Reported today on The New York Times For the full article visit:
OpinionBlack Scholars Are Not 'Rare Creatures'When Purdue's president said this, I had to respond because this myth is so pervasive. LOS ANGELES - In late November, the president of Purdue University, Mitch Daniels, told students that he will soon "be recruiting one of the rarest creatures in America - a leading, I mean a really leading, African-American scholar." "Creatures?" a student asked. "Come on.""It's a figure of speech. You must have taken some literature," Mr. Daniels said. "One of the rarest, let me say, rarest birds, rarest, rarest, rarest phenomena."In just a few sentences, Mr. Daniels seemed to question the possibility of sustained black excellence. In response to the uproar that swiftly followed, he complained that he had "never felt so misunderstood" and that he had simply used a "figure of speech."When I learned about Mr. Daniels's words from another African-American scholar on my own campus, I felt indignant but also constrained. The standard etiquette for college presidents, like me, is to let the remarks of another leader pass on by. I can't do that. The idea that scholars of color are rare is a damaging fiction. Yet it's pervasive in academia, causing untold damage. It allows some faculty deans to simply throw up their hands and give up on their recruitment efforts. It leads to small recruitment budgets for minority candidates. It means some disciplines structurally ignore the presence of brilliant candidates of color, believing, contrary to their own eyes, that none exist. It means that another generation of younger scholars may think it's impossible ever to lead. It means lost creativity, delayed discoveries and fewer transformative ideas of the kind our world desperately needs. And for those who want to maintain the status quo, mission accompli
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