Latinx Geographies Specialty Group
American Association of Geographers · May 4, 2023
We, members of the American Association of Geographers Latinx Geographies Specialty Group (LxG), write with outrage over the news that Dr. Patricia (tish) Lopez has been denied tenure by Dartmouth College.
As a collective of Latinx junior faculty and graduate students, we are troubled by the department of Geography at Dartmouth College’s denial of tenure to its only woman of color faculty member. Over 50% of Dartmouth’s student body identify as non-white, and yet, less than 10% of its faculty are non-white. Denying tenure to BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and People of Color) faculty perpetuates structural and institutional racism through a lack of representation, limited epistemic diversity, and loss in opportunities for relational mentorship for students of color. Further, the College’s denial of tenure to Dr. Lopez directly contradicts the tenets and overall mission of its own Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Strategic Plan, which seeks to “align action with accountability.”1 Recently, Dartmouth has claimed to provide structural, financial support to its departments to increase its overall percentage of faculty of color from 20% to 25%. Yet, Dartmouth has denied itself this very opportunity with refusing to promote Dr. Lopez.
Dr. Lopez is an accomplished, nationally-recognized geographer who is widely lauded for the impactful feminist praxis in her research and mentorship. Her scholarship in recent years has been very influential as she has documented the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on faculty across North America, particularly the gendered dimensions of who bore the brunt of social reproductive labors during lockdown. Her research has also critically examined the health geographies of Haiti with a structural lens of the geopolitical reach of the United States. Further, this critical lens has expanded to address the issues of academic research and geography itself.
Additionally, Dr. Lopez is widely known and appreciated in our community as providing exceptional mentorship to a generation of undergraduates who are now successfully completing their graduate studies at Geography departments across the U.S. Many of these former students of Dr. Lopez are themselves BIPOC scholars who are generating a rich resurgence of knowledge production in human geography. Given the depth of her contributions to the field, where would geography be today without the rich mentorship and scholarship of Dr. Lopez?
We are all too familiar with stories of BIPOC Faculty being held to higher standards in order to assuage accusations of affirmative action. While we cannot know what led to Dartmouth’s decision, we are left wondering what systems and structures are in place in the college that reproduce the disenfranchisement of BIPOC Faculty?
The statistics surrounding the outcomes of these structures are dismal. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, BIPOC Faculty are severely underrepresented in institutions across the United States, at every rank2. In Geography, Latinx scholars are also underrepresented, with only 277 members of the American Association of Geographers identifying as Latine in 2021, across age and career status3. Dartmouth is serving as another lever in the systemic racism of academia to maintain an overall status of whiteness.
As such, we demand Dartmouth College and similar institutions interrogate the decision-making process behind tenure wherein BIPOC Faculty, especially women of color, are routinely denied tenure. We call on our Geography and academic community to reach out and materially support Dr. Lopez, as she moves through this period. Dr. Lopez’s scholarship, mentorship, and collegiality is a benefit to any department, institution, or organization. We find this denial of tenure to be a shameful example of Dartmouth refusing to reward her for these qualities. However, we expect our community to do better than this one institution, and recognize and uplift Dr. Lopez where others have failed. We are asking our colleagues to stand behind Dr. Lopez, as she has stood behind countless numbers of us.
The field of Geography suffers an incalculable loss without Dr. Lopez participating in it, and we condemn Dartmouth for its decision.
Signed,
The Latinx Geographies Specialty Group
Dartmouth Association of Latino Alumni
DALA · Promoting Equity and Diversity: Addressing Tenure Decisions at Dartmouth
The Dartmouth Association of Latino Alumni (DALA) is committed to fostering a culture of inclusivity and equity within Dartmouth College. We recognize the need for faculty that reflects the richness and diversity of Dartmouth's student body. Recent concerns regarding tenure decisions, including the denial of tenure to beloved Professor Patricia (Tish) Lopez, underscore the existence of a significant inclusivity gap that must be addressed. Professor Lopez is widely respected as a teacher and talented academic, whose departure we see as an extremely regrettable loss for Dartmouth, and specifically for our community.
As alumni, we recognize the importance of an academic environment that encompasses a wide variety of perspectives and experiences. It is crucial for Dartmouth to prioritize initiatives aimed at increasing the number of tenure positions held by women and faculty of color. This can be achieved through an equitable and transparent tenure evaluation process that ensures fair consideration and opportunities for advancement.
