Master of Public Health and the School of Cinematic Arts may continue to exist above the 30 percent
threshold. Without Wednesday’s vote in favor of exemption, the employment status of term faculty currently teaching in these departments may have been called into question. In May 2020, DePaul President A. Gabriel Esteban instituted a hiring freeze for new tenure-track faculty to help ease some of the financial burdens of the Covid-19 pandemic. The temporary freeze was in place through the end of 2020. Now, more than two years later, some DePaul faculty are feeling the effects of this freeze and voicing their need for additional staff. “On weekends, I’m helping adjuncts figure out their grading problems and manage student crises,” said Megan Alderden, an associate professor of criminology, during discussion at Wednesday’s meeting. “It’s very challenging to
See FACULTY, page 8