racism

Independent report finds that all minority faculty members interviewed claimed to have personally experienced racial bias or discrimination while working at UCLA

Two weeks ago, an independent report on racism among UCLA faculty members was presented to UCLA’s Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Scott L. Waugh.  The report’s findings revealed shocking incidents of racial bias and discrimination suffered by UCLA’s minority staff while working at the university. The report also found UCLA’s methods for dealing with such incidents to be inadequate.

It was Chancellor Gene D. Block who called for an investigation and report to be launched last year, after a group of around 30 troubled faculty members expressed their concerns regarding racial discrimination, and how it is dealt with at the university.

The report was produced after several months of investigation headed by Carlos Moreno, a former California Supreme Court Justice.  Eighteen faculty members and twelve university administrators were willing to openly participate in the investigation, whilst others submitted written submissions to the review team.

The charges of racial bias reported by UCLA minority staff included perceived bias in decisions regarding promotions, the hiring of new staff, as well as openly derogatory remarks.

The investigation revealed that issues of discrimination were not isolated to just a few faculty.  The report found that, “Every faculty member of color who [has been] interviewed described incidents of perceived bias, discrimination or intolerance that they had personally experienced while at UCLA,” and that, “almost universally, they felt that the offending parties had never been required to face consequences for their actions.”

The report found two departments in particular, identified only as “Department A” and “Department B,” to be, or have been, “flash points of racial conflict between faculty members.”

Two members of “Department A” described their faculty as having become racially “polarized” during the 2000s, since when minority and female faculty members have been targets of systematic discrimination.

A “Department B” faculty member told the review team that “a clique of Caucasian male professors was in charge of the department,” and that he had witnessed, first-hand, senior faculty using racially offensive language.

It was not only minority staff who were interviewed to gather evidence for the report. A Caucasian former faculty member of “Department A” testified to the discrimination reported by minority members of his former faculty.  He also told the review team that when he expressed his disapproval of some of his colleagues’ discriminatory conduct, he was subsequently punished, indirectly, by receiving a recommendation against a merit increase in his pay.

Specific incidents of racism were also reported to the review team by faculty.  One incident, which occurred several years ago, involved a professor who was working at UCLA but not a permanent member of staff.  The report summarized what the professor told the review team, describing that she had received “an anonymous communication that criticized her work in vitriolic terms, attacked her for focusing on race-related issues, and contained racist statements regarding Afrikan-Americans.” The professor also reported that when she contacted the UCLA Police Department about the matter she was told that nothing could be done at the time, and as far as she knows it was never followed up by her department or the university.

The report concluded that, “UCLA has failed to clearly communicate that consequences will ensue for those engaging in biased, discriminatory, or intolerant behavior or conduct,” and “has failed to adequately train UCLA employees, including faculty, in what constitutes discriminatory, biased, or intolerant behavior.”

M. Belinda Tucker, vice provost of the UCLA Institute of American Cultures, who has worked at UCLA for 35 years, said that she believes “The subtext of the report is that we really need a more diverse faculty.” “When you have more people of different ethnic groups, these incidents are less likely to take place,” she said.

The report included recommendations for how UCLA can better deal with such incidents in the future and, ultimately, work toward overcoming issues of discrimination among faculty altogether.  The main recommendation was that the university should appoint a Discrimination Officer, who will review and investigate reported incidents of alleged bias and discrimination, and also be able to advise those that approach them of the options available to them.  The review team also suggested that an internal committee should be formed to oversee the implementation of their recommendations.

Sociology professor and Director of UCLA’s Center for Afrikan American studies, Darnell Hunt said, “There has got to be a new mechanism, unless of course we don’t really care about diversity, and we are just saying it.”  Hunt expressed his hope that the report findings will lead to improvements, but also his doubts about what will actually be achieved, saying, “I think the proof is in the pudding.  The devil is in the details.  There is going to be an internal committee established to implement [the recommendations], but, if it isn’t done correctly, I don’t think it’s going to make much of a difference.”

Chancellor Block has said that he plans to take on board the advice of the review team and to appoint a discrimination officer at UCLA, as well as adopting other new measures to ensure that UCLA’s procedures for dealing with racial discrimination are properly enforced in the future.

Hopefully in the future, a Discrimination Officer will not be necessary because, as the report points out, these incidents should not occur in the first place.  Attention tends to be focused on increasing diversity among students, but the report has shown that effort also needs to be made to further diversify UCLA’s faculty.  It is difficult to teach racial equality and diversity among students if some members of faculty, who they are meant to look to as examples, are themselves practicing discrimination.

Author: Greta Tugwell

Nommo Staff