Universities and Institutions of Higher Learning are important partners in the development of nations through faculty Research, Teaching, Innovation and Service. It is from these institutions that young students and professionals are trained to take their rightful places in society, as they drive research-based knowledge and techniques to spearhead change. Universities, at their best, also shape research-based public discourse (s) over important matters facing nations, institutions and groups within society. All too often, however, the link(s) between research, and their direct/indirect impact on society and institutions is often underappreciated by many outside confines of the academy.
The public perception is that universities and their faculties are removed from society and exist in a vacuum, a world of their own, "Ivory Tower." Additionally, the public often derisively perceives and dismisses what faculty do as, "academic," with little to no pragmatic value, or relevance to society. This is not only an oversimplification of what universities and faculty do but a misperception that needs to be addressed, pointedly. For a start, universities reflect or are microcosms of the societies in which they are located. They embody and mirror the values, aspirations, as well as the contradictions, and dysfunctions of society. This is the premise of the book, Disparities in the Academy.
Universities in the United States of America (U.S.A.), in particular, are highly complex organizations that are hierarchical, racialized, gendered and patriarchal. The intersectionality of these identities makes them a polarized and contested environment where administrators, faculty, and students often compete over power, position, and privilege- resources. Contributing authors to Disparities in the Academy adamantly, and with great clarity make this argument as well.
Disparities in U.S. Universities are evident in salary differentials, in general between white faculty and faculty of color of the same discipline and rank, as well as unequal access to mentoring, institutional/departmental financial support for research and travel monies for conferences, teaching/research assistantship allocation(s), as well as teaching schedules. In addition, faculty of color, in general also experience a different work environment from their white counterparts and typically experience hostile work environments, and "micro-aggressions." Thus, access to resources, or lack thereof and differences in lived experiences between faculty and graduate students of color and their white colleagues could very well make the difference in the career success (es) of young faculty and students of color at Predominantly White Colleges and Universities (PWCU).
Navigating this minefield, especially for the "uninitiated," as Disparities in the Academy so well illustrates, could result in doctoral students/candidates not receiving adequate funding, and mentoring to complete doctoral degrees, and assistant professors denied job security/tenure and promotion to the rank of associate professor- a process that, in itself suspectable to being political, and politicized. In sum, Tier 1 and Tier 2 Institutions of Higher Learning, in general, mirror racial, gender, class, immigrant/native and other socially constructed identities and polarizations in the larger U.S. society.
Disparities in the Academy reveals pervasive, institutionalized, and cross-cutting inequalities: racism, sexism, and classism. In doing so, the volume in built around Socio-political theories and concepts grounded in Social-constructivism, and Critical-race theories (the latter is under attack in Conservative States and banned in some college courses in the U.S.).
These theories posit that what societies and universities have become over the years and are perceived as "normal," (racism, sexism, classism) are socially agreed and are shaped by overarching norms, values, perspectives, routines, and procedures. When these agreed values change, then societies and institutions will likely follow suit. In sum, the world is what you make it and when societal norms, ideas and values change, the world also changes. The volume then boldly proceeds to unpack and unmask these issues against the proverbial "Elephant in the Room," "White Supremacy." It is the history of white supremacy, the volume contributors contend, that underpins and informs U.S. Universities and their offerings, respectively.
Disparities in the Academy comprise ten chapters and subdivided further into three mains sections. The first subsection, (chapters, 1, 2, 3, and 4), "The Elephant," is on faculty of color experiences of discrimination and tensions that arise from being a marginalized group under pressure: to work twice as hard, being paid less while carrying a heavier than usual burden (Taxation) in "Teaching," "Mentoring" and "Advising" of students of color than their white and male counterparts. These faculty members are also racially...