ARLINGTON
The University of Texas at Arlington has failed to take the steps necessary to hire and retain Black professors even as the Black student body grows, concludes a recent report published in the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.
The school has just six tenured and five tenured-track Black faculty, or just 1.9 percent of total faculty. The student body is 13 percent Black.
James D. Spaniolo, university president, told the newspaper that there is “virtue to diversity” but did not say he’ll appoint a top-level administrator to improve faculty diversity as the University of Texas at Austin and the University of North Texas have done.
“With UTA having 3,300 African-American students, it’s [low number of Black faculty] is just unconscionable. The research clearly indicates that students do better when people like them are represented,” Dr. Myrtle Bell, the only tenured Black professor in the university’s College of Business Administration, told the newspaper.
The university was criticized in a 1991 study on minority faculty recruitment practices for its lack of commitment to faculty diversity, according to the newspaper. The report recommended the appointment of a vice president who would mount an aggressive minority recruitment plan.
— Diverse staff reports
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
