3.2 Faculty Diversity Statement and Faculty Search Procedures

Diversity information on the composition of the regular, on-going Scripps College Faculty, 2019-20 academic year:

Native American
0 Professors
0 Associate Professors
0 Assistant Professors

Asian/Asian American
3 Professors
6 Associate Professors
5 Assistant Professors

African American/Black
2 Professor
1 Associate Professors
1 Assistant Professor

Hispanic/Latina/o
4 Professors
4 Associate Professors
2 Assistant Professors

Bi- or Multi-Racial
1 Professors
0 Associate Professors
0 Assistant Professors

White
18 Professors
18 Associate Professors
13 Assistant Professors

Other
1 Professor
2 Associate Professors
0 Assistant Professor

Non-Residents
0 Professors
2 Associate Professor
5 Assistant Professors

Women
18 Professors (Total Professors 28)
15 Associate Professors (Total Associates 31)
19 Assistant Professors (Total Assistants 30)

Statement on Diversifying the Faculty

Approved by Scripps Faculty 10/22/98

The Faculty believes that the future quality of our institution depends on our ability to achieve greater diversity. The presence on campus of a greater number of faculty from underrepresented groups would enhance the intellectual life of the college, promote intercultural understanding, and provide new kinds of role models and mentors to all our students. Diversification, moreover, would help Scripps in keeping up with the changing emphases of contemporary U.S. scholarship as well as with the current and predicted demographics of this state. Without greater faculty diversity, we cannot recruit and retain a diverse student body. Although the college has already stated its intention in this regard, this goal will not be met without active, creative and renewed commitment on the part of all of us.

We are well aware that “diversity” can be given many meanings, not all of which may be germane to our present discussions. Continuing racial and ethnic inequities in our social structure need to be addressed and the disappointing statistics on our own faculty’s composition suggest that we should begin at home. Accordingly, in this proposal we limit our definition of diversification to US academics from groups traditionally under-represented in US higher education (defined Federal Government terms as African Americans, Asian Americans, Hispanic Americans and Native Americans). Though this seems to us now the most urgent task, we would assert that real diversity can only be achieved by producing an atmosphere at Scripps that will be conducive to the work and well-being of minority groups of all kinds, whether ethnic, foreign, religious or based on class, gender, sexual orientation or physical disability.

Guidelines for Implementation

Since the policy statement is empty unless it indicates a change in our methods of approaching searches, we offer the following proposals for procedures to implement the policy effectively. Different departments may find that some of these proposals are more appropriate to their disciplines than others, but ALL departments should find appropriate ways to ensure the diversification of their faculty and their curricula.

1. The search for the “best candidate” should be interpreted broadly to mean an individual who can best meet both the needs of academic disciplines and the College’s commitment to greater diversity. This may well mean that departments should discuss their existing curricula and major requirements, the traditional objects of study that define the disciplines, and their general pedagogical goals, in order to consider whether they furnish the kind of conditions that might effectively draw minority scholars. To that end, possible changes may need to be discussed and shared with the Dean of Faculty and the FEC.
2. Departments should define positions broadly in order to attract as large a pool of minority candidates as possible.
3. The FEC, in approving the wording of position descriptions, should ensure that efforts have been made to signal our commitment to diversifying our faculty. Every job advertisement should include the boiler plate sentences:
   1. Scripps College, a women’s liberal arts college with a strong interdisciplinary tradition, invites applications…. [Approved by Scripps Faculty 12/7/2000.]
   2. Participation in the Core Curriculum in Interdisciplinary Humanities is expected. (To be used with every full-time, tenure-track, or multi-year job description.) [Approved by Scripps Faculty 2/12/2009.]
   3. The teaching load is five courses for the year, and advising on senior theses is anticipated. (To be used with full-time replacement positions.) [Approved by Scripps Faculty 10/19/2000.]
   4. Scripps College is one of the seven members of The Claremont Colleges cluster located 35 miles east of Los Angeles. In a continuing effort to build a diverse academic community and to provide equal educational and employment opportunities, Scripps College actively encourages applications from women and members of historically underrepresented groups. [Approved by Scripps Faculty 5/6/2010.]
   5. Preference will be given to applicants with a commitment to the College’s goal of improving higher education for underrepresented Students. (To be used with every full-time, tenure-track, or multi-year job description.) [Approved by Scripps Faculty 5/8/2014.]
4. The Committee will convene prior to advertising of the position, and the Dean or Associate Dean of the Faculty will discuss with the committee how to search more actively for faculty of diverse backgrounds. This might include, but is not limited to, the following:
   1. establish contact with minority caucuses and organizations so as to attract a larger pool of applicants from under-represented groups; make every effort to place the job announcement in journals and newspapers likely to reach minority candidates.
   2. make personal contact with faculty in departments and universities that have a record of producing good minority scholars. One way to enhance our contacts would be to attend presentations by senior and junior minority scholars at conferences and other professional meetings. Each department should open and maintain a list of such contacts for use in any job search.
   3. compile and update lists of minority candidates in various fields who have been suggested in the search process, noted at conferences, or otherwise come to faculty’s attention. This list will aid not only in the search on hand but, over the long term, in future searches. These lists could be given to the Dean of Faculty for sharing with other departments.
   4. explore the possibility of joint hires with the other Claremont colleges or with the ethnic intercollegiate programs across campus.
      