Taking inspiration from other elite institutions, we can look at the tenure reform efforts undertaken by Ivy League universities as examples. Harvard University, for instance, announced a set of reforms in 2019, focusing on increasing faculty diversity and addressing issues in the tenure process. Their initiatives included the establishment of a faculty development and diversity fund, and a more flexible approach to evaluating non-traditional scholarship and interdisciplinary work.
Similarly, Princeton University launched the FOCUS on Diversity and Inclusion initiative in 2019. This initiative aimed to increase faculty diversity and foster an inclusive academic community. As part of the effort, Princeton developed new guidelines for evaluating faculty scholarship that emphasized the importance of considering care work and student interaction, and that explores diverse perspectives and experiences.
Yale University has also made significant strides in promoting diversity in faculty tenure decisions. Through their Diversity, Equity, and Faculty Development Initiative, Yale provides dedicated funding resources and support for the recruitment, retention, and professional development of diverse faculty members. The university has expanded the tenure clock to accommodate caregiving responsibilities and personal circumstances, demonstrating a commitment to inclusivity for both women and men who are parenting or caring for a family member.
Columbia University has implemented reforms to promote equity in the tenure process. The university established the Office of Faculty Diversity and Inclusion, which supports the recruitment and retention of underrepresented faculty members. Columbia also provides unconscious bias training for tenure committees and revised tenure guidelines to ensure that non-traditional forms of scholarship and interdisciplinary work receive fair consideration.
We should emphasize that we highly value the concept of tenure, which provides job security and academic freedom, but tenure may also perpetuate disparities in faculty diversity due to historical gaps and restrictions on budgeting, funding, support, and evaluation metrics. We also value the Teacher-Scholar model, which places significant emphasis on both education and research as key criteria for tenure decisions. And we do realize that Dartmouth has made strides in Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging, including the development of a strategic plan with accountability milestones and the creation of additional faculty track lines. Even so, we still have a ways to go before the strategic objectives outlined, for example, in the 3-year diversity and inclusion plan: Toward Equity, launched by the Office of Institutional Diversity & Equity in 2022.
We believe that Dartmouth should examine the best practices of other institutions and make a firm commitment to recruit and retain a diverse cohort of tenured faculty. This can be achieved, for instance, by prioritizing budgets toward this area of spending. Opening more faculty track lines would achieve this objective, to increase the total number of tenure faculty to 900. We consider this to be essential if Dartmouth wishes to continue its journey to being both the small, intimate college we all love, and the leading research university wewish it to be. For instance, if $100M per year of the $3.6B Call to Lead Campaign was dedicated to this important investment, we believe this objective would be met. This is a win-win scenario, retaining world class experienced faculty from the diverse tapestry of communities represented at Dartmouth.
Additionally, the College should allocate adequate funding and support to bridge continuing gaps in resources for students, to reduce stressors such as staff shortages, work-study, insufficient student financial aid, and to provide for dedicated resources in counseling, well- being and mental health.
Dartmouth should ensure that the burden of care work, mentoring and counseling does not fall disproportionately on younger faculty of color. Mentoring, counseling and support should be rated highly in evaluation metrics and advancement decision criteria, as part of a merit-based system that includes fair distribution of resources across departments. By investing in these areas, Dartmouth can empower all faculty to fully engage in their academic and research pursuits while offering comprehensive support to students. This holistic approach will contribute to an enriching educational environment that benefits all members of the Dartmouth community. With the right strategic intent, and the right level of resources, Dartmouth can outcompete any other elite institution in the recruitment and retention of talented faculty.
We approach these concerns with a conciliatory spirit, emphasizing the shared goal of strengthening Dartmouth's commitment to equity, diversity, and inclusion. By recognizing the need for a diverse faculty and taking proactive measures to bridge the existing gaps, Dartmouth can create an environment that is truly reflective of its student body. It is through collaboration and open dialogue that we can collectively work towards positive change.
DALA stands ready to collaborate with Dartmouth College to address these issues. We believe that by joining forces, we can create an environment where every student feels supported, every faculty member thrives, and Dartmouth remains a beacon of inclusivity and excellence.
