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

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 implications 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 hegemony in the academy resulting in an increase of social control. We conclude with concrete recommendations on how Black scholars can wield the label of “threat” to successfully navigate the academy.

Keywords

Black faculty racial threat tenure promotion

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 assistant 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 professoriate 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 publicized 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 marginalizing 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 81.4% for Black women faculty (HERI, 2019; Yancey-Bragg, 2021). Furthermore, in 2020, Black women scholars Sharde Davis and Joy Melody Woods created a Twitter hashtag, #BlackInTheIvory, to discuss the ways in which racism presented itself in their academic careers (Jones & Williams, 2020; Zook, 2021). The hashtag generated other accounts from Black women faculty that explained their feelings of exclusion, alienation, and exhaustion. Some of the more recent tweets include:

“I finally quit academia. While I love teaching and my students, the cost to my physical and mental health was too high.” (8/2/2021)

“The @nhannahjones tenure case is #BlackInTheIvory personified! {we} shouldn’t have to go to hell and back to get the degrees, titles, positions, & resources we deserve…and have EARNED. (7/6/2021)

“Nice to be gaslit today w/ a solidarity statement from an assoc. Prof, who with a full prof, told me at a conference to ‘shut up and don’t sue’ if I experience discrimination pre-tenure.” (4/10/2021)

“I got into academia because I thought it was the best avenue to pursue my calling namely, prophetically speaking truth to power. I was wrong. I mistook the job for the vocation. The institution will sap you of your will to pursue your vocation.” (3/20/2021)

As two Black women currently on the tenure track, we acknowledge the commonalities between our experiences and those of other Black scholars pursuing tenure through an exploration of preexisting literature. Considering the salient themes across scholarship, we argue that Black faculty are framed as “threats” in the academy. Borrowing from criminological literature, we make a theoretical claim for the application of the racial threat hypothesis to Black faculty in institutions of higher education.

This analysis relies on theoretical and conceptual literature to first discuss the realities Black faculty face on the job. Scholarship suggests that the persistent racial and gender hierarchies in the academy perpetuate stereotypes that have negative consequences for minoritized faculty, particularly Black women (Griffin, 2012; Griffin et al., 2011). 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 hegemony in the academy resulting in an increase of social control. We pay particular attention to the consequences of Black faculty being perceived as “threats,” particularly in predominantly white spaces. We conclude with concrete recommendations on how Black scholars can wield the label of “threat” to successfully navigate the academy.

Literature Review

Professional Realities of Black Faculty

Black faculty are underrepresented in the professoriate; this is particularly true in terms of the tenure track. There is a 1:10 ratio within the number of Black faculty who are tenure-track assistant professors compared to whites (NCES, 2020). The defining characteristic for those on the tenure track is the “publish or perish” requirement. That is, faculty on the tenure track are required to meet standards of teaching, research, and service within a certain timeframe (typically 5 to 6 years) to earn tenure. Although the precise standards vary by institution, faculty who do not meet satisfactory levels of teaching in the classroom, publish sufficient original scholarship, and fulfill service requirements to their department, university, and profession will lose their jobs. While these criteria are mandatory for every tenure track faculty member, they are differentially experienced. Earning tenure within the academy is a much sought-after goal because it establishes job security. Tenure affords academic and economic freedom by preventing faculty from termination without cause and a due process hearing (American Association of University Professors, 2021).

Our paper focuses on how current Black tenure track faculty could make sense of the highly publicized failed cases of other Black scholars. This section explores the professional realities of Black faculty. Scholarship that focuses on the experiences of Black faculty in the academy acknowledges distinct challenges including teaching, mentoring, collegiality, identity, service, and racism (Bhopal, 2020; McCoy, 2021; Stanley, 2006). First, we briefly discuss the racialized realities of three central components of faculty work. Then, we examine how these professional realities placed in the context of race-based theoretical frameworks equates to Black tenure-track faculty being construed as threats within the academy.

