Once again the ugly head of racism has surfaced on the Northern Illinois University campus. This latest episode is most troubling in that instead of the overt predictable racism, we have been graced this time by the oft indistinguishable, highly deceptive institutional variety.

Institutional racists are perhaps the most devastating, because they have become most proficient in cleverly disguising racist feelings and tendencies. They are experts at deceptive racism through the guise of “quality,” “fairness,” “academic freedom,” “personnel procedures and policies” and “First Amendment rights.” They utilize their skill to undermine or otherwise render ineffective any positive effort to improve the plight or position of minority students, faculty or administrators.

As established academics, they attempt to rationally argue to nullify each effort toward minority parity by laying traps on technical grounds. There is also the effort to undermine by applying emotional descriptives against racial parity: words such as, “diminished quality,” “bounty,” “quotas” and others which will incite strong negative emotional responses to what is being proposed.

Another major strategy is to plant seeds which will sprout into divisiveness between protected classes: women v. minorities, blacks v. Hispanics, Hispanics v. women, etc. The net result of these strategies is that nothing can be done because of the in-fighting or, at minimum, what is done is so diluted that it would be ineffectual anyway.

The most recent case in point is a prime example of the above. Through the office of the Provost, a new incentive plan was proposed which could possibly increase the number of racial minority faculty on the campus. Such an effort should be applauded in that the numbers bear out the fact that there is major under-representation of minorities (especially black and Hispanic) faculty on this campus.

Of NIU’s 1,264 instructional faculty, only 24 (1.9 percent) are black, 16 (1.3 percent) are Hispanic, while 426 (33.7 percent) are white women. When one reviews tenured faculty, the numbers are even more distressing: of the 624 tenured faculty, 11 (1.8 percent) are black, 7 (1.1 percent) are Hispanic, while 119 (19.1 percent) are white women.

These numbers alone, however, do not totally reflect the whole story. Minority students need effective role models in the classroom and in every aspect of the university operation. In order for the institution to remain sensitive to the unique needs and problems of minority faculty, staff and students, especially in terms of recruitment and retention matters, it is imperative that racial minorities be adequately represented in all ranks (faculty and staff) of the university.

To maintain the institution as a culturally diverse and strong university sensitive to its public obligation, there is a further obligation to assure full representation of other protected classes. The strategy of targeting racial minorities which represent the most drastically under-represented, as the initial phase of a broader program to address both racial minorities and other protected classes, is a good one. Let’s not destroy a good plan by catering to a few small-minded people.

NIU Black Faculty Organization