News
10.23.19 - V103 I5
The Easterner -
5
What does diversity mean? After an award, questions about a diverse faculty remain Malati Powell for The Easterner
MITCHELL ROLAND News Editor Dr. Robert Bartlett is the grandfather of The Easterner’s social media editor, Isaiah Gessner. Gessner was not involved in any of the processes behind the creation of this article. Dr. Robert Bartlett, a senior lecturer in the Department of Sociology and Justice at EWU, recalls a comment a student made to him during his first year at Eastern that has stuck with him since. “Dr. B," the student said. "Do you ever notice how there are more squirrels on campus than black people?” While the student was kidding, like any joke, it was rooted in truth. While EWU has again won an award for diversity, some believe the campus is left with room for improvement and a question of what diversity on a college campus actually looks like. Eastern recently won the Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award from INSIGHT Into Diversity magazine. But even though this is the second year in a row EWU has won it, some faculty members on campus have questions. “I, to this day, wonder whose numbers (INSIGHT Into Diversity) are looking at,” Bartlett said. 82.6% of faculty members at Eastern in October 2017 were Caucasian, According to EWU’s office of Human Resources, Rights and Risk. The next largest racial group among faculty was Hispanic, at 5.2%. 3.1% of faculty at EWU are African American. Bartlett said that four of the African American faculty members on campus are in the same department— Africana Studies. “What we call it in the business is ghettoizing the department,” he said. Essentially, this means minority professors are grouped together in a field of study that correlates with their race, even if it's not what they were originally hired to teach. Bartlett said that being an African American faculty member means having to do things his coworkers aren’t asked to do. “I end up in meetings my colleagues don’t end up in,” he said. Bartlett said that he is often tasked with being on search committees and other responsibilities simply because of the color of his skin, and that the extra roles that come with being an African American faculty member are not something they learn about in the interview process. “It’s not often mentioned to candidates,” he said.
A lack of connection Dr. Scott Finnie, a professor in the Africana Studies program at EWU, said that part of the problem for faculty “is the feeling of
collectiveness outside of the classroom.” Finnie said that in order for EWU to maintain a diverse faculty, it is important for faculty members to feel connected to their surroundings, whether that is on campus or in Cheney. “That sometimes could be fellow faculty, or fellow residents,” he said. Bartlett said he has the same piece of advice for African Americans who are moving to the area. “If you want to be in the company of other black people in Spokane, in this region, you’re going to have to be intentional,” he said. “You’re going to find yourself sitting in a restaurant, and you’re the only black one there.” Bartlett said that African American faculty members leave the area because there isn’t a support system for them. “They felt isolated. They felt alone. They didn’t feel supported,” Bartlett said. Bartlett said that a diverse faculty does not happen without an effort to make it happen. “Not here. Not in Eastern Washington. It doesn’t just happen,” he said. Student leaders on campus including
What can be done? ASEWU President Key Baker and Black Student Union President Gracia Alzoubeir have also said that there needs to be more of
what B a ke r calls “cultural humility training” for faculty, and Finnie agrees. “We all need it,” he said. “It’s a mutually collective need.” Finnie said that he thinks there is an appetite for increased training among faculty members. “I think all the professors on campus want (training),” he said. Finnie said that he thinks faculty members on campus have a good compass when it comes to understanding the social climate around them. “I think the faculty have a good thermometer,” he said. Before teaching at EWU, Bartlett taught at Gonzaga University in Spokane, and Washington State University in Pullman. And no matter where he’s taught in Eastern Washington, the same topics come up. “Some of the challenges are exactly the same, no matter where I’ve lived,” he said. “Diversity becomes a hot topic, mainly because where we live.” At Gonzaga, Bartlett was the assistant dean of students, and he still remembers a meet and greet where he met the other new hires. While he was introducing himself to colleagues, Bartlett was asked about diversity. Again. And again. And again. Bartlett estimates that three-fifths of the questions he was asked that day were about diversity on campus and what could be done, even though that topic was nowhere in his job description.
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“I went back to work that day thinking, ‘This is going to be a different experience,’” he said. Bartlett said that at Gonzaga he began to notice the school “pushing for a more diverse student population at the time (they) don’t have a diverse faculty.” Bartlett said he’s told every school he’s been at that “if you are really serious about creating a diverse campus,” then they need to focus on the faculty. Finnie said that during his time at EWU, there has been growth for faculty in understanding social issues around diversity. He said that during his time at Eastern “there’s been a definite increase in broadening what is the educational pathway outside of conventionalism.” Even still, Finnie said that he thinks his fellow EWU faculty can do more. He recommended that professors “go off the heavily trotted path of conventional history” and “break out of the blinds of eurocentrism.”
Learning from each other Finnie said that in his classes, he uses real-world examples to teach students about diversity and other social issues. “I’ll use the African American experience as a case study of human nature,” he said. Finnie said that when he does this, he asks students to compare what they learn to the world around them. “Use a case study, then ask students what parallels they see,” Finnie said. This isn’t always easy, Finnie said. Often times students are uncomfortable by this exercise. But he said that this uneasiness is key for a student’s learning. By doing this, they are able to break away from their own point of view and see the world differently. “We’re locked into our own perspective,” Finnie said. And by looking at the world from a different point of view, Finnie said his goal is for students to begin to listen to each other. “The key is to learn from each other,” he said. Finnie said that at the end of the day, the goal should be to prepare students as well as possible for the world around them. “The highest hope is to cultivate young minds to think for themselves from an informed homebase,” he said. Bartlett said that regardless of where he’s been, diversity is continuously brought up to him. “Diversity’s going to come your way,” he said. “Those questions will default to you, whether you like it or not.” •
