A problem faces predominantly white American colleges and universities that set out to create racially diverse campuses. Faculties that are overwhelmingly white are expected to provide effective teachers and mentors for students of color who often hail from ethnic or socioeconomic backgrounds unfamiliar to middle-class white academics. Many of those students struggle to succeed in an educational culture that is more easily negotiated by white students. Because faculty members play a key role in the success of any student, they should be involved in creating campuses where all students can thrive.
White faculty members whose disciplines have not trained them to think about racism and white privilege need to become active allies of the students of color on their campuses, and of the professors of color who are already advocates for those students. White professors can be particularly useful in helping change unconsciously racist attitudes and behavior of other whites, but they must also think about how to support students of color who feel alienated. I hope my own experience, as a white professor trying to be an ally of such students, can provide an example.
Ten years ago I was an assistant professor, and my main concerns were establishing my authority in the classroom and producing the scholarly goods necessary for tenure. Was I aware of the discontentment among students of color on my campus? Yes. Did I think I could do anything about it, other than smiling sympathetically when I passed a black student? Not really. My field is Russian language and literature, and I could not see what that had to do with race in the United States.
But over the years I began to pay more attention to racism. I started attending campus lectures, films, and forums on race. I read extensively about white privilege. I was making up for lost time. As an undergraduate in the late 1970s, I had wanted to take a course in African-American studies but was too frightened to do so, irrationally imagining that black students in the class would humiliate me and make me feel guilty. A group known as United to End Racism (http://www.rc.org/uer) helped me understand that racism and privilege take a devastating emotional toll on white people as well as on people of color.
By 2001 I was ready to do more. I sought out those of my colleagues who were the most prominent mentors to students from minority groups, and I got involved with the campus chapter of SOAR, the Society Organized Against Racism in New England Higher Education (http://www.soarhighereducation.org). I found out that one of my white colleagues, in collaboration with white students, had created a Web page about the history of social-justice issues on my campus, which taught me about other potential collaborators. I joined with a group of faculty members to establish a Committee on Race and Racism. I even figured out ways to incorporate related issues into my teaching, like discussing the unthinking privilege at the heart of Chekhov’s story “Gooseberries.”
As I had longer conversations with colleagues who served as mentors for many students of color, I heard story after story of students’ encounters with unconscious racism on our campus. I wondered if a collective faculty effort might make disillusioned students less likely to transfer to other colleges. Nearly 20 faculty members responded to my invitation to get together, and the result is a group called Faculty Allies.
Members of the group come from many disciplines, including the physical sciences. Most of us are white; some faculty members of color chose not to participate because they are already heavily involved in similar efforts. The group’s goal is to contribute to the academic and social success of students of color through informal faculty-student interactions. We meet to discuss race-related issues and to plan faculty-student events, in consultation with students. Past events have revolved around a meal, a lecture, a play, a poetry slam, or a discussion of campus issues. (We benefit tremendously from an annual budget supplied by the college president’s office.) Students can request one of our members as a faculty mentor. In the spring of 2003, Faculty Allies sponsored the publication of a volume of poetry written by African-American and Latino students -- something now slated to become an annual endeavor.
The group does not represent an unmitigated success story; I don’t know of any effort to deal with racism that does. The members are all very busy and find it hard to carve out time for Allies events; we probably don’t reach a lot of students who could use the kind of support we offer; and we still hear stories of students who want to transfer. But perhaps it means something that those stories are now being heard by more white faculty members, that more professors are responding to students’ struggles, and that the members of the group are working together, sharing problems and ideas.
Uprooting racism happens excruciatingly slowly. But every white faculty member can help accelerate the process by working individually and with others, as academic mentors and through social interactions. Those efforts require a commitment of time and energy, and sometimes they involve discomfort. The issues go home with you, too -- they take up a lot of psychic space. But being an ally of students of color is incredibly worthwhile. It allows white faculty members to help fight ignorance and misunderstanding that have plagued all Americans for far too long.
Julie W. de Sherbinin is an associate professor of Russian at Colby College.
http://chronicle.com Section: The Chronicle Review Volume 50, Issue 35, Page B16