Black faculty members disproportionately shoulder the burden the financial difficulties on their way toward a tenure-track position, says Siobhan Brooks, an associate professor and chair of African American Studies at Cal State Fullerton.
Black faculty members have less wealth than their white colleagues and Black Ph.D. graduates also carry large amounts of student loan debt, which contributes to such wealth gaps once they become faculty members, she wrote in an opinion column recently published in Inside Higher Ed.
Now, with COVID-19, Black faculty also are being disproportionately impacted by having to support family members who may be hospitalized or furloughed because of the virus, leaving them with less resources. The lack of resources in Black communities is also accompanied by racial discrimination in the housing market as well as acts of police brutality, highlighted in the recent killing of George Floyd by Minnesota police, which has sparked national and international protests, she wrote.
Continue reading in Inside Higher Ed.