Content area
Full text
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has launched a major new effort to increase the racial diversity of its faculty. A new 156-page report outlines the steps the university is taking to reach its goal.
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge has had a stellar record in achieving a high level of racial diversity in its student body. Blacks are 8 percent of the student body. Latinos make up 12 percent of all undergraduate students and Asians make up one quarter of all students. Non-Hispanic whites make up 37 percent of the student body. There are 94 black freshmen at MTT this year. They make up a remarkable 8.7 percent of the first-year class.
The performance of MtT in attracting African- American students over the years is noteworthy since other highly selective institutions with a heavy science curriculum have not been successful in admitting significant numbers of blacks.
Traditionally, MIT always has been far more successful in attracting highly qualified black students than its West Coast counterpart, the California Institute of Technology. We note that on at least three occasions over the past 14 years there have been no black students in the freshman class at CalTech.
MIT is just as serious about increasing the racial diversity of its faculty. Blacks make up about 4 percent of all full-time faculty at MIT. This is a better record than found at Ivy League institutions such as Harvard and Princeton. A new 156-page report offers far more detail than basic numbers. And the report outlines in detail the steps MIT is taking to improve the racial diversity of its faculty.
Current figures show that underrepresented minorities (blacks, Hispanics, and Native Americans)...