The Real Race Problem: The Power of White Rule

Until the 1960s, few faculty of color worked at HWCUs (historically white colleges and institutions). In the late 1960s, the doors of these institutions were opened albeit slightly so that today minority representation in most of these places is between 10 to 15%.  But working in the “white house” of academia does not mean having equality or power. In this presentation, I will argue that the real “race problem” in academia is not lacking “qualified minorities” to fill positions or academia “lowering their standards” to recruit faculty of color. I will contend that the problem is the continuation of “white rule” through new, more subtle, and often quite informal racial practices. To make my case, I will outline many of these practices based mostly on data from Sociology departments and outline short term and long term solutions to the problem of white rule in academia.