“We at Florida are trying to attack from a number of different levels. We have a diverse group of faculty who are on our faculty search committee. We’re very sensitive to making sure that qualified candidates at least have an opportunity to interview,” Jones says. “There are legal restraints that prevent us from using race as a primary factory for hiring.”
As increasing numbers of Hispanic students arrive on campus, they are rarely being met by Hispanic professors, but the trend isn’t unique to Florida. Nationwide, the percentage of Hispanic faculty members at degree-granting institutions rose from 3 percent in 1995 to 4 percent in 2003, according to U.S. Department of Education statistics.
Hispanic students, who had comprised 8 percent of all college students in 1995, had jumped to 12 percent by 2003, according to data from the Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics.
— By Blair S. Walker
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