In 2002--10 years after noted black scholar Henry Louis Gates called his year at Duke the most racist experience of his academic life--the Journal of Blacks in Higher Education ranked Duke number one in integrating blacks.
Four years later, questions are rising anew about whether much has changed for black professors at Duke. The issue of retention and recruitment has been thrust back into campus dialogue by the allegations of rape against the men's lacrosse team.
After the much-heralded success of the Black Faculty Strategic Initiative, which doubled the number of black professors from 44 to 88 between 1993 and 2003, both administrators and faculty acknowledged a shift in focus to increasing diversity in other forms, like hiring more women and other minorities.
"I think they stopped paying attention to black faculty," Paula McClain, a professor of political science who is black, said in June.
This summer, six black faculty members will be departing. Provost Peter Lange insists that many of the decisions to depart were made before rape allegations surfaced, and that the case had, at most, a minimal effect.
Many in the black faculty community, however, have been displeased with the handling of the incident.
"The substantial number of [black] faculty people that I have talked to have all felt the same way-that the University failed to recognize the racial dimensions of this and failed to address it quickly," McClain said.
Administrators recognize that the loss of six black faculty members in a highly competitive environment is not something to be shrugged off and have acknowledged the difficulty facing black professors--who as of January 2005 made up only 3.9 percent of the University's more than 2,500 faculty members.
These professors often must juggle the many demands made on their time, serving as advisors to black students or as the minority voices on numerous boards, committees and task forces.
"We've always known that... if we want diversity on our committees we have a relatively small pool," Lange said. "This spring's events kind of ratcheted that way up and... the best way to help relieve that problem is to hire more African and African-American faculty. We're working at that."
George McLendon, dean of the faculty of Arts and Sciences, has been widely lauded for his success in faculty recruiting since arriving at Duke two years ago, but he admits that the issues raised by the lacrosse scandal may pose difficulties in the recruitment of black faculty.
He maintains, however, that Duke can still attract top-tier professors.
For him, an essential recruiting tool is the community of black professors who are already at the University.
"The most important recruiter is the person who's already here, who knows them, who is friends with them, who they know and trust," he said. "That's one of many reasons why it's critical to pay continuing attention to making sure that the faculty you already have are doing as well as they already have."
To this end, Lange has pledged to provide resources from the Office of the Provost to support a community among black faculty.
"My understanding is that as a result of all of this discussion that the development of a network among our black faculty is intensifying, and I think it's important that that be encouraged," he said.
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