In the past few years, alarming numbers of faculty of color have left this campus. As a senior, I can look back and remember many well-liked and respected faculty of color who have left, often quite suddenly. Some have left for very ordinary reasons - their spouse or partner got a new job, or they simply decided to retire. But sadly, a large number leave Tufts because they are unhappy with the climate that they find here. And according to data available from the Office of Diversity, they leave in numbers far out of proportion with their white colleagues.
This revolving door of faculty of color has a serious negative impact on students as well as on the university as a whole. Faculty not only teach the classes we take, but they provide us with advisors, mentors, people with whom we can work and do research, and advocates on and off campus. For students, it is extremely disruptive to have an adviser leave and have to establish a relationship with a new person. Often when a professor leaves, his or her classes leave also, and students are left with fewer academic options. Faculty provide the backbone of the university, a more stable force in a place with an ever-changing student body. They are central to the school's mission and its goals and we simply cannot be a first rate institution when many of our most talented professors leave quickly because they feel unwelcome.
The administration's efforts to recruit and hire faculty of color go completely to waste when many leave after only a few years, and before receiving tenure. Tufts has been making laudable progress in hiring diverse faculty - but not in keeping them here. And so this question demands investigation and action by the administration, specifically the vice president and the deans. While committee after committee for the last 15 years have examined this issue and arrived at similar conclusions and made recommendations, few concrete steps have been taken to reduce this alarming trend.
Admittedly, there are some aspects of the problem that are outside of the administration's control. For one, Boston is a very racist city and a difficult place for many people of color to live. But this issue cannot just be ignored, and the intense discrimination that faculty face in finding housing could be addressed by the University through providing new faculty with transitional housing, or providing them with a list of realtors who will work with them to find a place to live.
Many of the problems exist directly on the Tufts campus, however, and can be addressed through administrative action. Faculty are not given any real mentoring, and often find themselves as one of the only people of color in a department that may or may not create a welcoming and supportive environment for them. They may be asked to serve on a variety of committees and advise a large number of students because there are so few faculty of color to draw from. Departments are very central in a faculty member's experience at Tufts, and if they don't feel welcome in them, they are unlikely to feel a part of a real community here. Because of this, department chairs are also essential in creating a positive climate for faculty of color, and must critically reexamine how the department deals with issues of race and diversity and what they can do to foster a welcoming environment.
There are likely many more reasons why faculty of color become dissatisfied with Tufts and leave, but without a formal exit interview procedure in place, we only find these things out through anecdotes and second-hand information. This year, the Pan-African Alliance (PAA) proposed creating a formalized departure interview process to assess why faculty members were leaving and use the information gained to more adequately address the issues that are raised. And though this proposal has gained the support of the Oversight Panel and has received partial funding, there is no absolute guarantee that it will be enacted. Also, it is only a beginning as it only tackles the problem side of the equation, and is a reactive measure that will be used after disgruntled faculty leave. What is needed in conjunction with this proposal is a mechanism to create real solutions and address the issues now, before faculty get so upset that they leave.
The fact that this proposal came from students shows both that the administration has really been negligent in not acting in a more proactive way to address this issue earlier and that students recognize the problem and are doing whatever they can to respond to it. This speaks to the incredible drive of Tufts students to improve their school, but this is not something we can do alone. Faculty retention is a difficult issue to address, and we are only here for four years. We must speak out and work on the problem, but we must also reach out to others for help. The solutions are long-term but must be implemented immediately to stop this continuous vicious cycle. The administration has the power and responsibility to take swift action and concrete steps to ensure that all faculty have a positive experience teaching at Tufts, and it is time that faculty and students unite to demand this action.
Margerie Yeager is a senior majoring in psychology and sociology.
