How are BIPOC faculty women supposed to publish with heavy teaching loads? The truth is that they often cannot. This unfair diversion of their time and energy away from publishing contributes to lowered productivity compared to white male peers related to the grants and publications that are the institutional currency for tenure and promotion.
Student and Colleague Resistance
Students behaving aggressively in the classroom also play a role in derailing tenure. White students disproportionately challenge the authority of BIPOC women and are twice as likely to inappropriately question them when being taught about social justice issues (e.g., systemic racism). Eric Grollman notes that “There are scholars who’ve been attacked for what they teach in the classroom” and that these experiences are not “anecdotal” or “isolated” incidents. They are unfortunately common features for these women, as evidenced by the research on their raced and gendered classroom experiences.
Faculty members at the University of Richmond are holding a vote today on whether they have confidence in the school’s rector. He and other members of the
Black students at the University of Richmond are not happy that the name of a Black newspaper editor and civil rights activist will be added to a building alongside the name of a white segregationist and eugenicist.