Combating promotion and tenure bias against Black and Hispanic faculty

Phys.org  October 4, 2024
The underrepresented minority (URM) faculty face challenges in many domains of academia, from university admissions to grant applications. A team of researchers in the US (University of Houston, University of California Merced, Texas Southern University, Texas A&M University, Louisiana State University) examined whether this translates to promotion and tenure (P&T) decisions. Data from five US universities on 1,571 faculty members’ P&T decisions showed that URM faculty received 7% more negative votes and were 44% less likely to receive unanimous votes from P&T committees. A double standard in how scholarly productivity was rewarded was also observed, with below-average h-indexes being judged more harshly for URM faculty than for non-URM faculty. This relationship was amplified for faculty with intersectional backgrounds, especially URM women. The differential treatment of URM women was mitigated when external reviewers highlighted candidates’ scholarship more in their review letters. In sum, the results supported the double standard hypothesis and provided evidence that different outcomes in P&T decision-making processes contributed to the sustained underrepresentation of URM faculty in tenured faculty positions… read more. Open Access TECHNICAL ARTICLE

Double standard for URM women faculty. Credit: Nature Human Behaviour , 4 October 2024

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