Herbert School Diversity Report Calls for Changes to Faculty, Academics
BY: MICHELLE RABINOVICH
Photo courtesy of Sabrina Lee
(May 28, 2022) — A report issued by the Lawrence Herbert School of Communication called for a series of diversity initiatives and reforms within the school, including addressing the “intimidating culture” and “perceived inequitable appointment of leadership” in campus news outlets, diversifying faculty hires and creating a reporting line for students to voice concerns about a club or department.
Russell Chun, an associate professor of journalism, media studies and public relations and a lead coordinator of the Herbert School’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee, solicited student respondents for a survey throughout November by posting fliers around campus. Students participated across all years and communication majors, including journalism, public relations, film and mass media. There were 266 participants out of 857 total students at the Herbert School — a response rate of 31%. Based on these answers, a series of recommendations were issued to the school.
“We wanted our focus to be on the student experience and how we can improve the learning atmosphere for our students,” Chun told The Clocktower. The full report can be viewed here.
Image courtesy of Russell Chun
The survey explored instances of discrimination or exclusion on the basis of a variety of factors, including gender, race, religion, political beliefs, disability and socio-economic status.
Over 10% of students in the Lawrence Herbert School of Communications said they have experienced some form of discrimination on the basis of their gender, making it the most common type of discrimination in the Herbert School flagged by the survey. Respondents also reported that the majority of discrimination and offensive conduct took place in both classes and clubs.
Samantha Walker, a first-year graduate student in the school’s journalism program and a woman of color, said she experienced sexism firsthand while working at the school radio station. “Within WRHU, I’ve been told, ‘You’re getting this opportunity because you’re a girl,’” she said. Representatives from WRHU did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Image courtesy of Russell Chun
Students also pointed out that the results may have inadvertently downplayed the reality of Herbert School students of color. While all students were courted to take the survey, 209 out of 266 of them -- nearly 80% of respondents -- were white. In contrast, 52.73% of Hofstra University students as a whole are white, according to the Princeton Review.
“I personally think that this skews the responses when it comes to the questions about racial diversity since a majority of the respondents think that we cover diversity and inclusion adequately,” said Brook Bhola, president of Hofstra’s National Black Public Relations Society and a senior public relations major. “In past semesters [students] have brushed upon the topic of diversity lightly and highlighted how it is a 'thing' that is happening and is important, but not gone in-depth about what it really means in our fields.”
Chun clarified that the results were not meant to be read as absolute. “[The] survey wasn’t meant to stand as a rigorous research study with a randomized sampling but to provide us with an idea of the current climate of our school,” Chun said. “That said, our response rate is actually pretty decent and we do believe it has given us valuable insight into where we can move forward.”
Bhola also said she hoped to see greater diversity in faculty. “The school of [communication] is really lacking in having professors who are diverse and can offer other perspectives in the conversations that we have,” she said. “Professor Cardona is the only [public relations] professor of color I've had and one of two professors of color I've had in the school of [communication] in general, so I definitely think there need to be efforts in place to change the diversity of the faculty.”
Meanwhile, senior journalism major Damali Ramirez, president of the Hofstra chapter of the National Association of Hispanic Journalists , was unfazed by the results of the survey. She noted the lackluster actions and responses from faculty and staff for low-income students that she says she’s witnessed in the past.
“All I heard from my professors was, ‘You should be involved in this and that,’ to which I respond, ‘Oh, that sounds great, but I can’t because I’m working 40 hours and also going to school full time,’ and they would always respond, ‘That shouldn’t matter,’” she said. “I felt like it was tone-deaf.”
Ramirez also said how important it was for faculty to support students that come from marginalized communities to join organizations in the Herbert School.
“I think it’s important for faculty to encourage students to join these groups but also be there when students express concerns about possible cliques or abuses of leadership positions,” she said.
Vice Dean Mario Murillo said that the DEI committee is facilitating “a number of things to follow up” on concerns about diversity and equity in the Herbert School.
“We continue to carry out faculty development training workshops on a number of different levels [and] aspects of some of these issues,” he told The Clocktower. However, he also said there have been obstacles on this front in the past. “We don’t have the green light to hire new people,” he said. “It’s a challenge, so I think those are the areas that we have to still work on, and I think the whole university has to work on that.”
Moving forward, the report says the DEI committee aims to coordinate with the Herbert School’s faculty in Community Building Workshops to further educate them on managing difficult discussions, as well as work to create policy language to normalize of use closed captioning during all movies and video screenings throughout the school according to the end of the survey for in-classroom development.
For extracurricular activities, the report also recommended hosting student workshops focused on ways to implement and sustain diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives and mandating Title IX training for all executive board leadership roles in the radio station and OSLE clubs.
