Staff Editorial: Race and hope

"The chief obstacle to the progress of the human race is the human race." ~ Don Marquis The American media have been quick to label Barack Obama as a "post-racial" candidate, one who can transcend the boundaries of race and truly unite the country.

A look around this campus clearly demonstrates how foolish a concept this is. Like it or not, race is an important factor in our perceptions of others, and our country's racial inequities are far from erased.

Among the faculty employed in 2005, blacks accounted for 5 percent, Hispanics 2 percent and American Indians 1 percent. These rates are behind those of all but one of our peer institutions and far lower than each race's proportion of the national population. The situation isn't getting much better, either: While other universities in the University System of Maryland increased their proportion of minority faculty by an average of 5 percent over the past six years, we've had trouble keeping our rate above 1 percent.

Our lack of diversity in the faculty carries over to the success of our students.

In 2000, a Campus Assessment Working Group study found "students of color can feel alienated if all of their professors are of a different cultural background," and "students from this study were cognizant of the fact that there is a lack of diverse faculty, staff, and administrators at UM, and perceive this to be another example of the campus not having a genuine commitment to diversity."

Many students have those moments when, in the face of exams, deadlines and all-nighters, they ask themselves: Is this worth it? Is all this stress, work and lost sleep worth it for the sake of having a diploma?

For many minority students, the plight is even worse, as they also have jobs, commutes and immense loans to worry about. Oftentimes, these students succumb to the strife and decide against completing their degrees. Provost Nariman Farvardin's 2007 State of the University presentation shows the racial disparities in our university's six-year graduation rates. These rates unmask the silent struggles of our minority students.

But minority faculty have the opportunity to help the university by serving as role models to students, showing them that college education is not merely undertaken for the sake of having a diploma after a few years of work, but rather for finding a path toward an entire career of meaningful work.

Without examples of achievement to emulate, students are exposed to the risk of giving up their aspirations, goals and even their hope.

POLICY: The signed letters, columns and cartoon represent only the opinions of the authors. The staff editorial represents the opinion of The Diamondback's editorial board and is the responsibility of the editor in chief.