Professional Life Part 5 - Feb 28, 2022

An alert has informed me that more people are reading this blog. I might have as many as 6 viewers. I'm in the big time now! As you are aware, I've been chronicling some of my experiences as a professional economist. I'll continue with a rundown of some of the racist stuff which happened to me regarding employment. As always, the names have been changed to protect the guilty.

STORY 1

There was this large state school in the south who had never hired a black economist (still haven't). I knew several of the economists working at the place and saw that my record was comparable to theirs so there wouldn't be a question of ability or qualifications. It's often heard "we want to hire a black economist but we don't want to lower our standards" or "we can't find anyone out there who could get tenure here". Pretty typical lame excuses. Over the years I had been in contact with some of the faculty members there but not enough to say that I really knew them. Instead of reaching out to the department, which I knew would be worthless, I contacted the dean of the college and sent my CV. He responded with great enthusiasm. In fact, part of his email said "...I will begin conversation with you about a potential senior faculty position and will invite you to give a talk this fall. " He was serious and wanted me there that fall. However, the fall seminar never happened. In fact, he never would have contacted me again had I not reached out to him. What happened? He had one conversation with that department and then said to me "...Unfortunately, ECON has decided to pursue another candidate for an opportunity hire." What's interesting about this story is that all of these years later that economics department still has not hired a black economist. This talk of "another candidate" was just a way of appeasing the dean until he was distracted with other things. That department has to be over 100 years old and has never and will never hire anyone who looks like me despite a dean or my qualifications.

STORY 2

There was an advertisement at another economics department in the south at a school which I was more than qualified for. Part of the ad said that they were looking for "...economists with a strong commitment and history of mentoring students from underrepresented and underserved populations." For those of you who aren't aware, I had spent my entire career doing exactly that stuff in addition to my scholarship and teaching. From my role as Assistant Dean for Faculty and Graduate Student Development, which in that capacity I helped to see the college increase the number of African American faculty members by 600% and graduate students by 800% to serving as the co-chair of the AEA Committee on the Status of Minority Groups in the Economics Profession, I had done it all. So, what happened?:

1) I was scheduled for a 30 minute virtual interview to which the search chairperson was 8 minutes late. As Assistant Dean and Department chair, I have headed many searches. I would describe the interaction as hostile. The committee was looking for any reason to disqualify me. With 90 seconds left I was asked if I had any questions. I responded "are we not going to talk about diversity?" The committee responded "Oh yeah, I guess we should have asked about that." I proceeded to tell them about my work but was immediately cut off.

2) I was told that I should contact letter writers and have recommendations mailed in by the 6th of December. I found that odd that letters would be requested so early for a senior scholar such as myself. I complied because I wanted to explore the opportunity of joining the department. It was so late in the fall semester that I figured the process would pick back up in the spring.

3) I did not hear a response from the department until I reached out on January 15th. Apparently, they told me to solicit letters of recommendation while other candidates were being brought to campus and offered positions. The timing was off here in that the university was on winter break so when and how were these offers made?

4) Most insulting was the correspondence. I was confused for a junior hire. Had I not reached out, would I have ever been informed? This is the type of interaction that minority scholars encounter too often.

So what did they end up doing? Nothing for over a decade. They hired for sure but not a black economist. I heard that in 2022 they did hire a minority economist who had just gotten out of school with her degree. So, now that person will be faced with trying to get tenure or actually "mentoring students from underrepresented and underserved populations." My bet is this person focuses in on scholarship (as she rightly better do) and the underrepresented and underserved kids get the shaft. I bet the advertising for this person didn't even mention diversity.

STORY 3

In the fall of my last semester at the University of Oklahoma, word had gotten out that I was seeking other job opportunities. I had begun talks with Tulane (where I'm employed at the time of this writing) but hadn't signed anything. In fact, I expected a formal offer to arrive in about 10 days. An associate dean from a university reached out to me to ask if I was moving. I informed him that I was definitely trying move but had no written offer. He asked me to consider them. I said that they would need to hurry given I'd definitely take the Tulane job when an offer came.

For the next week, we hurried trying to get things arranged. He wasn't in economics but knew of me and my work. From what I gathered, he failed to do one critical thing, consider the racist intents of economics faculty members. After all of the frenzied work he went through, he took the proposal to his dean whom he said was favorable to the plan. Apparently, he had reached across campus to other units to come up with funding and things. However, the dean had one conversation with the department chair of economics and the deal was dead. Not a big surprise to me.

They couldn't say anything about my record. Not a word could be said about my teaching. I didn't know any of this but apparently a white professor in that department said that she interacted with me and I sexually harassed her. Not true but who cares about the truth. Of course, this was never said to me. There was never a complaint formal or informal made to me or about me. It was just said. No one asked me what I could say in response. The word of this white woman was enough. However, some people who later secretly told me all this were terrified of her. I barely knew the woman. They said that she was a master manipulator and had the dean and department chair eating out of her hands for anything she wanted or didn't want. My confidants were sure that she was a racist but afraid to say it. The assault that she launched on me still remains to this day. I get people who look at me funny wondering if the "rumor" is true. I hear that she's still telling that tale all over the profession.

So those are just a few of the many stories that I could tell about doing professional economics while black.