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-Angela Valenzuela
INDEPENDENT EQUITY COMMITTEE
AT THE
UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
HISPANIC EQUITY REPORT
________________
October 8, 2019
_______________________________________
Prof. Alberto A. Martínez, IEC Chair
PhD Univ. of Minnesota; UT Dept. of History, and UTeach Natural Sciences. Director of the Undergraduate
Certificate Program in History & Philosophy of Science
Prof. Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra,
PhD Univ. of Wisconsin; UT Dept. of History, Alice Drysdale Sheffield Professor of History; Distinguished
Luverhulme Prof., IAS, U. of London; Distinguished Prof., Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales
Prof. Emilio Zamora,
PhD UT Austin; Depts. of History, CMAS and LLILAS; Fellow of the George W. Littlefield Professorship in
American History; and Fellow and President of the Texas State Historical Association
Prof. Gloria González-López,
PhD Univ. of Southern California; UT Dept. of Sociology and Center for Women's and Gender Studies; Teresa
Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies
Prof. Francisco Gonzalez-Lima,
PhD Univ. of Puerto Rico; UT Depts. of Psychology, Psychiatry, Pharmacology & Toxicology; George I.
Sanchez Centennial Professorship in Liberal Arts; Distinguished Texas Scientist and Academic Director, Texas
Academy of Science; Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow, Germany
Prof. Martha Menchaca,
PhD Stanford; UT Dept. of Anthropology; Latin American Studies; Women and Gender Studies; Dept. of
Mexican American & Latina/o Studies
Prof. Fred Valdez, Jr.,
PhD Harvard; UT Dept. of Anthropology; Director, Center for Archaeological and Tropical Studies; Dept. of
Mexican American & Latina/o Studies; Chair, Archaeological Studies
Prof. John Morán González,
PhD Stanford; UT Dept. of English; Dept. of Mexican American & Latina/o Studies; Director, Center for
Mexican American Studies; J. Frank Dobie Regents Professor in American and English Literature
_________________________________________________
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CO N T E N T S
Executive Summary 3
I. Introduction 7
II. Hispanics in Texas and at the University 8
III. Hispanic Faculty 11
IV. Promotion Gaps 16
V. Compensation Inequities 21
VI. Compensation by Gender 26
VII. Endowed Positions 29
VIII. Academic Qualifications 30
IX. Compensation: Statistical Analysis 43
X. Merit Scores 45
XI. Leadership: Departments, Centers, Institutes 49
XII. Leadership: Administrators 52
XIII. Leadership: Faculty Council 55
XIV. Leadership: Departmental Committees 59
XV. Teaching Awards 66
XVI. What are the Causes of Inequities? 70
Acknowledgments 83
Appendices
1. Hispanic Faculty and Administrators 84
2. Academic Departments 87
3. Compensation of Assistant Professors 90
4. Compensation of Associate Professors 94
5 Compensation of full Professors 101
6. 2019 Recipients of all Endowments 114
7. Endowed Chairs and Professorships 122
8. Centers and Institutes 134
9. 1969-2020: Faculty Council EC 140
10. Public Statement on Governance 148
11. 1958-2019 campus-wide Teaching Awards 149
12. Data for Statistical Analyses 187
INDEPENDENT EQUITY COMMITTEE AT THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS AT AUSTIN
HISPANIC EQUITY REPORT
________________
Executive Summary
This Report is inspired by the principles of equity, inclusion and diversity that UT Austin promotes in
accord with equal employment opportunity laws and policies as well as a culture of fairness, transparency,
honesty and collegiality. Encouraged by the response of UT Austin to the Gender Equity Report of 2008,
the present Report adopts many of the same categories of analysis, recommendations, and plan of action.
Furthermore, we demonstrate that seemingly neutral policies, rules, practices, and systems of management
have produced disparate impacts on Hispanic faculty. This Report is constructive as it offers sensible
recommendations with a clear and compelling analysis of public data available to anyone concerned with
lack of equity for Hispanics in compensation, governance, and advancement.
