It Takes a Village to Create a Full Professor

Academe, May/Jun 2005 by Fishman, Charlotte

In October 2004, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) released a report called Tenure Denied. The message was dark. Most of the women whose cases are described in the report lost their suits against universities. Others "won," but only in the sense that they received money to "compensate" for the loss of their career goals. The overall conclusion was depressing: if you are denied tenure because of gender bias, don't expect the law to provide a solution.

My own experience suggests a more optimistic view. As an attorney who has successfully represented women in tenure battles (where success means "tenure"), I know that law, in the right hands, is a powerful tool. The trick is to know when and how to use it. I suspect that behind many an academic with a successful career is an attorney who got in early and helped develop a strategy to overcome discrimination. The problem is, unless tenured women faculty share this secret, an entire generation of young women may remain clueless about their options, hobbled by the belief that they cannot do much when career adversity strikes.

Why do I say it takes a village? In my experience, the women who successfully fight back have friends, as well as strong academic records: colleagues who support them, women's faculty groups who champion them, administrators who go to bat for them, journalists who write about them, legislators who inquire about them, and students who root for them. While every situation is unique, a supporting cast is essential-the "lone ranger" academic is not going to ride into the sunset on the back of her excellent work product alone.

Why don't professional women know this, as a rule? Why are women reluctant to reach out for help? The belief that virtue (merit) is rewarded has deep roots. Many high-achieving women were taught as little girls that if they did good work, recognition would follow ax night follows day. They simply don't know what to do when this myth is punctured by the reality of discrimination.

And what creates a successful partnership between an academic and an attorney? Well, a lot depends on their ability to collaborate. The academic must leam that just because she's a great biologist, literature professor, or art historian does not mean that she is a great, or even competent, strategic thinker when it comes to analyzing and presenting evidence of discrimination. But if she has the foresight to seek legal counsel at the first inkling of a problem, and together the academic and the attorney pore over the rules, regulations, policies, and sundry institutional documents relating to her situation, the disparate strands that make up an academic's entitlement to fair evaluation of performance can be woven into an effective strategy. If, in addition, she develops allies who provide information about the composition and receptivity of internal review committees, it becomes much easier to decide what avenues to pursue and which to avoid.

The attorney, on the other hand, must be willing to learn and respect the culture, quirks, and enormous complexity of academia, while probing for institutional vulnerability. Is the university proud of its family-friendly policies, which were violated? Did a recent legislative audit criticize its hiring and retention of female faculty? Have its alumni organized to withhold funds because of diversity issues? Does it fear a faculty revolt if forced to hand over confidential tenure files? In a well-functioning academic-attorney partnership, each partner's expertise will help to frame the issues and choose the most effective forum in which to raise them: Internal appeal versus formal charge, mediation, arbitration, or lawsuit? Discreet inquiry by powerful figures versus wide media coverage? Well-informed strategic choices can exert a powerful pull toward institutional self-correction.

The somber cast of the AAUW report is, in my view, a product of a skewed population sample: women who received AAUW funding for a lawsuit already in progress. Most successful tenure cases are resolved long before they go to trial. Understandably, but unfortunately, women who win tenure with low-profile legal help tend not to advertise that fact, fearing it will undermine a hard-earned academic reputation. Their silence is shortsighted. Those who face down discrimination need to "come out of the closet" to empower the next generation. Young women need to know that the world isn't the black-and-white scenario of girlhood myth, and that with the help of a village, there can be a happy ending to "tenure denied."

Charlotte Fishrnan is an attorney in San Francisco and executive director of Pick Up the Pace, a nonprofit whose mission is to identify and eliminate barriers to women's advancement in academia and other professions. Academe accepts submissions to this column. See imiw.aaup.org for guidelines. The opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the policies of the AAUP.