The number of black faculty members has declined at some Maryland colleges in the last 20 years.
While students of color are increasingly represented on college campuses, the proportion of black faculty members has barely budged in the past 20 years. At some institutions, including the University of Maryland’s flagship campus at College Park, the percentage of black professors actually declined from 1996 to 2014, according to the Maryland Higher Education Commission. Hispanic professors also are under-represented.
Many minority students say the scarcity of professors who look like them hinders their college experience, as they sometimes have trouble finding mentors and connecting with their white teachers. For their part, some minority professors say they believe their research is undervalued by peers and that they often feel overwhelmed mentoring the many students of color who seek them out.
The issue has come to the national forefront as college students hold sit-ins and demonstrations demanding racial equality and more tenured black professors.
Click here to read the rest of the article written by Carrie Wells over at the Baltimore Sun