College tops Iviews in tenured women
Despite a male-dominated history and some continuing problems with child care and gender discrimination, women comprise more than one-fifth of the College's tenured faculty -- the highest percentage of tenured female faculty in the Ivy League. According to this year's annual report from the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, 22.4 percent of tenured College faculty -- excluding medical faculty -- are female. The other seven Ivy League institutions, on average, have women at 15.3 percent of tenured faculty positions according to a survey conducted by Harvard University. Within the College's Arts and Sciences faculty, 27.4 percent of tenured faculty are women, according to the report. Some administrators attribute this high percentage to the College's intensive efforts to hire and grant tenure to women. Despite assertions that widening the recruiting pool will dilute the teaching standards of the College, Acting Provost and Dean of the Faculty James Wright said he feels Dartmouth has been increasingly successful in recruiting women while at the same time raising the level of excellence in the faculty. "I think we've aggressively tried to make sure our recruiting pools are rich and diverse," he said. Assistant Dean of the Faculty Sheila Culbert said the College has focused its efforts in this direction since the advent of coeducation in 1972. In 1974, the College formulated its first affirmative action plan, accompanied by President John Kemeny's statement about Dartmouth's commitment to hiring women and minorities and fostering a discrimination-free environment. Director of the Office of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action Mary Childers said the process of increasing the number of tenured female faculty has been eased by the slow but steady establishment of the supports needed for women to succeed in academia. Childers said the most vital supports involve women faculty with children -- child care assistance, uncontested maternity leave and stopping the tenure clock. College administrators realize that no one can succeed in the intense tenure process if they have simultaneous parenting responsibilities, Childers said French and Italian Professor Marianne Hirsch said she was a single parent when first hired by the College and found child care to be a critical issue. Although the College will now extend the six-year tenure process to seven years for parents of small children and does provide day care assistance, Hirsch said there was still an lack of afternoon child care and vacation care. Childers said "the smallness of the community may make discriminatory behavior more visible and more subject to community censure," which may be another reason the College has been successful in granting tenure to female faculty. In recent years, complaints from female faculty members about gender discrimination have increased, Childers said. Childers said this increase is actually a positive signal, because it means women feel comfortable coming forward with problems. Moreover, most of the recent complaints have been simply misunderstandings and easily rectifiable, Childers said. Childers said the College's emphasis on teaching as well as research makes it an attractive place for many women scholars.A neglect of students in favor of research would be a breach in academic principle for many female scholars, Childers said.