1. Faculty Representation
In fall 2017, UT Austin had 1,706 tenured and tenure-track faculty (T&TT), including only 119 Hispanic
faculty, or 7% of the total.1 Eight schools and colleges had merely two or fewer T&TT Hispanic faculty.
In contradistinction, 21.4% of all our students were Hispanic, that is, 11,005 students.2 Moreover, more
than 39% of the population in Texas is Hispanic, including most 18 to 24-year-olds (46% Hispanic).3 After
California, Texas is the state with the second largest Hispanic population: 11,082,299 Hispanics. Therefore,
we find that Hispanics are highly underrepresented among T&TT faculty at UT Austin.
2. Compensation Inequities
Substantial salary gaps exist between T&TT White and Hispanic faculty members, gaps that remain even
after taking account of field, rank, and scholarship. The gap between annual mean compensations in 2017
meant that Hispanic full Professors were paid approximately $25,342 less than White full Professors.
Hispanic Associate Professors were paid approximately $10,647 less than White Associate Professors.
Hispanic Assistant Professors were paid approximately $19,636 less than White Assistant Professors.
We analyzed salaries and curricula vita of 90 faculty members in the College of Liberal Arts
(CoLA), including 13 Hispanic full professors in four large departments: Anthropology, History, Sociology,
and Psychology. This constitutes 27% of all Hispanic full Professors at UT Austin. We found that most of
them, 77%, are paid near the bottom of the pay scales. Inequity is evident since they are among the most
published faculty, as 54% are among the Top 10 most published in their departments. Moreover, we carried
out an analysis of covariance with one-tailed hypothesis testing, adjusted for covariates of gender, years
1 Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, 2017 Texas Public Higher Education Almanac, pp. 22, 39 (pdf pp. 24, 41).
http://www.thecb.state.tx.us/reports/PDF/10900.PDF?CFID=76876980&CFTOKEN=67679196. For the list of 119 Hispanic
T&TT faculty, see Appendix 1: pp. 84-85 of the present Report.
2 Ibid., p. 39 (pdf p. 41). Although students may self-describe as Hispanic and members of one or more races, UT’s Institutional
Reporting Research and Information Systems (IRRIS) requires that “persons who are Hispanic should be reported only on the
Hispanic line, not under any race, and persons who are non-Hispanic multi-racial should be reported only under ‘Two or more
races’,” in accord with IPEDS (the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System), National Center for Education Statistics.
See Common Data Set IMA_PUB_CDS_2017-2018_Ay.pdf, p. 3.
3 Texas Demographic Center, “Estimates of the Population by Age, Sex, and Race/Ethnicity for July 1, 2017,” p. 1.
https://demographics.texas.gov/Resources/TPEPP/Estimates/2017/2017_ASRE_Estimate_alldata.pdf
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employed, and publications, which showed that the mean compensation of Hispanic faculty was statistically
significantly lower than the mean compensation of White faculty. Moreover, we found a near zero
correlation between the compensation and publications of Hispanic faculty, contrary to White faculty.
3. Hispanic Gender Gap
For Latina faculty, the 2008 Gender Equity initiative did not work. We find glaring inequities for Latinas:
the lowest salaries among all faculty, extreme lack of inclusion in leadership, the fewest endowments and
awards. E.g., in January 2019 not a single Latina served in any of 130 positions of Dean, Vice Dean,
Associate Dean, or Assistant Dean. Among 98 departments and comparable units on campus, only 3 Latinas
served as chairs. Among 220 centers and institutes on campus, only one is headed by a Latina (0.4%).
Worse, with only one exception (the Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction) Latinas do not lead any of the
300+ departments, centers, and institutes that do not focus on Hispanic issues.
4. Promotions, Endowments, Awards
From 2010 to 2018, Hispanic faculty received the lowest rates of promotions to the ranks of Associate
Professor with tenure and of full Professor, among six ethnic/racial categories. Promotions to tenure are
especially concerning: only 62.5% of Hispanic applicants became tenured, compared to nearly 85% of
White and Asian faculty, 100% of Multiple Others (non-Hispanic), and 76.3% of Black faculty. Black
faculty had the second lowest tenure rates but the highest promotion rate to full Professors, whereas
Hispanics registered the lowest in both categories. Our investigation of retention (irrespective of application
to tenure) yields an even more disturbing number: only 40% of tenure-track Hispanics remained at UT.
