MIT has been grappling with faculty diversity for a number of years and the issue gained national attention in 2007 with the hunger strike of a Black biological engineering professor who was denied tenure.
Although MIT has made some progress- 11 percent of faculty hires in the last five years have been underrepresented minorities and their representation on faculty rose from 4.3 percent in academic year 2001 to 6.4 percent now- turnover is a problem.
The report noted that a higher percentage of URM faculty leave before or after they are promoted to associate professor without tenure, suggesting a professor's first three to five years at MIT are crucial. It also notes poor or negative faculty mentoring experiences are more frequent for URM, and mentoring across MIT lacks consistency. There is also "great awkwardness" in addressing race and racial differences openly at MIT.
With regard to overcoming the awkwardness, Hammond noted, "When we begin to discuss this report among our faculty what we hope to do is engage our faculty. There is a sense that if we talk about excellence in science and technology then we can't pay attention to diversity or background. What we're trying to do at MIT is help faculty feel more comfortable with the idea that diversity can contribute to excellence in a very unique way. Bringing unique perspectives and view points is beneficial."
