Register to join the EFA / Editors Canada Joint Academic Editing Book Club on Friday, November 10, at 10 a.m. PDT / 1 p.m. EDT, where we will discuss Patricia Matthew’s Written/Unwritten: Diversity and the Hidden Truths of Tenure. This meeting will be hosted by James Berg. We hope to see you there!

About the book:

The academy may claim to seek and value diversity in its professoriate, but reports from faculty of color around the country make clear that departments and administrators discriminate in ways that range from unintentional to malignant. Stories abound of scholars—despite impressive records of publication, excellent teaching evaluations, and exemplary service to their universities—struggling on the tenure track. These stories, however, are rarely shared for public consumption. Written/Unwritten reveals that faculty of color often face two sets of rules when applying for reappointment, tenure, and promotion: those made explicit in handbooks and faculty orientations or determined by union contracts and those that operate beneath the surface. It is this second, unwritten set of rules that disproportionally affects faculty who are hired to “diversify” academic departments and then expected to meet ever-shifting requirements set by tenured colleagues and administrators. Patricia A. Matthew and her contributors reveal how these implicit processes undermine the quality of research and teaching in American colleges and universities. They also show what is possible when universities persist in their efforts to create a diverse and more equitable professorate. These narratives hold the academy accountable while providing a pragmatic view about how it might improve itself and how that improvement can extend to academic culture at large.

(Alt text: Academic Editing Book Club. Next meeting: Friday, 10 November, at 10am PT / 1pm ET. Sponsored by the Editorial Freelancers Association and Editors Canada.)