The Snail-Like Progress of Blacks Into Higher Education Faculty Ranks

According to the most recent data from the U.S. Department of Education, in 2003 there were 33,137 African Americans serving in full-time faculty positions at colleges and universities in the United States. They made up 5.3 percent of all full-time faculty in American higher education. Thus, while blacks make up 12 percent of the total enrollments in higher education, the black presence in faculty ranks is less than half the black enrollment figure.

The Department of Education data also shows that while blacks are increasing their number of faculty posts, the progress has been slow. A quarter-century ago in 1981, blacks were 4.2 percent of all full-time faculty in American higher education. Today the figure is 5.3 percent.

Here is the bad news: If we were to project into the future the progress blacks have made into full-time faculty positions over the past quarter century, we find that it will take about 140 years before the percentage of black full-time faculty equals the current percentage of the black population in the United States.

Copyright © 2006. The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education. All rights reserved.