Using such evaluations reflects colleges’ lack of a true commitment to diversity, writes Joanna Wolfe, who offers three actions institutions should take sooner rather than later to change the situation.
Conditionally Accepted
Conditionally Accepted
Many individuals are drawn to higher education, including academic careers, because of academe’s potential for change. Countless prospective and current graduate students note that their desire to make a difference in their communities or society in general was their primary decision to attend graduate training. Unfortunately, many colleges and universities in the U.S. have practiced outright discrimination and exclusion throughout history, particularly against women, people of color, and disabled people/people with disabilities.
Today, academe — like every social institution — is structured hierarchically, producing numerous professional and personal obstacles for academics from marginalized backgrounds. Scholars who are women, of color, lesbian, trans, bisexual, gay, queer, disabled, working-class or poor, immigrants, fat, religious and non-religious minorities, and/or single parents are faced daily with the difficult tension between academe's narrow definition of success and their own politics, identities, needs, happiness, and health.
Conditionally Accepted was created as a freestanding blog in July 2013 as an online space for scholars on the margins of academe. It has steadily grown since, becoming a career advice column for Inside Higher Ed in January 2016. In this column, we provide news, information, personal stories, and resources for scholars who are, at best, conditionally accepted in academe. Conditionally Accepted is an anti-racist, pro-feminist, pro-queer, anti-transphobic, anti-fatphobic, anti-ableist, anti-ageist, anti-classist, and anti-xenophobic online community.
You can also like us on Facebook here and follow us on Twitter @conditionaccept.
To reach this column, click here.
Conditionally Accepted Archive
January 7, 2022
An anonymous professor shares guidance on what to do for yourself if your child or another person close to you is sexually assaulted.
December 17, 2021
Women of color are doing much of the work that benefits institutions, yet they aren’t being recognized or rewarded for it, writes M. Cristina Alcalde, citing three areas that should be addressed.
December 3, 2021
Carra Hood offers 10 steps for addressing bias and unequal treatment in higher education institutions.
November 12, 2021
Documenting the pandemic’s effect, especially on women faculty and those of color, is vital, write Donna Riley and Mangala Subramaniam, who offer advice on how to assess such statements.
October 29, 2021
While such methods are often considered value-free and unbiased, we must recognize how our classroom practices can reinforce oppressive ideologies and narratives, writes Kamden K. Strunk.
October 15, 2021
Emily Skop, Martina Angela Caretta, Caroline Faria and Jessi L. Smith offer other scholars engaged in research collaborations a pledge to help foster and sustain more equitable relationships.
August 27, 2021
Inadequately citing or entirely omitting the scholarship of women and people of color reflects the larger problem of entrenched marginalization in the academy, write 12 women scholars.
August 13, 2021
Elena A. Miranda highlights the actions and behaviors of gatekeepers who hold the power to make or break careers and perpetuate the disenfranchisement of women and people of color.
July 30, 2021
Simply hiring a chief diversity officer will never lead to success if we don’t take three key steps to infuse diversity, equity and inclusion efforts into the fabric of our institutions, argues Kendall D. Isaac.
