Harvard’s Not Diverse. That’s Perverse.

Sup y’all, how’s it going?
I hope you’re doing well,
‘Cause I’m about to shed some light
On Harvard’s personnel.

Think about your teachers.
Now think about your peers.
Notice how diversity,
With age, just disappears?

Anyone who goes to class
Quite easily can see
The white homogeneity
Of tenured faculty.

‘Course, if you just look around
Then you’ll be sure to find
A faculty of color with
A truly bad-ass mind.

They’re a leading reference
For scholars in their field
And pave way for discoveries
That once had been concealed.

They’ve won several awards
And even wrote a book!
Their teaching virtuosity
Leaves all their students shook.

But tell me, what’s the likelihood
This Harvard teacher’s got
A tenure track position?
Or what’s more, a tenured spot?

Faculty of color make up
Just a tiny fraction
Of all the tenured teachers here
That you can see in action.

If you do not yet know the stats
I’ll state them here again:
56 percent of them are
White Caucasian men!

The second largest group we have
Is women who are white
They make up 22 percent.
That’s quite the number, right?

That means only 22
percent of tenured folks
Are faculty of color.
That’s so small – holy smokes!

And even that statistic,
is itself, quite complex,
for only five percent are Black
and four, Latinx.

Underrepresented, still,
And to a worse extent,
Are women folks of color
Who make up seven percent.

Surely, now it’s plain to see
That something isn’t right:
For people who have tenure,
Overwhelmingly, are white.

And yet, much of the discourse
That surrounds diversity
Centers around students
In the university.

But in that conversation,
We’re too quick to forget,
That tenured staff positions
Are also hard to get.

And though for Harvard College,
There exists some oversight
To make sure student bodies
Aren’t mostly male and white,

Those same policy pressures
It seems do not extend
To faculty appointments
For this whiteness doesn’t end!

Now don’t misunderstand,
I’ll be clear ‘bout what I’m saying,
Many folks with tenure here
Are very truly slaying.

The problem, as it seems to me,
Has two distinctive parts
The first involves the bias
That the process oft’ imparts.

Tenure track promotions,
For example, must include
A full ad hoc committee
By which profs will be reviewed.

This process has been criticized,
And I think rightly so,
For lacking the transparency
Departments need to grow.

For without detailed feedback
And some free communication,
There are even less checks
To prevent discrimination.

And though Dean Claudine Gay,
Last year, did help to introduce
A new plan to, in theory,
Make this process less obtuse,

If someone doesn’t get the tenure
For which they apply,
Those same ad hoc committees
Still don’t have to tell them why.

This shields committee bias,
Which, we all know exists
And fuels a “lack of trust in”
The whole process that persists.

But also, it’s just hella weird.
Why try and play it pious
When we all know committees
Are all plagued by people’s bias?

Harvard has a history
Of letting people go
Who pioneered their field
In ways that really truly show.

I’m talking ‘bout García Peña
And ‘bout Cornel West
Who, behind closed doors,
Were denied tenure and suppressed.

These scholars are exceptional,
And lead here and abroad.
So Harvard’s bad decision
Shows how much the system’s flawed.

But this leads to my second point
That you all likely know:
Harvard, as a school,
Loves to put on quite a show.

They flaunt on their brochures, “diverse
campus community”
And yet, somehow the tenure track
Receives impunity.

I can’t believe I’m saying this,
But it needs to be said,
‘Cause many Harvard higher ups
Can’t get it through their head:

If you run a school that has some
students and some teachers,
And you want diversity
To be one of your features,

You can’t just stop at undergrads.
That simply just won’t do.
True diversity means
You need diverse teachers, too.

We know the talent pool exists
I see it every day.
So if you truly value it
Then back up what you say.

Harvard says, in summary,
That tenure is reserved
For “excellence” and “eminence”
In people they’ve observed.

But I reject this notion.
For if this claim were true,
Then excellence would mostly come
From white and privileged few.

The truth about the process
Is it needs to be redone
Cause people who deserve to
Aren’t getting tenure, hon!

Mireya Sánchez-Maes ’24 is a joint concentrator in English and Theater, Dance, and Media in Currier House. Her column “Rhyme and Reason” appears on alternate Mondays.