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FORUM
12
FEBRUARY 19, 2010
Lack of faculty diversity unacceptable
:ii
By Victor Lopez
Staff Writer
The Guilford faculty handbook
lays out procedures for hiring non
white candidates during the job-
search process, showing that the
policy is making the correct steps
to diversify the faculty. However,
the reality of faculty diversity, as
demonstrated in data provided by
the Office of Institutional Research
Assessment, is very different from
the progressive goals.
Unlike larger colleges, Guilford
doesn't have a department set up that
is solely responsible for recruiting a
racially diverse faculty. The faculty
handbook says that we take a
vigorous approach towards inviting
professors of color to Guilford. Yet,
looking at how many departments
here do not have a professor of color
makes me question how vigorous
our approach really is.
Recruiting lies on the shoulders
of busy search committees and
department heads, some of whom
appear to have forgotten that the
diversity of the Guilford faculty
should be made paramount during
the hiring process. The priority to fill
the position in a timely manner may
outweigh the priority of finding a
successful non-white candidate.
This can be made more difficult
because in certain fields of study
there are fewer non-white job
candidates than there are in others.
The size of the pool of non-white
applicants varies according to
academic discipline, and sometimes
it is more difficult for certain
departments to recruit faculty of
color than it is for others.
Guilford's faculty needs to be
as diverse as the students. Simply
inviting racially diverse applicants
without such diversity being
reflected in the actual faculty hints at
a process that might unconsciously
privilege white candidates.
At Guilford we see some diverse
faces in some of our classrooms,
yet there are departments without
any professors of color — that is a
reprehensible example of selective
hiring.
In order to teach diversity, we
must have a diverse faculty who
will teach history and other subjects
from many different cultural
perspectives.
Having diverse professors
from many culturally different
backgrounds is central to our
education. Face-to-face interaction
with faculty members who come
from different cultural, economic,
and racial backgrounds will
challenge some of our unexamined
notions of how the world operates.
Aracially diverse mix of professors
is an educational benefit that serves
our entire academic community and
will help prepare Guilford students
to develop informed, constructive
leadership roles in the world.
We claim diversity as one of our
core values and weave it into the
marketing of our college, but some
of our actions on campus are a long
way from promoting it.
BLACK AFIER OBAMA
Our reactionary society
and the hdl of Haiti
Rebuilding Haiti, one broadcast at a time
By Liz Farquhar
Staff Writer
lie. The news director of Radio Metropole, Wendell
Theodore, has been broadcasting aid distribution sites
and the names of people still unaccounted for. He has
been broadcasting all of this information from under a
tree in what once was the radio station's yard.
Theodore's house was also destroyed in the earth
quake, but it seems he has not given up hope for himself
or his fellow Haitians.
This is just one example of how the people have
relied on each other, and on the radio, for support.
The radio stations in Haiti have long operated through
hardship with the dictatorships that have been such a
prevalent force, but when the earthquake reduced most
The international community has provided Haiti buildings to rubble and left many Haitians homeless,
with as much humanitarian aid as possible in the past new challenges presented themselves to the radio sta-
weeks following the devastating earthquake that took tions. , , i r
place a month ago, but there is plenty of aid that the Because of low literacy rates and a lack of newspaper
Ltside community cannot offer. availability, the radio has always played an important
The Haitian people should be admired for their role in Haiti. This pst month, the radio has embraced a
strength. The entire country is desolate and the bulk of new level of significance. ^ »,u • i
media focus has, understandably, been on the destruc- "People come here to send messages to their rela
tion of the country and the international aid that it has tives that they are OK or to have ^
received, but the sur
vivors have also been
helping themselves in
ways that the interna
tional community can
not.
The citizens of Haiti
have used the radio
to band together and
haye provided a fun
damental foundation
of support and com
fort for each other.
"One of the most
radio is in building connections between people within completely different political climate than Haiti. The
a community. It's a way to spread information and radio in Haiti has provided the population with edu-
spreadcomfort,"WQFS advisor Jonathan Hatch said. "I cational opportunities and enabled them to exercise
think that in a situation like Haiti right now ... radio can freedom of speech through any venue,
bring people together, bring people hope, and remind Many Haitian citizeiis have lost their safety and
people that life will get better again." shelter, but they are
^ According to slate.com, the radio stations have been through any means, whether it is through the radio
communicating important information to the pub- just through commumcahon with one another.
"I think that in a situation like Haiti right now
... radio can bring people together, bring people
hope, and remind people that life will get better
again."
WQFS advisor Jonathan Hatch
they are OK," direc
tor of Port-au-Prince's
RFM radio Rotchild
Francois said in an
interview with Slate.
"We do that every
day."
In the United
States, the radio may
seem like nothing
more than air space
filled with music,
commercials and bad
talk shows, but the
United States has
By Grady Gamble
Guest Writter
In reaction to the recent crippling 7.0 earthquake, the world
has begun a global mission to help relieve the peoples of our
first black republic. Understanding the catastrophe, many of us
have offered our food, water, clothing, households, and other
resources. These survival efforts, while extremely considerate
and necessary, will arrive far too late to revive 8,300,000 resilient
yet devastated Haitians.
Today, we live in a reactionary society where we wait for
some sort of natural disaster to happen before we lend our help
ing hand. A similar example was seen during Hurricane Katrina
when the people of New Orleans sat helplessly in their homes
as the levees, which government officials were well aware
needed to be repaired, crumbled to the ground.
For years, we have been aware of Haiti's vulnerability and
simply turned the other cheek. Now, in the wake of a natural
disaster, it seems as if Haiti can't get enough attention.
Before this earthquake hit Haiti, the home of the only success
ful slave revolt in the Americas, the Haitian peoples were in a
state of extreme poverty. In 2008, the World Bank reported that
Haiti was one of the five poorest countries in the world, and
the poorest in the Western Hemisphere. Over 80 percent of the
Haitian population lives under the poverty line, and the unem
ployment rate is estimated to be nearly 90 percent.
Additionally, less than 45 percent have access to potable
water, the life expectancy is only 53 years, 76 percent of children
under the age of five are underweight or suffer from stunted
growth, and 63 percent of all Haitians are malnourished.
The primary cause of the first black republic's desolation is
rooted in greed and power. After gaining its independence from
French colonists in 1804, the Haitian economy was crippled
by an international boycott. Many European nations believed
that a free-black nation was a bad precedent to set for other
slave communities. In 1838, while attempting to be recognized
by France and the European nations, the Haitian government
was forced to pay a debt of 150 million francs plus interest for
the lands of former-slave owners which were acquired in the
revolution.
On top of these major setbacks for the Haitian economy,
from 1915-1938, the U.S. Marines occupied the lands, controlled
the revenue and banks, and completely disrespected the 1804
Haitian Constitution, which said that no foreigners could own
land in Haiti.
The United States further contributed to the oppression of the
Haitian people by giving comfortable aid packages to oppres
sive rulers, which, in turn, secured the United States' military
dominance in that region. The behavior of the global commu
nity and of Haitian rulers has, in many ways, stripped Haiti of
its wealth and enabled the country to maintain its misery.
Our approach to providing aid and assistance needs to
widen and change. Our global mission should not only be to
relieve Haiti from the damages caused by the earthquake, but,
like President Obama said, to "act on behalf of our common
humanity." Acting on behalf of our common humanity means
empowering the Haitian community to achieve greatness that
extends beyond providing immediate relief, and aiming to get
the first black republic back on its feet, restoring true strength
and justice to Haiti.