Overview of Diversity at JMU
A brief history
According to 2020 Census data, most Virginia citizens under the age of eighteen are people of color. Overall, people of color now make up 41% of Virginia's entire population. Currently, the Black population makes up 20% of Virginians, 11% identify as Latinx, 9% Asian American, and 0.5% American Indian. While the total percentage of non-White students at JMU has increased from 3.6% in 1980 to 21.5% in 2020, this increase has not kept pace with demographic changes in Virginia.
Table 1: DEI training powerpoint JMU HR to provide context (who are the students and how has the racial make-up of the student body changed over 40 years). Note that the term "multi-racial" was not an option prior to 2011and its inclusion mirrors the change in the U.S. Census categories. Source, Nash, Carole.
Diversity Among JMU Employess
Furthermore, diversity among JMU employees is not growing at the same rate as in the student body. In 2003-2004, 6% of JMU employees were non-White, increasing to only 10.4% in 2019-2020. White employees comprise 84% of JMU employees. While the University has undoubtedly made progress on diversifying the faculty in recent years, according to College Factual, JMU has not kept pace with other public institutions in the Commonwealth.
Table 2: College Factual Data
Where we are today
According to the National Center for Education Statistics, in the Fall of 2018, of full-time faculty in U.S. degree-granting postsecondary institutions, 25% were faculty of color. With 7 percent identifying as Asian/Pacific Islander males, 5 percent as Asian/Pacific Islander females, and 3 percent in each of the following categories: Black males, Black females, Hispanic males, and Hispanic females.
An increasingly diversifying student body should be served by a diverse faculty. The numbers above are clear. JMU needs a more diverse Faculty and Staff. According to students, diversifying the faculty creates an increased sense of safety for them. Above all, it broadens our understanding of pressing public problems and how to address them. Our class wishes to emphasize a heightened sense of urgency to make progress at JMU. In our collective experiences, there are far too many students on campus who have felt uncomfortable and unsafe in their classrooms due to harmful practices on the part of their professor or their peers. We are well aware that the liberal arts experience should stimulate and challenge students intellectually. What we refer to here, though, are discriminatory experiences that JMU students have been forced to endure. Some students have been willing to publicly share their experiences through "I, too, am JMU" and the "JMU Through Living Color" exhibit.
Diversifying the faculty will take time, work, and resources. However, this work will pay off in a more inclusive environment, an increasingly more diverse student body, and a community that is knowledgeable and capable of fighting racism and discrimination at our University and beyond.
