Excerpt: The combined stressors of a global pandemic, an epoch of racial reckoning in the U.S., and a requisite focus on inequities in resources, access, and power have imposed a disproportionate amount of labor on scholars, administrators, and students of color.

Excerpt: Discussion of token representation also emerged when participants described being asked to engage in extra service so that committees would have racially diverse membership.

As one participant described:
Now if I were vain, I would think, “Oh they want me to do all these things because I'm so good and I'm so valuable,” (pause) but on the other hand, I know in some parts, it has to do with the perception of representation: “This committee would look better if we had a [racial minority group] professor on it…”.

This participant, like others, described the heavy service demands often shouldered by faculty of color as universities attempt to increase the appearance of diversity and inclusion.

Excerpt: Previous research in the cultural taxation literature suggests that women and
faculty of color experience heavier service burdens than their white male colleagues.

Excerpt: Women of color, for example, tend to take on more service than their male counterparts. Similarly, for me and other nonwhite faculty members I know, much, if not most, of this service revolves around supporting students of color—sponsoring campus groups, providing additional guidance (especially for first-generation college students), and intervening on their behalf with administrative officers. On top of that, we’re also called on to “diversify” campus committees and to represent the views of a variety of ethnic groups in even the most informal conversations.

Excerpt: Faculty members of color nationwide describe how frequently they advise current and former underrepresented-minority students and their friends, many of them first-generation students who need extra support to navigate college life. The professors intervene on behalf of students in sticky situations with other instructors and try to educate white colleagues on the nuances of race-related issues that impact the lives of minority students. Their offices feature tissue boxes and “crying chairs.” And that’s just the time spent with students. Those same faculty members are also tapped to serve on a seemingly endless stream of committees, for their “unique perspective.”

Faculty members of color take extra commitments in stride even as they struggle to balance them. That’s because, many say, they realize that if they don’t step up, students may not ask for or get help elsewhere, or a committee might be all white.

Excerpt: Who's doing the heavy lifting in terms of diversity and inclusion work? Underrepresented faculty members -- and that's something that should alarm everyone, according to a new study.

Excerpt: ...diversity initiatives fall short when they fail to address “the structural issues behind what happens to faculty when they get to these campuses” and leave the labor of service and mentoring on the shoulders of Black professors.

Excerpt: “Cultural taxation” is a term coined by Amado Padilla in 1994 as a way of describing the unique burden placed on ethnic minority faculty in carrying out their responsibility to service the university.

He defined “cultural taxation” as the obligation to show good citizenship towards the institution by serving its needs for ethnic representation on committees, or to demonstrate knowledge and commitment to a cultural group, which, though it may bring accolades to the institution, is not usually rewarded by the institution on whose behalf the service was performed.1

This “cultural taxation” phenomenon, as stated earlier, is the price that most faculty of color must pay for admission to and retention in the Academy.

“Cultural taxation” is a stealth workload escalator for faculty of color. And like stress, it can be a silent killer of professional careers and aspirations.

Excerpt: While finding their work meaningful, the participants shared experiences of the multifaceted nature of CT, their stress from teaching about race, and the burdens of providing extra support to the next generation of scholars of color.

Excerpt: In addition to meeting basic obligations, Faculty of Color often find an increased workload. This workload, when compared with their White colleagues, includes support for Students of Color...