Racism and Sexism in
Academic Philosophy -
Princeton University
Racism in Academic Philosophy in Canada, England, and the USA
Sexism in Academic Philosophy in Canada, England, and USA
By: Shawn Alli
Posted: May 9, 2016
*All individuals and organizations receive 7 full days of pre-publication notice (11 including weekends).
*I ask for a request for comment from the philosophy department instead of the university spokesperson because it's the philosophy department (philosophers) that are racist or sexist.
*I round up to one decimal place for all figures.
In a request for comment I ask them:
1. Do you believe that 4/22 women in tenure-track positions represents sexism in the Princeton University philosophy department?
2. Do you believe that 2/22 visible minorities in tenure-track positions represents racism in the Princeton University philosophy department?
Princeton Philosophy Professor Michael Smith is kind enough to respond:
The answer to both your questions is 'no'.
I believe that those numbers reflect the difficulty of recruiting women and members of minorities to tenure-track positions in philosophy. And btw, just so we're on the same page about this, though Asians don't count as minorities for official political purposes, in philosophy Asians are members of the minority.
It is instructive to look at the number of women and members of minorities currently doing the PhD in philosophy. Princeton's faculty ratios are about the same as the ratios of graduate students in those categories taking the PhD. I know that there are some departments where one or another of those ratios is better, and that there are others where one or another is worse. But as someone who cares deeply about increasing these ratios across the profession as a whole, I find myself less concerned to get more of the appallingly small numbers of women and members of minorities on the market in philosophy to come to Princeton—though I would like to do that, I have to confess—and more concerned to increase the numbers of women and members of minorities who are undergraduates to major in philosophy and then go to get the PhD.
The Philosophy Department at Princeton supports a number of initiatives aimed at increasing the numbers of women and members of minorities who are undergraduates, both at Princeton and elsewhere, to go on to major and do graduate work in the subject. You can read about the two most recent events we've run here:
https://philosophy.princeton.edu/content/sukaina-hirji-reports-first-compass-workshop
and here
https://philosophy.princeton.edu/content/daniel-wodak-diversifying-what-we-teach
More anecdotally, in the Fall of 2016 eleven students will begin the PhD in philosophy with us. Nine of them are women, and four are members of minorities.
The difficulty of recruiting women and visible minorities to tenure-track positions? Seriously? Smith speaks as if there are few women and visible minority philosophy graduate students. There are plenty.
And even if there are few, that's because many don't see a future in being a tenure-track philosophy professor. They see white-European professors teaching them philosophy. Not visible minorities.
Asians don't count as visible minorities for political purposes? What?
I don't know what kind of politics exists at Princeton, but the US Department of Labor considers Asians as visible minorities:
The equal opportunity clause requires that the contractor will take affirmative action to ensure that applicants are employed, and that employees are treated during employment, without regard to their race, color, religion, sex or national origin. American Indian or Alaskan Native, Asian or Pacific Islander, Black, and Hispanic individuals are considered minorities for purposes of the Executive Order. [1]
Smith's comment about prioritizing women and visible minorities in undergraduate classes rather than tenure-track positions is indicative of a culture of white supremacy in academia (see Philosophy Reborn Part II: Social Humanities). Smith's comment reinforces the ideology of white-Europeans as knowledge givers and visible minorities and women as knowledge seekers. And this is coming from a Princeton university professor!
And it's great that the new philosophy graduate students are 9 women and 4 visible minorities. But I'll bet $20.00 that somehow, by means of magic, they won't be the ones in tenure-track positions at Princeton in the future.
References:
[1] Facts on Executive Order 11246 — Affirmative Action. US Department of Labor. Revised January 4, 2002. Web Archive.