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[jobhuntress]

I've been thinking about this issue all year (my first on the TT) and thought I'd share.

I'm in an MLA field that most people would not consider particularly "ethnic" in content/approach but I happen to be a member of an ethnic minority group.

It turns out I have a colleague (also hired this year) who is also a minority in addition to being specifically hired in a identifiably "ethnic" field. I have noticed that hu has been asked to sit on various diversity-related committees, advising students, proposing special seminars, etc. - even though we newbies are 'shielded' from such service in the first year.

I've randomly/variously attended some diversity fora etc. this year out of my own interest, BUT I feel uneasy when I see how much 'extra' this colleague is doing compared to me. We are both minority faculty and I find it ironic that only one of us gets 'pegged' with 'minority/diversity issues' service. I guess I'm just saying I'm starting to develop a guilt complex.

(To be fair, I haven't felt any pressure to do more 'diversity' stuff from the dept. or this colleague but I still have this lingering unsettled feeling.)

Has anyone had similar experiences? Am I just over-analyzing things again?

[yellowtractor]

Let me get this straight:  you are feeling guilty because you don't have enough committee work, advisees, etc.?

At the campuses where I've taught, it is natural (that is, organic to the institutional structure) for professors who teach "in an identifiably 'ethnic' field" to be tapped for these sorts of duties.  It's because (a) administrators recognize them as "the professors who teach X," and (b) students who take their classes associate them with X and so will go to them, nominate them, etc.  If you happen to be X, but you are teaching Y, you won't come first to mind.

Why not ask your colleague to lunch and find out whether s/he is feeling overburdened, targeted, etc.?  Then you can get a better feel for what it's like to be on the other side of this particular fence, and, if appropriate, offer to share some of those duties, as necessary.

[pandora]

Thank god -- a new thread.  About something practical.

Why not ask your colleague to lunch and find out whether s/he is feeling overburdened, targeted, etc.?  Then you can get a better feel for what it's like to be on the other side of this particular fence, and, if appropriate, offer to share some of those duties, as necessary.

This is an excellent idea.  My guess is that your colleague, being new and self-conscious about being a good citizen, probably has no idea that it might be completely ok to say "no" to some of this stuff.  But if s/he had the option of saying, "Why don't you ask my colleague JH, who I know is interested in contributing to diversity blah blah blah....." that would take off some of the pressure.  It's really not appropriate for your colleague to be asked to do so much service work at this early stage in her/his career, especially if there are high expectations about publishing for tenure.  This kind of overburdening of women of color, in particular, is very common on campuses that don't have a lot diverse faculty, and administrators across campus may have no idea that they're all tapping the same person.

[teaching_monkey]

Well, I think of it this way.  I am black and I am a physics professor.  My friend at the same university is also black, works out the English department and teaches courses with titles such as "20th Century African American Literature", "The Works of Langston Hughes," etc. 

My research deals with the physical properties of sound transmission; his research deals with the progression of the black community as expressed through their artistic expressions.  Which one of us would you figure is more qualified to sit on these diversity panels and organize their functions?

Frankly, I might be offended if they even asked me to perform such a duty just because of the colour of my skin.

[bewildered]

I hereby absolve myself of all guilt relating to all things that exist or can be imagined.  And anyone who disagrees is irrelevant.

Feel free to disagree.

(On the other hand, even though I am guilty of nothing, I'm always willing to apologize if I think it's strategically useful).

[pandora]

Frankly, I might be offended if they even asked me to perform such a duty just because of the colour of my skin.

Hi teaching monkey -- ok, that's fine, but from the perspective of an adminstrator, how would you go about asking faculty to serve on such a committee?  Would it be more appropriate for them to ask white faculty for fear of offending minority faculty simply by asking them?  I once worked on a campus where every member of a committee devoted to diversity issues was white, and I was frankly a little irked that nobody asked me -- or another person of color -- to serve on that committee.  That seemed like a problem to me.  And just hypothetically speaking, even though you are a scientist and don't actually study race relations, I think you might be surprised at how much more you do know than other faculty who are white about some institutional issues -- if simply about what it means to be who you are in this profession.  Hypothetically speaking, anyhow.