Columbia U. report finds ‘lacks of diversity,’ despite spending $185 million on ‘faculty diversity’
“Overall women were also underrepresented as department chairs relative to their representation on the tenured faculty,” according to the report, which asserted a need that equity and diversity concerns be “embedded and interwoven” within the arts and sciences departments.
In order to increase “diverse” faculty hires, the report recommends that Columbia establish “incentives” for individual departments to “improve diversity, particularly at the tenure level.”
One issue addressed by the initiative was that women faculty were found to serve on more committees than their male counterparts. The report concedes that this is likely a result of a “laudable desire to have diverse committees,” but insists that actions must be taken so as not to “overburden” women faculty.
“The additional department-level burden for women and URM [underrepresented minorities] faculty in departments where they are underrepresented was also noted in terms of ‘invisible labor,’ such as the informal advising of students, where they are seen as role models,” according to the report. Recommendations for addressing these concerns include an established system to “recognize invisible labor, including formal and informal advising of students and low-level administrative tasks.”