Scholarship finds that the duties of the professoriate are racialized and have disproportionate effects on Black faculty (Alire, 2001; McCoy-Wilson, 2020). Extant literature demonstrates that students hold different expectations for Black faculty in the classroom. For example, students expect Black faculty to be performative in the classroom, delivering a learning experience that is filled with both knowledge and entertainment. Research has found that gender differences create different teaching standards; students expect women faculty to be helpful and funny to get high evaluation scores (Reid, 2010). Moreover, Black faculty have been advised in their student evaluations to “smile more” and be “more entertaining” --and this is also reflected in colleagues’ unsolicited advice to Black faculty while presenting (McGee & Kazembe, 2016). Going further, studies demonstrate that white students are resistant to Black faculty (Thomas, 2020). This is particularly true when white male students are taught by Black women faculty (Pittman, 2010; Thomas, 2020). For example, Ladson-Billings (1996) characterizes silence in the classroom as a weapon that impacts Black professors’ ability to achieve teaching success. To her, white students enact silence as a way “to defy and deny the legitimacy of the teacher and/or the knowledge” (p. 82) and may repel against discussions of race by “someone who is perceived to be at the lower end of the social structure” (Evans-Winter & Hoff, 2011, p. 463). Such resistance requires Black faculty to develop strategies to navigate these incidents in the classroom (Pittman, 2010; Thomas, 2020). Developing these strategies is not only important to successfully navigate the classroom, but they are requirements to Black faculty survival. Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) frequently play a significant role in the way faculty are assessed leading up to tenure review. However, SETs can be problematic for Black faculty as research has shown that they are biased in terms of race, gender, and culture, and at times can include qualitative feedback that is racialized in nature (Allison, 2008; Fan et al., 2019; Kreitzer & Sweet-Cushman, 2021; Lazos, 2012; Mitchell & Martin, 2018). For instance, a Black woman scholar shared some of the evaluative comments that she received such as: “Class would have been more interesting if the b**** would have lectured with a bone in her nose and a plate in her lip” (Davis, 2002).

Furthermore, faculty members are required to engage in service. Service work is broadly defined as the act of supporting and facilitating community within the department, institution, and profession. Acts of service for professors include mentoring students and colleagues, engaging with student and/or community groups as a resource, reviewing scholarship of other researchers for publication and/or tenure, among other actions. Again, while service is a requirement for every faculty member in some capacity, Black professors engage in a disproportionate amount as the lack of representation increases the service load for minoritized faculty. Scholars refer to this disproportionate amount of service as “cultural taxation” or the “Black tax” (Arnold et al., 2021; Guillaume & Apodaca, 2020; Kulp et al., 2020). Padilla (1994) is credited with coining the term “cultural taxation” and specified six different types:

(1) Being the “expert” on matters of diversity (regardless of the scholar's preference); (2) Being called upon to educate majority group about diversity, regardless of interest; (3) Serving on affirmative action task committees; often culminating in unimaginative recommendations with limited structural impact; (4) Serving as liaison between the institution and ethnic communities, without being in agreement with the institution's approach to community members; (5) Sacrificing time from one's work to serve as “solver, troubleshooter, or negotiator” for conflicts among administration, students, and community; and (6) Serving as translators for non-English speaking visitors to the campus. (p. 26).

While supporting students, colleagues, and one's discipline through teaching and service is very important, scholarly research is a critical part of earning tenure. In fact, the “publish or perish” phrase refers to the priority of landing publications to “survive” the tenure track. It is not uncommon for senior faculty to urge their junior colleagues to place most of their focus on research, as publications are the main form of currency in the field. The lack of formal and informal support makes publishing for Black scholars a distinct challenge compared to their non-Black counterparts. Muzanenhamo and Chowdhury (2021) make the following point: “Black scholarship experiences a complex epistemic struggle that we conceptualize as striving to produce and disseminate knowledge while facing difficulties and resistance links to the structural and agential power intrinsic within racist academia” (p. 6). In short, formal and informal barriers to the successful completion and publication of research on the tenure track make it rare for Black faculty to survive. For example, the scholarship that centers Blackness through research can be perceived as illegitimate or radical creating difficulties in publishing. Research centering Blackness includes scholarship that relies on theoretical frameworks that prioritize Black identity/culture (e.g., intersectionality) and/or methodology that prioritizes the experiences and voices of Black people (e.g., autoethnography). It is often difficult to publish scholarship that falls outside of mainstream theoretical and empirical notions of a field, particularly in highly ranked, peer-reviewed academic journals (Allison, 2008; Pratt, 2008). Taken together, Black faculty who engage in work focused on Blackness or outside of the mainstream may face challenges landing publications in well-ranked journals, an ideal part of one's tenure portfolio.

