The faculty of the philosophy department set time on the agenda to discuss an open letter received from graduate students earlier that month. The open letter, which was co-authored by several of their graduate students and received signatures from dozens of current students and alumni, details student concerns with the lack of representation in the department, making reference to both issues of identity and epistemological diversity.
The letter details students’ concerns about the graduate curriculum, which entails a nearly exclusive focus on continental and analytic philosophy, with virtually no scholarship drawn from Asian, Latin American or African perspectives. Students argue that the lack of epistemological perspectives in the curriculum is informed and exacerbated by the lack of diversity in the graduate faculty, which is more than 80% white and male, with no faculty who identify as women of color.
The faculty’s initial response to the letter is alarmed and defensive. Several faculty contend that ideas transcend lived experience, and that the students’ concerns are fashionable identity politics. With further dialogue, other members share resonance and empathy with the graduate students and also begin to reveal their concerns with the integrity and efficacy of their recruitment and selection process for new faculty. The sustained lack of diversity has undermined the program’s ability to offer global perspectives in the curriculum. Many faculty are not only concerned about the needs of their current students, but they are also concerned for the future of the program, its relevance and longevity.
These conversations result in short- and long-term solutions. In the short term, the faculty and their dean initiate a speaker series and visiting scholar program to bring in diverse perspectives. In the longer-term, the dean of the college invests in an external review and partners with a recruitment and selection firm. The department arranges for graduate student representation on subsequent faculty searches and designs positions descriptions to target scholars with expertise in global perspectives who are able to teach new courses and advise graduate student work from those perspectives.
- The Issue: The philosophy department lacks representation of global perspectives among faculty in both identity and scholarship. Due to this homogeneity, current graduate students, alumni and faculty are concerned about the relevance and sustainability of the program.
- The Deliberation: The faculty convene to review an open letter drafted by graduate students and alumni. They converse and reveal that many faculty members resonate with the concerns.
- The Growth: The process results in investment in outside consultation and greater intentionality, collaboration and transparency in faculty recruitment and selection.