A group of department chairs and program directors are urging George Washington University to hire more underrepresented faculty and increase Africana studies program funding, The GW Hatchet reported.
George Washington UniversityThe group has created a petition calling on GW officials to hire 18 minority faculty “primarily” in the Columbian College of Arts and Sciences (CCAS) and give money for the Africana studies program to become its own department.
As of Feb. 8, the petition has about 850 signatures.
Black and Latinx professors have left GW due to a lack of an underrepresented faculty community and an underfunded Africana studies program, according to the petition.
Underrepresented minority faculty have comprised approximately 9% of all GW tenured or tenure-track faculty in the past decade, according to the petition and data.
University President Dr. Thomas LeBlanc has announced last week that an outside firm will be doing a diversity audit of the school this semester.