Beyond formal barriers, Black faculty on the tenure track also face informal obstacles. In fact, Leighton (2020) finds that when academic communities are conceptualized as friendship-based rather than purely hierarchal, those who are unable to enact or perform informality successfully are disadvantaged. The study finds that informal interactions in “friendly” academic settings reproduce Euro-American white-male privilege, thereby requiring a distinct type of informality to be performed by those whose identity denies them an inherent advantage (Leighton, 2020). In other words, academic informality is not equally given. An additional example of the informal barriers that Black faculty face includes a lack of diverse mentorship. Although mentorship does not require matching on aspects of identity (race, sex, etc.) to be successful, research indicates that Black and Brown faculty find it beneficial and empowering to each other (Baldwin & Johnson, 2018). For tenure-track faculty, being mentored by a faculty member of the same race may facilitate more open dialogue about the racialized experiences they face on the job. Killough et al. (2017) find that although there is a substantial body of literature that clearly establishes different experiences for Black faculty in the workplace, white faculty fail to understand the racialized existence of Black professionals in Predominantly White Institutions (PWIs). Therefore, interracial mentorship within PWIs may not be as effective and/or comprehensive as intra-racial mentorship.

Cumulatively, these experiences can result in the tokenization and invisibility of Black faculty (Settles et al., 2019; Smith & Calasanti, 2005). Tokenization occurs when surface-level or symbolic efforts are made towards inclusivity for minoritized groups. Mitchell (2021) argues that criminology and criminal justice departments engage in tokenism by hiring one or two Black and/or Brown faculty members to increase diversity yet never achieving true inclusion, which creates significant problems for students and scholars. As evident by the small percentage of Black faculty in the academy, this pattern goes beyond Criminology and Criminal Justice. This tokenized existence of Black faculty coexists with their invisibility, a counterintuitive partner. Due to their small number, scholarship finds that Black faculty face a distinct type of isolation within universities (Smith & Calasanti, 2005) caused by microaggressions that lead to alienation and exclusion (Pittman, 2012). This intense level of isolation can result in Black faculty feeling invisible, as they navigate a campus culture that welcomes the value of racial minorities on occasion or from necessity rather than in a meaningful and sustainable way. Further highlighting this inherent tension between invisibility and hypervisibility (e.g. tokenization), Settles et al. (2019) found Black faculty avoided negative work experiences by both working hard to create positive visibility and intentionally making themselves invisible.

Race-Based Theories

Race-based theories improve our understanding of the Black tenure-track faculty experience by providing frameworks that specify concepts and connections. The following section briefly reviews two race-based theories, DuBois’ double consciousness and Crenshaw's intersectionality, as guiding frameworks. We then rely on these concepts to construct our central argument: the distinct challenges that Black tenure-track faculty face are a result of being viewed as a “threat” in the academy.

Double Consciousness

Double consciousness is a term coined by W.E.B. DuBois that captures the duality of the African American experience (1903, 2015). DuBois describes an internal conflict among African Americans as they develop two senses of selves: one internal and the other grounded in the racist realities that shape their lived experience. For example, Black tenured and tenure-track faculty at PWIs in Austin, Texas, report a double-conscious identity of citizen and scholar as they live and work (Reddick et al., 2014). Faculty noted that having children impacted their sense of fit in the neighborhood. Additionally, the study found that the presence or absence of Black-centered activities facilitated feelings of inclusion or exclusion, respectively (Reddick et al., 2014). Moving further, Brannon et al. (2015) operationalize double consciousness for African American college students as consisting of two distinct schemas: (1) an independent schema based on mainstream American culture and (2) an interdependent schema based on African American culture. The same study finds that African American students who engage with their culture (i.e., the interdependent schema) in university settings are more likely to feel a sense of belongingness and achieve academically—a finding that can apply to Black faculty as well.

Moreover, Levin et al. (2013) rely on qualitative field research methods to explore professional sense-making that faculty of color engage in as they face identity conflicts that are routine components of their workday. Based on their research and building from DuBois’ double consciousness, Levin and colleagues develop the concept of “the divided self,” which captures the depersonalized identities that Black faculty take on at work to embrace their professions and limit feelings of internal conflict (like those related to racial identity). That is not to say that Black faculty shed their cultural identity and take on a purely performative existence in the workplace. Instead, Allison (2008) finds that Black faculty communicate at work in similar ways to their normal behavior; however, their methods of communication are strategic to create a perception that they are professional, credible, and approachable by the broader university community.

