Student Pressure and Faculty Diversity

"I THINK there's a lot of good will toward Blacks in America generally."

Ronald Reagan? Ed Koch? Dan Quayle? Nope. That was Harvey C. Mansfield, Jr. ("a stellar professor"--the CUE Guide), the Thomson professor of government, talking at a forum organized by the Undergraduate Council's Ad Hoc Committee on Minority and Women Faculty Hiring last Thursday night.

And then there was Winthrop Professor of History Stephan Thernstrom ("friendly attitude"--the CUE Guide). At the same forum, he placed a five dollar bill on the table, betting Assistant Professor of Sociology and of Afro-American Studies Roderick J. Harrison that Black professors at other Ivy League universities are "unqualified" as academics.

As if he were qualified to decide who is unqualified in an absolute sense. As if white professors were never unqualified.

When the University's senior faculty is 93.7 percent male and 93.8 percent white, it is unconscionable for anyone on that faculty to talk as if there weren't a problem, or to blame minorities and women for their absence here.

And the fact that the numbers have not improved in the last decade suggests that unconscious racism and sexism are more pervasive at Harvard than we would like to admit.

DESPITE the attitudes of Mansfield and Thernstrom, the council's forum last Thursday was, in the end, encouraging. What became clear is that the University can take certain immediate steps to improve its abysmal record of minority faculty hiring. If it wants to.

As a stop-gap response to the dearth of women and minority faculty members here, for example, Harvard can establish a program that offers minority and women scholars visiting one- or two-year research and teaching positions. Although everyone agrees that this is not a permanent solution to the problem, it would certainly be a positive step.

A more lasting solution could be found in a loan forgiveness program--similar to the one in place at Columbia--for women and minority students attending graduate school. According to the University, the small number of women and minorities with Ph.D.'s is the biggest obstacle to a more diverse faculty. By removing some of the economic burdens of college graduates through loan forgiveness, the University can go a long way toward increasing the size of the pool of qualified minority and women scholars.

That is not to say that there are no qualified women and minority scholars out there already. As Harrison notes, "Considerable progress can be made by simply reaching [minorities and women] and getting applications from them." Department officials can be encouraged to make a greater effort to recruit those scholars.

AS things currently stand, however, none of those steps will be taken. The Faculty Council removed or watered down most of the recommendations of the Verba Committee report on affirmative action. And while Andreu MasColell, the new assistant dean of affirmative action, seems well-intentioned, there is probably little he can do on his own to make the departments hire more women and minorities.

Lasting change will come only with an increase in student pressure on the faculty and administration. The ad hoc committee must mobilize the student body; only then will the faculty take note and act.

During the last two decades at Harvard, there is a direct correlation between the degree of student activism on the issue and the actual hiring of minorities and women. In order to institutionalize student pressure, the council should make the ad hoc committee a standing committee. This is not an ad hoc issue.

To be effective, student pressure should take new, more exciting forms. A one-day boycott of classes taught by white men would raise awareness. So would encouraging students to sit in on classes taught by minorities and women for a day. These actions would ensure that the issues of race and gender are firmly set in the minds of the individuals who do the actual hiring.

But it is not enough to direct these protests at individual professors, since only the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as a policy-making body can institute the structural changes necessary to guarantee a more diverse faculty. The Verba Report's original recommendations, especially the call for independent affirmative action faculty representatives in each department, should be revived by students. With specific demands, student protest can force specific remedies.

HARVARD as an institution can become conscious of its racism and sexism, just as students, faculty and administrators are capable of recognizing our own prejudices.

But self-consciousness is not enough. As a community, we must do what we know is right. The 90's will be here in a few weeks, and , as Harrison says of gender and racial equality, "We can't afford another 10 years of loss."