GHS hosts panel on diversity committees
On February 29, 2021, the GHS hosted the panel discussion, “Critical Perspectives on Diversity Committees.” Through this event, we were able to think deeply about the roles diversity committees have played in our academic societies, as well as what potentials these diversity committees could have moving forward. We were joined by two esteemed scholars with experience serving on the diversity committees of major academic music societies: Austin C. Okigbo (University of Colorado, Boulder) and M. Leslie Santana (University of California, San Diego), who have served on the diversity committees of the AMS and SMT, respectively. Unfortunately, due to extreme weather conditions in Texas at the time, Cynthia I. Gonzales (Texas State University) was unable to join us and share her perspective as former chair of the SMT’s Committee on Race and Ethnicity. GHS member and former SMT CoRE member Clifton Boyd was able to step in as needed to offer the music theorist’s perspective, with the assistance of co-moderator Aditya Chander.
Our conversation focused around four main themes: power dynamics, effectiveness, labor, and next steps. We are grateful for the honest accounts of Leslie Santana and Okigbo, who described the fatigue and exhaustion that is often associated with this sort of labor. “Diverse” scholars (scholars of color, women scholars [of color], etc.) are disproportionately asked to serve on diversity committees, and if one isn’t careful, this can get in the way of research and other professional goals while on the tenure track. What’s more, diversity committees vary greatly in terms of effectiveness, often because they aren’t tasked with addressing the problems at the heart of an institution’s diversity problems. Moving forward, the panel agreed that diversity work needs to be compensated more fairly. Additionally, we as scholars committed to this work must avoid a singular focus on our flawed institutions, and instead allow our political motivations that exist beyond these institutions to guide our actions.
We are grateful for the time that Professors Leslie Santana, Okigbo, and Gonzales were all able to commit to this event, and will use their wisdom to shape the way in which we move forward as a department toward racial justice and social justice more broadly.