Intersectionality

The Black faculty experience is not homogenous. Research finds that identities held by Black faculty (e.g., race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, religion) interact and influence their time on the tenure-track, including how they experience isolation (Smith & Calasanti, 2005). Smith and Calasanti's (2005) findings align with Crenshaw's intersectionality theory. The intersectionality framework provides a lens to understand how power is influenced by interlocking and intersecting identities such as race, gender, ability, and sexuality (Crenshaw, 1989, 2017). Scholars increasingly use intersectionality to frame our understanding of minoritized faculty and factors that impact their experiences on the job, such as white women (Jones & Maguire, 2021), Latinas (Sanchez-Peña et al., 2016), and African American women (DeCuir-Gunby et al., 2009) among others.

When considering the Black faculty experience, research consistently finds that scholars experience marginalization because of their race and other aspects of their identity simultaneously, rather than one dominating another. For instance, one study describes the challenges that lie at the intersection of race and gender as inescapable for Black women, regardless of institutional locale, educational attainment, and academic success (Blackshear & Hollis, 2021). Blackshear and Hollis (2021) rely on the narratives of nine tenure-track and tenured professors at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and PWIs and find that the oppression and exploitation experienced by Black female faculty persist regardless of facility. An essay focusing on a protagonist of multiple marginalized identities (Black, female, bisexual, first-generation) of an Assistant Professor over the course of a typical week highlights the mundane nature of oppression experienced by faculty that lies at the margins of identity politics (Griffin, 2016). That is, the systemic differential mistreatment of faculty based on their identity is an everyday, ordinary event. In that way, the cases of Nikole Hannah-Jones and Cornel West are only outliers in terms of the attention their tenure denials received rather than the outcome itself.

In line with the studies noted above, it is common for intersectional research focused on the experiences of Black faculty to rely on qualitative methods as the two are seen as highly compatible (Hunting, 2014). Intersectionality expressed in narratives de-centers standard academic writing facilitating access to readers beyond the academy (Shelton et al., 2018). While acknowledging, describing, identifying, and analyzing the intersectional layers of marginalization of the Black faculty experience is critical, scholars may find difficulty publishing their research in top-tier journals if they engage in non-traditional methods and writing (Pratt, 2008). Therefore, Black faculty are at greater risk for marginalization as one considers their intersectional identity and may face additional difficulties if their research focuses on this area.

Black Faculty as “Threats”

Theoretical and empirical research finds that Black faculty pursuing tenure face distinct challenges compared to their non-Black counterparts. These racialized obstacles appear across each aspect of the profession. The consistency of these findings is not coincidental, nor is the pervasiveness of these racialized realities arbitrary. Instead, the marginalization of Black faculty is a direct result of maintaining white hegemony in the academy. To theoretically ground this claim, we rely on Blalock's racial threat hypothesis (1967).

The racial threat hypothesis, originally conceived as power threat, states that when the racial minoritized population increases, those in the majority perceive their dominance to be threatened and assert formal social control on the subordinate race (Blalock, 1967; Blumer, 1958; Bobo & Hutchings, 1996). Blalock theorized that racial minorities threaten the majority group in two ways: economically and politically. Since the theory's inception, researchers have extended the theory to include criminal threat (Collingwood & O’Brien Gonzalez, 2019). Economic threat involves minoritized populations competing for economic resources such as employment and housing. Political threat occurs when racial minorities enhance political power, threatening the dominance of the majority. The final type of threat, criminal threat, occurs when the growth of the minoritized population is perceived as a threat to the safety of the majority population, fostering their fear of an increase in crime rates. Considering the polarized nature of race relations in the United States, social scientists who explore racial threat do so by considering whites as those of the majority, having the economic, political, and other forms of societal power and Black (and sometimes Hispanic) populations as those in the minoritized group (Crawford et al., 1998; Feldmeyer et al., 2015; Feldmeyer & Ulmer, 2011; Jordan & Maroun, 2016; Lowery et al., 2018; Parker et al., 2005). Citing Blalock's theory as a guide, we argue that Black faculty pursuing tenure are perceived as threats in the academy. Specifically, our claim states that Black tenure-track faculty are viewed as political competition that threatens white hegemony in institutions of higher education.

In the context of the academy, each component of faculty work are political acts. Teaching is a political act because professors have some discretion to determine the content, framing, evaluation, and other policies and practices in the classroom, which are directly linked to power and privilege. Professors, therefore, are not only vessels through which information is distributed, but they are also agents of social change by controlling and constructing narratives through pedagogy (Sinha, 2016). Like every other faculty person, Black professors bring their expertise and identity into classrooms (Moore & Toliver, 2010). This often results in a broadening of traditional and/or mainstream curriculum to include non-white scholars as required reading, culturally diverse activities, and other pedagogical tools where race is centered rather than marginalized. This integration may be perceived by those in the majority as threatening to their political dominance. A recent example of this is the resistance to critical race theory in curricula, as some believe the framework labels the white population as oppressors guilty of racism against non-whites, particularly Black people (Ray & Gibbons, 2021).To be clear, we are not claiming that the presence of Black faculty equates to activism and disruption. Our argument is that the introduction of diversity in education in sustained and meaningful ways can be perceived by some as a threat to white hegemony.

