On March 1-2, 2019, faculty and Dean of Academic Departments and Programs from Union College joined faculty and administrators from NY6 institutions for a discussion on the status of efforts by partner institutions in hiring and retaining diverse faculty and staff on campus.
The meeting and symposium took place in the picturesque campus of Colgate University with generous funding provided by Professor Mary Moran, Director of the Africana and Latin American Studies Program. The Friday evening marked an ice-breaker and informal get together for participants over great Afghan food! The next day, the workshop began with a lecture by Dianne Stewart, Associate Professor of Religion and African American Studies, Emory University who put forth for the participating members: the raw, emotional, sometimes disappointing, challenging, and in the end, empowering journey of faculty of color like herself and many others. Sharing her own story as a woman of color in academia and others like her who have had to challenge the inherent biases in the institutional structures of power and create paths so that newer generations of students and faculty could follow, left the audience inspired and invigorated. They wrote down their “hopes” and “fears” to be anonymously shared within the group and set the tone for the intensive workshop that was to follow. All participating members, with the exception of senior administrative staff, were divided into smaller groups to discuss the challenges they faced in their respective institutions: what were the successes, the gaps and what needed to be done in order to retain diverse faculty and staff in NY6 campuses? The challenges ranged from isolation, microaggressions in the classroom, to lack of leadership opportunities and recognition for “invisible” labor. The exchange of these feelings, ideas in a safe space was evidently a cathartic experience for many participants. Following the workshop, there was an open exchange and dialogue with administrative Deans and what they could do on their end to continue this discussion and help create a more welcoming environment on campuses for diverse employees. The summit ended on a positive note with plans of creating an NY6 consortium that would provide teaching, research mentorship to junior and associate faculty and staff and create an institutional forum for turning this conversation and agendas into actionable items.