It Could Be Us: Black Faculty as “Threats” on the Path to Tenure

• Author: TaLisa J. Carter,Miltonette O. Craig
• Published date: 01 July 2022
• Date: 01 July 2022
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.1177/21533687221087366
• Subject Matter: Articles

It Could Be Us: Black Faculty

as “Threats”on the Path

to Tenure

TaLisa J. Carter

1

and Miltonette O. Craig

2

Abstract

Racial disparities in tenure and promotion outcomes are well known in the existing

research literature. Scholarship establishes that Black and Brown faculty experience

unique challenges when navigating the tenure and promotion process, such as lack

of diverse mentorship, biased student/peer evaluations, and disproportionately high

service demands. However, the public has entered this discourse due to recent

media attention involving the tenure cases of Nikole Hannah-Jones and Cornel

West, and this has prompted minoritized faculty nationwide to ref‌lect on the impli-

cations of these incidents on their own careers. This study relies on theoretical

and conceptual literature to discuss the professional realities Black faculty face on

the job. We make the theoretical claim that the racial threat hypothesis can facilitate

understanding of how Black faculty pursuing tenure is a political threat to white hege-

mony in the academy resulting in an increase of social control. We conclude with con-

crete recommendations on how Black scholars can wield the label of “threat”to

successfully navigate the academy.

Keywords

Black faculty, racial threat, tenure, promotion

1

Department of Justice Law & Criminology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts Avenue NW,

Washington, DC 20016

2

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, Sam Houston State University, 816 17th Street,

Huntsville, TX 77341

Corresponding Author:

TaLisa J. Carter, Department of Justice Law & Criminology, American University, 4400 Massachusetts

Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20016.

Email: carter@american.edu

Article

Race and Justice

2022, Vol. 12(3) 569-587

© The Author(s) 2022

Article reuse guidelines:

sagepub.com/journals-permissions

DOI: 10.1177/21533687221087366

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Introduction

Black academics comprise an exceptionally small portion of tenure-track faculty

members. According to recent data from the U.S. Department of Education’s

National Center for Education Statistics (2020), there were approximately 1.5

million faculty members at degree-granting colleges and universities in Fall 2018.

Only 6% of the U.S. professoriate was Black, with two-thirds of Black faculty in assis-

tant professor and non-tenure-track positions (Martin et al., 2019; NCES, 2020).

Scholarship explores the lack of racial diversity on the tenure track in various ways,

including challenges with recruitment and retention. It is not uncommon for Black

faculty to report being heavily recruited by institutions of higher education but struggle

to be retained due to a lack of institutional support and inclusive campus culture (Kelly

et al., 2017; Piercy et al., 2005).

In addition to these challenges, Black academics are not immune to the racialized

labels, stigma, and realities that are found in the broader community. Although the pro-

fessoriate is framed as a meritocracy, racism and sexism mediate faculty experiences

and access to benef‌its and status that are inherent with the full professor narrative

(Croom, 2017; Dade et al., 2015; Patton, 2004). This is clear from the recently publi-

cized tenure cases of Nikole Hannah-Jones and Cornel West. Hannah-Jones, a Pulitzer

Prize- and MacArthur Grant-winning journalist, was offered a faculty position at the

University of North Carolina Chapel Hill. The University’s interest was due in part

to Hannah-Jones’s work on the groundbreaking 1619 Project, which explores the

modern-day consequences of America’s legacy of chattel slavery (Foreman &

Morrison, 2021). She was selected to be the next Knight Chair of Race and

Investigative Journalism—a prestigious position that comes with tenure. However,

UNC’s offer did not include immediate tenure, even though that was the case with

all previous Knight Chairs in the Journalism Department (Ruf, 2021). The offer of a

short-term contract rather than the expected permanence of the position caused quite

a stir in the academic sphere. Dr. Cornel West left his position as Professor of the

Practice of Public Philosophy and in the Department of African American Studies at

Harvard University when a request to evaluate his scholarship and teaching activity

for tenure during reappointment was denied. After public outcry, Harvard acquiesced,

stating they would consider West for tenure. West, a renowned political activist, social

critic, author, and public intellectual focuses on the role of race, gender, and class in the

United States, declined the offer stating that “You can’t impose and force people (i.e.,

Harvard) to respect you”(Nair & Wang, 2021). If such accomplished and inf‌luential

scholars face such signif‌icant challenges in being awarded tenure, then what obstacles

await others?

In short, regardless of the academic and professional achievements of Black tenure-

track faculty, they remain subject to instances of racism, sexism, and other marginal-

izing experiences that can result in disparate outcomes, including successfully being

granted tenure. For instance, a 2019 report from the Higher Education Research

Institute at UCLA stated that 72.2% of Black faculty felt the “need to work harder

than their colleagues to be seen as legitimate scholars,”with that f‌igure rising to

570 Race and Justice 12(3)