Akin to teaching, service in the academy is a political act. Faculty, regardless of race, function in power and privilege as they contribute to their department, university, and profession. Mentors influence mentees by being critical to guiding, shaping their experiences, and even influencing outcomes like graduation rates and grade point averages (Campbell & Campbell, 1997; Spouse, 1996), thereby exercising a form of power. Although knowledge and expertise are critical in mentorship, racial identity also matters. Vargas et al. (2021) find the racialized experiences of both mentors and mentees are situated in the broader racial context of the environment where these interactions occur. The academy is a white-dominated environment where mentorship is a form of power. In this light, Black faculty mentors may be perceived as a minoritized group accruing political power through their influence of others. Service also includes serving on theses/dissertation and hiring committees and reviewing scholarship for publication in peer-reviewed academic journals. Committee service involves evaluating the work of others to determine if they have met the appropriate standards to receive a degree, tenure, promotion, award, grant, or are the appropriate “fit” to join an academic department. In this way, committee members are gatekeepers to achieving significant milestones in the academy. Likewise, peer-reviewers are gatekeepers to publications – or the successful creation of “legitimate/valued” knowledge (Roberts & Shambrook, 2012; Sciullo, 2015). Peer-reviewed publications are essential to earning tenure and being considered an expert in the field. When engaging in these gatekeeping acts, Black faculty are in positions of privilege and political power, thereby a potential threat to white dominance.

Research is a political act. Whether conducting qualitative, quantitative, or mixed-method research, scholars use their discretion throughout the process to determine the research question, theoretical framework, sample population, analytic strategy, and interpretation and framing of findings. Research is not immune to the biases that pervade society. Zuberi and Bonilla-Silva (2008) argue that white logic and white methods dominate social science resulting in practices and findings that are inherently exclusionary and biased. Scholars call for a multicultural and pluralistic approach to research to overcome these inherent biases (Reid & Curry, 2019; Zuberi & Bonilla-Silva, 2008). Faculty engaged in multicultural, pluralistic, and/or non-traditional scientific research may be perceived as a political threat to white hegemony.

Earning tenure is an act of political power. Kelly and McCann (2014) found that women faculty of color identified three key rationalizations around their departure prior to earning tenure: (1) gendered and racialized tokenization and isolation, (2) a need for a more intrusive style of mentoring, and (3) poor institutional fit. Each of these themes relates to our theoretical claim that Black faculty pursuing tenure are perceived as threats to white hegemony resulting in applying formal social control, in this case failing to earn tenure (via systemic exclusion and/or by denial upon review). Tenured faculty are guaranteed employment at their university; they are unable to be fired without cause (American Association of University Professors, 2021). Therefore, tenured professors have the power and privilege to engage in teaching, service, and research without fear of losing their job. This type of job security facilitates a greater level of academic freedom as well as freedom of speech to take on topics that may be controversial and/or non-traditional. In this way, earning tenure can be viewed as accruing the largest amount of power available to faculty, privilege that lasts a lifetime. Scholarship frames historically marginalized faculty as a “quandary” to those who have traditionally held power (i.e., white faculty) in the academy (Arnold et al., 2016). Therefore, the act of denying a Black faculty member tenure is an act of formal social control that maintains the white hegemonic order of the academy.

Discussion

This work builds on prior empirical and theoretical literature to argue that Black faculty are perceived as political threats and are therefore targets of greater formal social control (e.g., tenure denial, isolation, alienation, etc.) to preserve white hegemony in the academy. As two Black women on the tenure track, it is not lost upon us that our theoretical claim directly relates to our racialized experiences as we pursue tenure. In fact, the title of this paper acknowledges that we do not consider ourselves exceptions to the systemic marginalization Black faculty face; it could be us. To combat potential bias, we ground our claim in the vast body of preexisting scholarship. As we formulated our theoretical argument, immersed ourselves in literature, and refined the manuscript for publication, we battled racial fatigue. Our review of research offered disturbing narratives detailing experiences of other Black faculty and the stark reality of statistics reflecting racial disparities. Despite the challenges presented in compiling this manuscript, we write in hopes of adding another publication to our curriculum vitae. That is, we - two Black women - are currently publishing to pursue tenure. The paradox seems inherent. Still, we are not without hope. We join other scholars by concluding this piece with recommendations for change (Muzanenhamo & Chowdhury, 2021; Mahabeer et al., 2018; Stanley, 2006; Turner et al., 2008).

