HBS Sees Slow Faculty Diversity Gains

Harvard Business School. Courtesy photo

For the student population, even with an increase in female students from 36% in 2006 to 42% in 2016, the school had the lowest rate of women enrolled among 11 Harvard professional schools and Harvard College. It isn’t much better for underrepresented minority students, which also rose from 8% in 2006 to 11% in 2016. Only four schools had lower rates, again putting HBS in the bottom half. The Engineering School and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences each had just 8% underrepresented minorities enrolled in 2016, which represented the lowest rates among all schools. At the top were Harvard College and the Graduate School of Education, each enrolling 19% minorities in 2016.

In terms of diversity of staff, the business school also trails fairly substantially compared to the other professional schools. At just 8%, HBS has less minorities on staff than every other professional school besides the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences, which has 7%. And with just 1% international staff members, the school trails all schools besides the School of Divinity and the Radcliffe College, which both reported having no international staff members. For women staff members, the school fairs better with 60%, even the rate is a decrease from the 2006 rate of 66%. Four other schools at Harvard have lower percentages of women on staff with School of Engineering and Applied Sciences again having the lowest rate at 38%.

The report points out that despite Harvard’s Puritan roots and a lengthy history of closed doors, the school has most recently enrolled some of its most diverse classes — especially at the undergraduate level in Harvard College. “Alongside great ethnic and racial diversity, we have also achieved gender parity, an increased presence of international students, strong commitments to financial aid that bring us meaningful socioeconomic diversity, and ever-deepening commitments to accessibility for those with disabilities. Our community also benefits from a diversity of sexual identities, political viewpoints, and religions,” the report reads.

Still, the report authors admit, the university has not been as successful at increasing diversity and inclusion across all professional schools, which is essential to seeing the “intellectual fruits” of a diverse educational environment, the report reads. “To gain the benefit of diversity, Harvard must fully integrate all members of the University into academic, professional, and social contexts that support their individual flourishing and activate their potential. Excellence requires successful practices of inclusion at all levels, from the interpersonal to the organizational,” the report reads.

Still, this will be a challenging journey, the report’s authors admit.

“We may not yet understand all the relevant pedagogic tools for the work of simultaneously upholding principles of academic freedom and inclusion, or how to clarify fully the distinctions between productive discomfort, pointless harm, and actual trauma, but we will find the answers only if we seek them. And we must find them, if we are to make good on the opportunity our diversity presents us to build a solid foundation for the pursuit of excellence. Our enduring commitments to discovery and creativity should themselves help us find the way forward.”

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