The university’s faculty is still a man’s world and for the most part a white world, but efforts are being made to change that.
By: Jeff Milgram
Princeton University’s faculty is a man’s world.
It’s also for the most part, a white world. But the university is trying to do something about it.
"Diversity is among our highest priorities," said Amy Gutmann, the university’s provost, and second-ranking officer. "All the evidence suggests that as we build a more diverse faculty we build an even more excellent one."
Statistics tell part of the story. Only 255 – 27 percent – of Princeton’s 954 full- and part-time faculty members, are women, and only 22 – 2 percent – are black.
Hispanics make up only 3 percent of the teaching ranks and Asians 9 percent.
But the disparity is more apparent at the level of professor, the top end of the faculty scale, where 86 percent are men and only 14 percent are women. Only 3 percent of the full professors are black, 2 percent Hispanic and 6 percent Asian.
The question is why? Why does such a liberal university have a wide gap between men and women and whites and minorities?
Dr. Gutmann believes the reason is historical, and it’s not just unique to Princeton.
"It’s not hard to begin to explain when you look at the long history of almost every major private university in this country: Women and blacks, along with many other minorities, were excluded for the vast majority of our history," Dr. Gutmann said. "Playing catch-up takes time and an affirmative effort to overcome history."
But numbers don’t tell the entire story. "Our numbers for both women and minorities have been rising rapidly in the past few years, and we are committed to continuing this important trend," Dr. Gutmann said.
"Because Princeton began with no women or minorities, we still need to work hard to recruit many more minorities and women," Dr. Gutmann said. "Our commitment to both excellence and equal opportunity demands that we do."
Women make up eight of the university’s 25 top officers, including President Shirley M. Tilghman and Dr. Gutmann. Princeton’s vice president for campus life, who oversees athletics, health services, community service, religious life and the Office of the Dean of Undergraduates and the Frist Campus Center, is Janet Smith Dickerson, a black woman.
The director of the university’s Center for Community Service is Sasa Olessi Montaño, an Hispanic woman.
The hiring of women and minority faculty and administrators has helped the university attract increasing numbers of women and minority students.
"One of the factors that changed the complexion of the Princeton campus was the decision, in 1964, to become probably the first predominantly white university to appoint a black administrator," wrote former Associate Provost S. Georgia Nugent, author of a study on the university’s admissions policies.
"When Dr. Carl Fields joined Princeton’s administration, there were 112 black undergraduates in the student body. In 1971, when he left, there were more than 300," Dr. Nugent wrote.
Dr. Fields eventually became assistant dean of the college.
Dr. Nugent is now the director of the university’s Harold W. McGraw Jr. Center for Teaching and Learning.
Recent Undergraduate Student Government reports have cited a shortage of role models for minorities and women students.
On the good side, Dr. Gutmann said, women and minorities fare the same as men and white professors during the tenure process. "They are judged by the same high standards," Dr. Gutmann said.
One of the problem areas for women is the natural sciences and engineering department. In September, President Tilghman created a task force charged with developing "a long-term strategy to attract and retain highly talented woman faculty" in those areas
The initiative grew out of a workshop held last January at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The presidents and chancellors of nine research universities met to discuss gender equity in science and engineering.
The workshop participants agreed to analyze the salaries and the proportion of other university resources provided to women faculty, with the goal of having a faculty that reflects the diversity of the student body.
"We recognized that the question of gender equity presents major challenges and may require changes not only within universities themselves but also in the scientific and engineering establishments as a whole," said President Tilghman, a genomicist who attended the workshop. "We also realized that any course of action must be grounded in a thorough understanding of the current situation."
Virginia Zakian, a professor of life sciences, was given the task of heading the task force. The task force has agreed on what issues it will focus on, and has collected data from surveys it sent to present and past faculty members, has interviewed some faculty members both men and women and is beginning to analyze the data, she said.
The disparity between men and women is not uniform, she said: In the biology department, 50 percent of all doctorates are held by women; in physics, that figure is only 10 percent.
"Our job is to figure out what we’re going to find out," Dr. Zakian said. She expects to have the task force’s report on President Tilghman’s desk by September.
At the center of the issue of black faculty is the university’s African-American Studies Program, which has some highly respected names on its roster, including Toni Morrison, Colin Palmer, Nell Painter and Albert Reboteau.
Princeton recently lured philosopher K. Anthony Appiah away from Harvard. There are indications that two of his colleagues, Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates Jr., the chairman of Harvard’s African-American Studies Department, might join him at Princeton.
If Dr. West does come to Princeton, it would be the second time. He left Princeton for Harvard in 1994.
The three reportedly became disenchanted with Harvard after a meeting with Harvard’s new president, Lawrence Summers, who appeared to some observers to give lukewarm support to affirmative action.
Dr. Summers also reportedly had a run-in with Dr. West on the issues of grade inflation, scholarly work and Dr. West’s activities as a political consultant to the Rev. Al Sharpton, who is considering a run for the presidency.
Princeton spokeswoman Marilyn Marks has said that the university would welcome all three "with open arms."
But the university is not limiting its recruitment to academic superstars.
"On the faculty side, we have recruited a great group of scholars of African-American studies, who have made Princeton a magnet in this field," Dr. Gutmann said. "We are committed to continuing our recruitment efforts in this area and others, which we have become increasingly successful as we are becoming academically stronger than ever. We have also recruited many superb women scientists and engineers, and continue to do so with redoubled efforts this year.
"On the student side, Princeton has successfully instituted a fabulous financial aid policy. Our admissions is need-blind and our financial aid is need-based and fully responds to the financial needs of every admitted student," Dr. Gutmann said. Our president, trustees, admissions office, faculty, administrators and alumni all give their time to visiting high schools around the country and recruiting under-represented students and faculty."