The University rewards academic and pedagogical merit with endowments and teaching awards.
Hispanics are rarely awarded such honors. In 2018, at least 912 faculty or administrators at UT Austin
received UT funds from endowments. Only 5% were Hispanic. We analyzed a subset: T&TT professors
who were “Holders” (i.e., not fellows) of Chairs or Professorships, the two kinds of endowments that
usually have the highest prestige and largest accounts. Among 541 Chairs and Professorships only 18
(3.3%), were held by Hispanic faculty. As for teaching awards, in the past 62 years UT Austin and the UT
system have given 929 campus-wide awards to UT Austin faculty, but only 30 to Hispanics (3.2%). We
worry that departments are not considering qualified Hispanics for these honors and that instead of merit
some appointments are made by favoritism and unconscious bias. Using student evaluations as a major
criteria for teaching awards marginalizes Hispanics disproportionately because studies have shown that
student evaluations exhibit gender and racial biases.
5. University Leadership
Disparities in compensation correlate with the lack of Hispanic faculty in leadership at UT Austin. Very
few serve as administrators, deans, and department chairs, although some Hispanic faculty are qualified
and seek such opportunities. In January 2019, the University had 130 Deans, Vice Deans, Associate Deans,
and Assistant Deans, including only 10 Hispanic men (7.7%). None are Hispanic Females. Within 98
academic departments and other units, only 6 Department Chairs are Hispanic: all in Liberal Arts,
Education, and Fine Arts. The University has 220 centers and institutes yet only 8 (3.6%) Directors who
are Hispanic. It is disappointing that presently no Hispanic Professors at all serve as department chairs in
any branches of Engineering, Natural Sciences, Architecture, Medicine, Law, Business, Public Affairs,
Information, and Communication. The same is true for all centers and institutes in these fields.
Appointments and elections (majority rule) perennially fail to generate inclusion for Hispanic faculty.
This is bias that must be recognized as such. In 50 years, only 4 Hispanics have had the opportunity to
participate in the Executive Committee of Faculty Council, despite the availability of 287 positions in that
time period. Similar exclusion emerges in the governance of departments and the administration at large.
We propose solutions.
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Recommendations
We have carefully analyzed the inequities noted and we believe that some of them constitute bias and
discrimination against Hispanic employees. We hereby formally alert the University of these unfortunate
patterns and respectfully request that such problems be urgently addressed and solved. We offer assistance
in this connection. We ask the Provost to develop a 3-Year Hispanic Equity Plan to reduce or eliminate
inequities that affect Hispanic faculty, especially in the areas of salaries, governance, promotions, and
hiring. The plan should include a timeline, an annual budget, annual goals, and ongoing accountability
mechanisms.
1. Hiring
We request that Hispanic women and men be hired as T&TT professors, in all colleges and schools, but
especially in the following order of urgency: Natural Sciences, LBJ School of Public Affairs, McCombs
Business School, School of Law, Cockrell School of Engineering, Fine Arts, Jackson School of Geosciences,
College of Pharmacy, Dell Medical School, School of Nursing, Architecture, Communication,
School of Social Work, College of Liberal Arts.
When referring to “Hispanics” we mean the following groups: Tejanos, Hispanic Americans, Chicanos,
Puerto Ricans, and other Latin Americans, including Brazilians, following the traditional legal designation
of “Hispanic” for the category that may well be identified as Latin American. Administrators should
prioritize hiring Hispanics who are Tejanos (native Texan Mexican Americans) and who originate from
disadvantaged groups and who labor to improve the inclusion and academic advancement of Hispanic
students. That is, we do not recommend recruitment of privileged White Hispanics of wealthy Latin
American backgrounds.
2. Salaries and Resources
A recurring annual investment of $2.3 Million university-wide may suffice to achieve equity compensation
for Hispanic faculty relative to White faculty. The sum required in salary raises for the T&TT Hispanic
faculty is around $1.9 Million per year. The difference of approximately $400,000 is a measure of the
compensation in terms of endowed chairs, professorships, and salary supplements that Hispanic faculty as
a whole may deserve but which they do not receive, by comparison to White faculty.
