Date: Fri, 20 Jun 1997 04:29:08 -0400
From: Thomas F Brown <tombrown@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
Subject: Re: hiring
To: socgrad@csf.colorado.edu
Message-id: <97Jun20.042911edt.786-7@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu>
Content-transfer-encoding: 7BIT
>        Similarly, a student interest in gender or racial/ethnic issues,
>stemming from their experience, may make a white male advisor
>uncomfortable; furthermore, they may discourage such analysis because it
>is marginalized, and they don't see 'de-marginalization' of that field as
>worth a battle.  Either way, the experience and interests of the student
>are devalued; this may push them away from that advisor and his
>'mainstream' interests, and towards minority faculty and/or marginalized
>fields.  You might say that the devaluation cancells the push towards 
>mainstream (prestigious) specialities, and increases the pull towards 
>similar others and marginalized fields.

I'm not following the logic here. How does the lack of interest in a particular
topic on the part of a faculty member constitute a push factor? Are all faculty
required to be interested in all topics? If a student is interested in a given
topic, then that student will gravitate to faculty with similar interests.
This is self-selection--a pull factor. I don't see where you get any
pushing or tracking out of this....

>        Finally, just to add to the confusion, the male white faculty can
>feel/act genuinely puzzled, and take no responsibility for the whole
>dynamic.  For instance, when students tell of their experiences, they are
>told that it's THEIR choices that are the problem; if they'd just ignore
>their own experiences and act/feel/think like white men, there wouldn't be
>a problem. 

Oh dear, how over the top! Did you actually hear someone say this, or is
it an imaginary script playing in your mind? It's certainly an unflattering
stereotype of whitemale faculty. Do you tolerate such stereotyping of
other sexes and races?

Also, what problem are you talking about?