      Throughout the search process the search committee will be responsible for ensuring that every effort is made to include minority candidates among the finalists.
5. Before any candidates are invited to campus, the chair of the search committee will meet with the Dean to review the composition of the applicant pool and to discuss how the final candidates were selected. Only when the Dean of Faculty is assured that maximum efforts have been made to implement the diversity policy will candidates be invited to campus for interviews.
6. The search committee and APT should work together with the Dean of Faculty to encourage greater flexibility in recruitment negotiations. For example, this might involve making special provisions to allow a candidate to complete a dissertation, or providing additional incentives in order to attract a candidate who has competing offers. The chair of the search committee is encouraged to make extra telephone calls to a candidate who has been offered a position in order to signal our seriousness. Other faculty should be encouraged at this point to contact the candidate who has been offered a position to indicate the department’s and college’s wider intellectual engagement with the candidate’s field.
7. As a faculty, we must be concerned not only with the recruitment but also the well- being of all faculty members. We should strive to create a climate of acceptance, trust and mutual appreciation in which all faculty members, and especially newly hired faculty, feel supported and valued. This entails not merely personal relations but the whole intellectual atmosphere of the college and asks us to move beyond passive tolerance of different scholarly or pedagogical aims to an active encouragement of a diversity of intellectual projects.
8. An open and diverse intellectual climate is crucial not only to the recruitment but to the retention of minority faculty. Hostile or even merely indifferent environments are among the main reasons why recently hired minority professors decide to leave an institution. There are, however, many things that can be done to enhance intellectual diversity at Scripps. For example, departments should consider whether their existing curricula are receptive to minority faculty and should encourage innovation and change in which minority faculty might play a distinct role and provide initiative. Extra- departmental institutions at Scripps should consider their programs in light of the contribution that minority colleagues might make and, as the Humanities Institute has done, do their utmost to bring minority scholars to campus on a regular basis. Without fostering a climate at Scripps that is, and is nationally known to be, supportive of the intellectual work of minority scholars we will have little chance of representing the college as a community that is supportive of minority scholarship. Without being able to do so, we will have much less chance of recruiting and retaining minority faculty.
9. It is imperative that the institution demonstrate unequivocal support with the appropriate resources critical to accomplishing these goals.

Faculty Search Procedures

Dean’s Responsibilities

The Dean of the Faculty’s responsibilities for faculty searches are:

1. To develop policies and procedures which assure equal access of all qualified candidates, including women and minorities, to positions on the Scripps faculty.
2. To aid search committees in their efforts to learn of potential candidates for faculty positions.
3. To initiate procedures for insuring that salaries are equitable for all persons with equal experience, rank, and responsibility, regardless of race, color, sex, national origin.
4. To publicize the policies and procedural guidelines related to faculty hiring.
5. To administer the recruitment budget.
6. To participate in the evaluation of progress made in achieving the College’s diversity goals.

Faculty Search Procedures

Scripps College hires and promotes individuals on the basis of their qualifications and abilities to perform the requirements of their positions, consistent with applicable state and federal laws, and without regard to race, color, religion, gender, pregnancy, national origin, ancestry, citizenship, age, marital status, physical disability, mental disability, medical condition or sexual orientation.

Faculty search committees are appointed by the Dean of the Faculty, in consultation with the Appointments, Promotions and Tenure Committee whenever a vacancy exists. The Dean of Faculty Office will inform search committees of the College’s commitment to diversity and the committees’ obligation to conduct a thorough search in accordance with the guidelines set forth in the “Statement on Diversifying the Faculty.”

The Chairman of each search committee must keep records of both the search and selection processes, including a list of the sources consulted for candidates and the credentials of all applicants for the job. Before any candidates are invited to campus, the chair of the search committee will meet with the Dean to review the composition of the applicant pool and to discuss how the final candidates were selected. Only when the Dean of Faculty is assured that maximum efforts have been made to implement the diversity policy will candidates be invited to campus for interviews.

When the search committee has selected a candidate to recommend to the Appointments, Promotions and Tenure Committee for appointment, the following information should be included in the recommendation:

1. A list of the top three candidates for the position, ranked in order by preference,
2. Sufficient explanation to assist the members of APT in making its recommendations to the President, and
3. Dossiers of the recommended candidates.

Review of Search Procedures

On all faculty appointments recommended to the Appointments, Promotions and Tenure Committee, the search procedures and the criteria used in selection of candidates are reviewed and evaluated by the Appointments, Promotions and Tenure Committee before the recommendation is transmitted to the President for action. Only when the Appointments, Promotions and Tenure Committee and the Dean of Faculty are satisfied that a faculty search committee has made active efforts to include minority candidates among the finalists will it act favorably on the recommendation of the search committee.

Appointment of Close Relatives: It is the policy of Scripps College to seek for its faculty the best possible teachers and scholars who are judged to be so in a national or international search preceding each appointment and promotion.

Consistent with this, it is the policy of the College not to discriminate against members of the same family in employment on the faculty. If each is qualified for employment, both may hold faculty appointments simultaneously.

No faculty member, dean, or other administrative officer shall vote, make recommendations, or in any way participate in the decision of any matter which may directly affect the appointment, tenure, promotion, salary, or other status, or interest of a close relative.