We also request that senior Hispanic professors approaching retirement should be compensated for
backpay, at the very least for a period of ten years. Another option is to offer a retirement package totaling
the equivalent of an employee’s two-year salary.
4. Governance
We find that Hispanics are too often excluded from positions of departmental and university governance,
especially Latinas, partly because such appointments are made at will or by votes, giving way to unintended
bias, repeated patronage, and favoritism. To remedy such inadvertent exclusion, we strongly recommend
that such appointments be made inclusively by rotation. This is done in some universities, such as the
Department of Psychology of Princeton University.
We request that the Provost establish rotation as a required method of inclusion campus-wide, in all
departments, colleges, and schools. To be sure, we do not expect that every professor in a department or
unit should serve in every capacity by means of alphabetic appointments. Instead, for a given role, such as
Department Chair, qualified faculty (i.e., tenured faculty) should specify whether they want to serve in that
capacity. Once a department complies the list of qualified and willing participants, then the selection is
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carried out by a public random process or in order of seniority. Also, each role should have short term limits
to prevent a single person from occupying the same position for a prolonged time while other qualified
individuals may wish to serve in that capacity too. An inclusive process of appointments by rotation is
especially urgent and needed in common departmental roles such as Chair, Associate Chair, Graduate
Advisor, Chair of the Salaries Committee, and Directors of Centers and Institutes.
Departments throughout UT include a faculty position that is very underused: Minority Liaisons. This
existing structure should be revamped to improve equity and inclusion within departments, for example, by
participating in meetings of Executive Committees and in cases of promotion of minorities.
3. Student Admissions
Holistic Application Review of admissions reduces the percentage of new Hispanic undergraduates.
Contrary to what UT Austin argued before the Supreme Court, admissions via Holistic Application Review
systematically reduce the numbers of Hispanic and Black students enrolled. To become a Hispanic Serving
Institution, UT Austin should modify the process of Holistic Admission Review. We ask the Office of
Admissions to make public annual enrollments yield data on race and ethnicity in admissions under both
admissions processes: Automatic Admissions and Holistic Application Review.
5. Retention and Promotion
Hispanics lag significantly behind all other racial/ethnic groups in promotions. This has occurred despite
meeting the hiring requirements and early evaluations of their work. The University should conduct an
assessment of promotion disparities. We urge administrators to improve the mentorship for junior Hispanic
faculty. However, we provide evidence that tenure-track Hispanic faculty often meet and exceed promotion
standards but are held to higher standards. We therefore recommend that the Vice Provost for Diversity
should participate in the President’s Committee on promotion and tenure.
We especially need a concerted effort to reverse the longtime Hispanic gender equity gaps in hiring,
salaries, appointments to leadership, and recognition of academic and pedagogical merit at all levels, from
teaching awards to endowed chairs, to promotion to positions of leadership.
6. Leadership
We recommend that Hispanics, especially Hispanic women, be hired as Deans, Associate Deans, or
Assistant Deans, in all colleges and schools, especially in the following in order of urgency: the Graduate
School, Undergraduate School, Natural Sciences, Public Affairs, McCombs Business School, School of
Law, Cockrell School of Engineering, Fine Arts, Jackson School of Geosciences, College of Pharmacy,
Dell Medical School, and the School of Nursing.
We are well aware that it might seem unusual to seek candidates of any specific race or ethnicity.
However, it is essential to interrupt the prolonged pattern of promoting and hiring almost exclusively White
individuals. We also expect that Hispanic administrators will work on issues of recruiting and retaining
Hispanic undergraduates, graduate students and faculty, conducting reviews of equity and inclusion for all
minorities, and working to allocate resources and opportunities fairly among faculty.
7. Evaluation of Academic and Pedagogical Merit
We demand greater accountability on how the highest forms of academic and pedagogical merit on campus
are bestowed. Individuals ought to have the right to self-nominate to awards and endowments. Committees
should consider nominations as academic peer-reviewed evaluations. It would ameliorate the lack of access
to social capital that undermines the advancement of Hispanics on campus.
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