That's racist

Do you want to feel angry (-ier) at academia today? If yes, then read the comments section to this article  in the Chronicle: "Black Dandies Fashion New Academic Identities."

Now, it might be the case that the commenters on the article aren't all academics, but, good god, holy fuck. Why the hell would any underrepresented minority want to enter a field into which their desire to dress REALLY FUCKING SHARP is taken to indicate that they have fallen under:

the spell of "the bling" over "the books" [and that this] has captured [sic] may of our "colleagues" in the hypnotic rapture of their closets[?]

How can someone's immediate reaction to this article be to rush to the comments to remark:

"clothes horse" is not an intellectual compliment. And I suppose this is black male sexuality, assuming your role model is a pimp[,]

rather than to want to step up your sartorial game and stop shopping at the GAP outlet?

In light of these comments, is it any wonder that the number of minority faculty members are so terrible? Look:

Humanities faculty: 82.3% White, 5% Black, 5.8% Asian Pacific Islander, .8% Native American, and 5.1% Hispanic. Philosophy faculty: 88.9 % white (around 16.6% of whom are women; compared to about 35% in the Humanities at large), 4.6% Asian Pacific Islander (.6% women), 3% Native American (1% women), 2.4% Blacks (.1 % women), and 1.1% Hispanics (.1 % women) (Table 245 in Snyder, T.D., Dillow, S.A., and Hoffman, C.M. (2008). Digest of Education Statistics 2007 (NCES 2008-022)).

And, to those other commenters on the article wondering why this deserves mention in the Chronicle at all, pull your head out of your ass and think about some work Paul D. Umbach (2006) summarizes:

[F]aculty of color create a comfortable environment and provide support and mentoring for students of color (Cole and Barber, 2003; Smith, 1989). Students of color look to faculty who they believe will be able to understand them. Faculty of color are best able to understand their special problems and provide them with the encouragement they need to succeed (Cole and Barber, 2003). Academic performance and career aspirations are enhanced when students of color have minority faculty who serve as role models for them (Cole and Barber, 2003; Hurtado et al., 1999; Smith, 1989).

We don't talk much about race, ethnicity, or class on this blog. We should.

Update: I JUST WANT TO PUNCH SO MUCH STUFF RIGHT NOW.

Update 2: That purple sweater and those shoes? Yeah.

Click to embiggen.

Update 3: I included more numbers from the table I mentioned. And here's a screen grab (there might be more recent reports out there): 

 -- Jaded, Ph.D.