Navigating Threat

Considering existing scholarship, we put forth three suggestions on how Black faculty can navigate academic environments where they may be perceived as a threat. First, we suggest that denied tenure cases be discussed both within and beyond Black and Brown faculty groups. Tenure case denials can create and/or heighten feelings of marginalization. We encourage these intra- and inter-racial discussions to address both cases that receive media attention (such as Nikole Hannah-Jones and Cornel West) and those local to the institution. Hunt (2020) finds that allowing a workforce to debrief can aid in wellbeing, coping, and team building if facilitated regularly. Second, Black tenure track faculty should seek out mentorship to navigate incidents of systemic and informal marginalization. Specifically, we encourage Black faculty to seek out diverse mentors that include individuals who have already earned tenure as well as peers that share the same rank, identity, and challenges. Baldwin and Johnson (2018) find that Black women faculty who take part in co-mentoring relationships find empowerment through engaging in authentic conversations. We suggest that scholars conduct research that explores the relationship between the racial threat hypothesis and Black faculty experiences. Blalock's theory frames disparate individual experiences as systemic racialized issues of power and privilege that should be addressed at the macro level. Lastly, considering previous research often examines interview data of Black faculty, autoethnographic narratives, or surveys that capture faculty perceptions, we suggest mixed-method research that can capture both trends and themes. We further suggest mixed methodology that more directly captures the complexities of intersectionality on the experiences of minoritized faculty. Although this work focuses on building a theoretical argument for Black faculty as “threats” in the academy, future work should more substantially integrate an intersectional lens through data and methods.

Conclusion

Will we, Black tenure track faculty, ever be able to enter a predominantly white space and feel that we are not threats? That we are not destined to live in fear that our best efforts are not enough? Such a wish has a chance of coming to fruition if certain changes are made at the institutional level. Researchers are encouraged to continue to interrogate the experiences of minoritized faculty and deepen our understanding by exploring questions such as: How does the institutional context (e.g., working at a predominantly white institution vs. a Historically Black College or University) shape faculty experience? And does the disparities and obstacles Black faculty face persist post-tenure? And if so, how? Beyond research, leadership must openly acknowledge the cultural taxation and other challenges that minoritized faculty face, and then enact equitable strategies that can “level” the playing field. For instance, additional service in the form of committee work and mentoring (which in theory is voluntary but in practice is binding) demanded of Black faculty should be rewarded substantively. Some scholars argue that these “taxes” should be point-garnering in one's tenure file (Allison, 2008; Arnold, 2021). Without being fearful of engaging in uncredited service work, Black faculty can feel more stable in their positions, which can have positive benefits on productivity and career satisfaction. Furthermore, institutions must encourage academic freedom and demonstrate that research topics beyond the “mainstream” are valid, as race- and positionality-centered scholarship is substantive, impactful, and necessary in academia. In this way, colleges and universities can be more transparent and progressive about the multiple ways to achieve the important milestone of tenure. Just as faculty demands vary, so too should faculty binders that are considered promotable. We hope that institutions, while acknowledging their hierarchical hegemonic pasts (and presents) (Patton, 2004), will make a sincere commitment to dismantling systems of oppression in academia, and truly make space for us.

Footnotes

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank our co-panelists Dr. Katheryn Russell-Brown and Dr. Henrika McKoy for sharing their experiences and knowledge on this topic on the “Making Black Lives Matter in Academia” panel held at the 2021 Virtual Forum on Anti-Racism & Intersectionality in Feminist Criminology. You inspire us.

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Funding

The author(s) received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

ORCID iD

TaLisa J. Carter

Author Biographies

TaLisa J. Carter, Ph.D. is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Justice, Law, and Criminology in the School of Public Affairs at American University. Her research focuses broadly on race, colorism, corrections, social control, and theory. Dr. Carter is a former corrections officer and her work has been funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.

Miltonette O. Craig, J.D., Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology at Sam Houston State University. Her research interests include police-community relations, race and crime, and prisoner reentry. Her work has been published in the Journal of Criminal Justice and the Journal of Ethnicity in Criminal Justice.

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