Faculty Belonging is More Than a Seat at the Table SMU tries to recruit and retain diverse faculty in a difficult political climate

By Jordyn Harrell | Engagement Editor

During Black History

Month, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott issued a memo to state agencies and public universities saying diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives are illegal to use in hiring decisions. The February memo insisted the use of DEI initiatives violated federal and state employment laws by favoring some demographics over others. This public statement mirrors the political stance of more than a dozen other states, mostly Republican. Since the memo’s release, some Texas public universities, including the University of Texas systems, suspended new recruit the best people, Texas laws decrease someone’s willingness to apply for a job here.

“To be clear, when I was hired 11 years ago and

I told someone that I got a job in Dallas, Texas, they said, ‘Oh, sorry,’” Kelly says. “Texas has always had a reputation problem. You know, the bills targeting trans people…targeting how history is taught in school may mean that some people don’t feel like they could safely work here, which means they might not even apply,” Kelly says.

Just one month after Abbott’s memo decrying DEI at public institutions, since 1790 that America has worried—white America, in particular—that their privileges were going to be lost by people coming over, whether it was the immigrant, the African, the Asian, so these DEI rules that governors are trying to put in place are [because] they don’t want people to really have an opportunity to figure out how to work together well,” Dixon Hall says.

Statistics highlight the roots of structural racism in higher education. An analysis by The Dallas Morning News revealed that almost no four-year public or private higher education training course called, “Searching Intelligently,” devised from the best hiring practices.

Although Dixon Hall and her team have improved the process for hiring faculty of color through bias training and widening their search pools, she knows retaining these new hires requires just as much effort. In 2021, SMU lost four faculty members. Last year, they only lost one.

“[Belonging] is the secret sauce because you can go out and you can go recruit and hire people, but if they don’t feel like they belong or if they’re not placed into a community then you’re basically waiting for them to leave,” says Dixon Hall who found support and community in fellow Black faculty.

DEI policies or the use of DEI language in hiring and admission, which worries students and faculty because it oppresses historically marginalized communities

As a private institution, Southern Methodist University is not subject to Abbott’s memo as much as public universities such as University of Texas. However, these anti-DEI policies could affect general faculty recruitment and retention in the state of Texas, says Jill Kelly, associate professor of history at SMU, who serves as one of the three diversity officers for Dedman College. She says even though SMU is doing its best to widely four bills were introduced to restrict DEI offices and staff, mandatory DEI training, diversity statements and identity-based preferences for hiring and admissions at state institutions, according to the DEI legislation tracker by The Chronicle of Higher Education. These politics of grievances stem from a sad but historic train of thought within American life originating long before 2023, says Maria Dixon Hall, Ph.D., the chief diversity officer for SMU and senior advisor to the university’s president for cultural intelligence initiative.

“It has been literally institution in Texas had more than 9% Black tenured professors in 2019. In SMU’s previous academic semester (2021-2022), nearly 14% of its tenured professors were Asian and less than 6% were Hispanic or Latino. The percentage of Black tenured professors fell under 3%. While SMU has over 350 tenured professors, Dixon Hall is one of only 13 Black tenured professors.

The Office of Diversity and Inclusion, led by Dixon Hall, has tried to address the bias in faculty recruiting. During the faculty search committee process, members go through a mandatory

Dixon Hall and the Diversity Council are now prioritizing cluster hires, a cohort of hired faculty members who focus on a specific topic. Faculty may feel less isolated as a cohort, Dixon Hall says. One cluster hire will be for urban research, which highlights issues in cities such as migration, public health and housing.

“We’re hoping [it] is going to say, ‘Here are some issues that SMU cares about,’ you know, to make thriving, healthy, equitable cities,” Kelly says.

Another way the university is growing and retaining faculty is through graduate students. Departments have started to reach out more to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) and Hispanic-serving institutions to recruit graduate students.

Paige Ware, Ph.D., the associate provost for faculty success, has also been trying to make sure new faculty feel welcome by inviting them to events. One event Ware highlights is the Springboard, a monthly brunch featuring faculty guest speakers.

Kelly likes the direction the university is headed with these new initiatives. She says for people to feel like they belong at SMU, there needs to be transparency, guidelines and accountability. Plus, a sense that you can bring your full self to work.

“People like to say belonging is having a seat at the table, it’s more than that,” Kelly says. “It’s when you talk at the table, people hear you and value what you have to say. It’s one thing to invite everybody, but if you don’t engage with everybody, that’s not necessarily belonging.”