Shattering the Silences

Streaming video - 2015

Eight professors of color discuss the special pressures minority faculty face in majority white institutions. Shattering the Silences: The Case for Minority Faculty offers everyone in higher education an unprecedented opportunity to see American campuses through the eyes of minority faculty. Across America campus diversity is under attack; affirmative action programs are banned, ethnic studies departments defunded, multicultural scholarship impugned. Even so, faculty of color remain less than 9.2% of all full professors and minority student enrollment is dropping for the first time in 30 years. Shattering the Silences cuts through the rhetoric of the current Culture Wars by telling the stories of eight pioneering scholars - African American..., Latino, Native American and Asian American. As we watch them teach, mentor and conduct research, we realize in concrete terms how a diverse faculty enriches and expands traditional disciplines and contributes to a more inclusive campus environment. These eight professors also discuss the excessive workload and special pressures minority faculty face everyday in majority white institutions. For example, minority teachers are disproportionately tapped to provide diversity on faculty committees and in scholarly organizations. They often find themselves de facto advisors for all the students of their ethnicity on campus. Their research and teaching is held to different standards from that of their white colleagues. Dr. Darlene Clark Hine looks back on the first wave of minority faculty as "a sacrificial generation." Shattering the Silences has been designed to help universities and colleges remedy many of the recruiting and retention problems the video reveals. Academic affairs officers, affirmative action directors, minority student advisors, department chairs, faculty and students can use this film to: Develop a clear consensus around the educational benefits of a diverse faculty and a more culturally inclusive curriculum. Become more sensitive to the singular pressures minority faculty face - both professionally and socially. Explore ways to make campuses more welcoming to minority scholars. Rethink definitions of merit used to evaluate scholarship, teaching and service. Recognize the connection between faculty diversity and recruiting and retaining students of color. Faculty Featured in Shattering the Silences: Miguel Algarin, Associate Professor of English, Rutgers University, Gloria Cuádraz, Assistant Professor of American Studies, Arizona State University, Darlene Clark Hine, John A. Hannah Professor of History, Michigan State University, Robin D.G. Kelley, Professor of History, New York University, Nell Painter, Edwards Professor of History, Princeton University, Alex Saragoza, Associate Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California, Berkeley, David Wilkins, Associate Professor of Political Science, University of Arizona, Shawn Wong, Professor of English, University of Washington. "Shattering the Silences is a shattering experience for a liberal like me...What we see is not pretty and it makes me uncomfortable. This is a powerfully effective film which deserves screening on all our campuses." - Stanley N. Katz, President, American Council of Learned Societies "Graphically illustrates the intolerable burdens minority faculty operate under in our majority institutions and what can be done about them. An excellent vehicle for stimulating candid discussion." - Reginald Wilson, Ph.D., Senior Scholar, American Council on Education "One of the most important films to be produced about higher education or race this decade. It puts before us a vision of how to build strong interracial communities both within the academy and outside its walls." - Paula Brownlee, President, Association of American Colleges and Universities "Beautiful and brilliant...We are left cheering, wincing, crying and applauding...A must-see for anyone concerned with the dynamics of race, ethnicity and power in the American university." - Arthur C. Jones, Society for the Psychological Study of Ethnic Minority Issues "A powerful documentary about one of the most important ongoing transformations in higher education today." - Richard McCormick, President, University of Washington. more