Student demands in the present
Fast-forward nearly 50 years and the demands from black student activists at the University of Missouri, Yale University, University of Kansas, Emory University, UC Berkeley and other schools across the country look eerily similar.
Students still want a more inclusive curriculum that reflects their experiences, an increase in black faculty, efforts to recruit and retain black students and establishment of a safe space on campus, such as a black culture center.
University administrators in the 1960s may have been unprepared for the influx of black students to their campuses, but it appears that even 50 years later, they remain underprepared and uninformed.
In the 1960s, students wanted more black people in faculty and leadership roles. Today, black faculty and administrators do exist but make up only a minuscule fraction of the entire faculty nationwide.
So, for instance, in 2013 only 6% of faculty were black, and in 2011 only 6% of college presidents were black. The fact is that an overwhelming majority of faculty and institutional leaders are white (80% and 90%, respectively).
Following their demands, many black students in the 1960s got culture centers. However, these culture centers are typically deprioritized and viewed as promoting separatism.
These days, institutions are appointing senior diversity officers who serve as top campus administrators. Their role is to conduct strategic planning and implementation of the large-scale diversity initiatives on campus.
Often, their division or department encompasses the work of culture centers. As a result, these senior-level administrators and their culture center counterparts are expected to “do diversity” while other campus entities are relinquished from the same responsibilities.
In addition, the strategic plans designed to foster diversity can often contribute to the negative racial climate on campus by relying on language that positions people of color as outsiders.
Ultimately, students of color feel excluded despite efforts to promote inclusivity.
Institutional responses to student protests of the past, in other words, have not resulted in steady progression. At best, it is a case of three steps forward and two steps backward.