Kially Ruiz D'98
President, Dartmouth Association of Latino Alumni
Making Generations of Care: Graduates for Dr. Patricia Lopez
Graduate Students, Department of Geography, University of Washington · May 15, 2023
Dear academic community and beyond,
As University of Washington (UW) graduate students in the Department of Geography, we are deeply disturbed by Dartmouth College’s denial of tenure to Dr. Patricia (Tish) Lopez and stand in support of her as someone who has significantly shaped our field and inspired many of us to pursue academia. Dartmouth’s decision to deny tenure to the only woman of color faculty member in its Geography department demonstrates the college’s legacy of failing to recognize the contributions of their scholars of color. We are attentive to the urgent need to shape a tenure process that recognizes and rewards faculty for their talent, dedication, and contribution to their students as well as their disciplines and institutions. It is disheartening to witness Dartmouth’s continued hindrance of exceptional scholars due to structural racism and sexism. Given Dr. Lopez’s exemplary work as an academic and mentor and the college’s refusal to recognize her accomplishments, we wonder, what space exists for us to become scholars invested in continuing this sort of work?
Dr. Lopez completed her PhD here at UW where she distinguished herself through her commitment to intellectual and interpersonal communities within the Geography Department and the broader Seattle area. She was awarded two National Science Foundation (NSF) grants, and many other institutional accolades. Alongside this work, Dr. Lopez bridged participatory models for care-based approaches informing health and public safety through the city of Seattle. She returned to Seattle many years later to lead a large-scale survey on Covid-19’s disparate outcomes. We as UW graduate students are particularly invested in Dr. Lopez, and remain inspired by her continued commitment to the communities that sustained her. However, we would be remiss not to point to the plethora of her former students who have found a place here and in other institutions because of her mentoring.
Following her time as a student at UW, Dr. Lopez nurtured generations of academics by cultivating a caring environment at Dartmouth. She has made a profound impact on countless students, especially those whose physical and emotional well-being were precarious during their time at the college. This is evidenced by her - often overenrolled - classes and supervision being the most sought after in the geography department. The volume and sincerity of statements of support for Dr. Lopez is a testament to the collective disbelief of Dartmouth alumni and current students at the college’s decision to deny her tenure. Under Dr. Lopez's wing, her students are becoming the next generation of scholars shaping the discipline of Geography and academia more broadly. She has supported her students’ research projects as if they were her own, and mentored them in their career pursuits even after graduation. Dr. Lopez is the model of the teacher-scholar that Dartmouth promises its students.
Inspired by Dr. Lopez’s own dedication to building care within the academy, we call attention to the implications of the dismissal of her work for the future of Geography. Many geographers spend considerable time and energy building towards a discipline which celebrates the crucial contributions of women of color to academia. The denial of Dr. Lopez’s tenure is incongruent with this disciplinary aspiration, and we as graduate students take this contradiction to heart. Dartmouth's refusal to recognize Dr. Lopez’s work is a signal to aspiring scholars about the college’s priorities. The opacity of this procedure exacerbates our confusion and leads us to ask – if Dr. Lopez was not qualified, then who is?
As graduate students actively shaping and becoming the future of the academy, we feel that it is our responsibility to care for our institutions and to intervene when these spaces become inhospitable. Dartmouth is by no means the only higher education institution to fall back on its prestige rather than its promises, nor is this reality exclusive to the tenure process. The recruitment of talented scholars of color by institutions like Dartmouth is exploitative as these scholars are routinely confronted with a lack of material support and precarity in their employment status. Moreover, this exploitation is further entrenched by the demands for care within the academy disproportionately falling on women of color. We have taken the time to critically consider what it will mean to invest ourselves into these institutions who routinely fail to value the qualities we deem central to our vocation.
We echo the sentiments of our colleagues in the Latinx Geographies Specialty Group in stating the field of Geography suffers an incalculable loss without Dr. Lopez participating in it, and we condemn Dartmouth for its decision. We urge the academy, particularly our well-established colleagues, to examine the ways in which they contribute to and can challenge the conditions which enabled Dartmouth’s decision.
Authored by Alyson Mabie, Hanover Vale, Madalena Monnier-Reyna, Soohyung Hur, Liz Peng
Graduate Students, Department of Geography, University of Washington
Signed by our fellow graduate student collaborators from across disciplines and institutions: Wesley Carrasco MA, Geography, University of Washington; Chase Puentes MS, Geography, University of Washington; Ellie Cleasby, Geography, University of Washington; Theodore Davenport, Geography, University of Washington; Isaac Rivera, Geography, University of Washington; Samantha Thompson MA Ph.C, Geography, University of Washington; Olivia Orosco, Geography, University of Washington; Yuying Xie MSc, Geography, University of Washington; Natalie Vaughan-Wynn Ph.C, Geography, University of Washington; Alexandra Yanson Ph.C, Geography, University of Washington; Anna Fernandez MA, Geography, University of Washington.
Socialist & Critical Geography Specialty Group
Executive Committee · Letter to President Sian Beilock
President Sian Beilock, Incoming President Dartmouth College Hanover, NH 03755 United States
President Beilock,
We write to express our solidarity with Dr. Patricia Lopez. Her recent tenure denial is concerning in its own right and also serves as yet another example of the historic and reprehensible pattern of both mis-evaluating and ignoring women of color’s vital contributions to our discipline of geography. It is an unfortunate reality of our discipline that these individual problematic decisions at Dartmouth and other colleges and universities across EuroAmerica must be situated within this enduring pattern.
Though we are not close colleagues of Dr. Lopez, her scholarship, her exemplary feminist practice, and her national reputation as an excellent teacher and mentor were well known to us. Dr. Lopez’s scholarship models the ideals of a feminist geographic practice; her collaborative work with other scholars is at the cutting edge of a disciplinary shift towards the valorization of collective work as enhancing geographic thought. Dr. Lopez’s work as a teacher and scholar is part of a larger vital project to de-colonize the epistemologies and methods within our eurocentric discipline. Her work as a mentor has a significant and meaningful impact on our discipline, one that is seemingly unvalued by the College, and across the discipline more broadly. The life-changing mentorship evidenced by an outpouring of student testimonials demonstrates the degree to which Dr. Lopez took this labor of care and mentorship seriously–despite the fact that it would ultimately be unremunerated and unrecognized. It is important to note that the denial of tenure does not end Dr. Lopez’s role as a mentor for her students. Rather, it becomes yet another cautionary tale of the repeated pattern of devaluing the vast contributions of women of color in our discipline.
Significantly, the specific details of Dr. Lopez’s personal case should not obscure historic patterns of discrimination within either the discipline of geography, or Dartmouth College. Geography is currently in a moment of transition and reckoning, with many young scholars making transformative inroads into a historically white and EuroAmerican discipline. For instance: the American Association of Geographers has new specialty groups in Black Geographies and Latinx Geographies; departments around the country are making more concerted efforts to hire and retain faculty and admit graduate students with diverse life experiences and from historically-underrepresented groups. These changes have resulted in shifts in curricula and publication to better address the full range of spatial knowledges, experiences, and research methods which ought to inform how we understand relationships among population, the environment, urban life, culture, politics, and media. Not only who makes geography, but also how geographic knowledge is produced is changing. All this is to say that Dr. Lopez’s work exemplifies what our discipline increasingly sees as not just necessary but also pathbreaking scholarship. As the only Ivy League university with a geography department, the decision to deny tenure has particularly devastating ramifications on these efforts to uphold and value mentorship labor, impactful diverse knowledge, and practical diversity, as administrators at other universities across the United States emulate such standards for evaluation.
Along with reproducing the continued devaluation of women of color's contributions to geography, Dr. Lopez’s tenure denial exemplifies a pattern within Dartmouth College of using faculty of color as temporary and disposable workers. Though 45% of Dartmouth’s incoming student body identify as students of color, faculty diversity lags far behind. This is even recognized in the College’s purported commitment to “taking concrete steps to diversify its faculty [and] create a pipeline to elevate Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC) to leadership positions.” In fact, the college needs these faculty not only as representatives of diversity, but also because they disproportionately provide the exact kind of unremunerated mentorship and care work to students of color and first-generation students–who might otherwise commit elsewhere, transfer, or drop out. The pattern established in the past has ramifications for the future: why would faculty of color commit to applying to Dartmouth’s BIPOC faculty lines knowing that these are likely to be temporary positions? What work conditions will they find when they arrive, and what efforts at retention will be made if tenure is actually granted? What support will Dartmouth’s diverse students receive? By denying tenure to such high-caliber professionals, Dartmouth College is making its public reputation clear: this is not a place for faculty of color. This is not only what the highest caliber faculty will have to consider when they interview, it is also what students will hear from their peers on prospective visits. At some point, the repeated pattern of BIPOC faculty not being granted tenure suggests critical questions about Dartmouth as an institution.
Dr. Lopez, whose work explores a feminist ethics of care, feminist practices of coauthorship, and deeply engages with questions of methodology, is a geographer whose work is an exemplar of the transition in our field. The denial of her tenure is an exemplar of a truly reprehensible pattern in our discipline and conveys a worrying message about Dartmouth College to our discipline overall.
Socialist and Critical Geography Executive Committee
Kai Bosworth Peter Hossler Beki McElvain Leah Montange AJ Segneri