Speaks out

Do you think UCLA has a diverse faculty? Do you think having a
diverse faculty is important? Julia Uskolovsky

Second-year, undeclared

“I think UCLA has a diverse faculty and this is important
because people with different backgrounds usually have different
opinions, like on political issues. The more diverse the
professors, the more differing perspectives they will contribute to
the students; and this leads to a better, well-rounded education. I
don’t think many of the different departments are diverse
because it seems most of the humanities professors are Caucasian
and in the math department there are a lot of Asian professors. If
the ethnic center directors make it a point to integrate based on
department then it will be a good idea, but overall I don’t
think diversity is a problem.” David Chung

Fifth-year, political science

“It is sad that there isn’t a diverse faculty at
UCLA because I think having a diverse faculty is
really important, especially given this is a public institution.
UCLA is supposed to serve the community that it is located in and
given the population of Los Angeles is dominantly made up of
communities of color, as a public institution we need to be serving
these communities and the faculty and student body needs to be
reflective of those communities it is serving. I think it is a
great idea to increase faculty diversity.” Joseph Groff

Second-year, history

“You have to define diversity because you could say there
is a diverse faculty since I have a had professors that are
Russian, Swedish and Danish, but they would all be classified as
white, and I don’t know why they are not considered a diverse
compilation of teachers. The term diversity now is used a lot in
the context of colored skin, and I think that UCLA is lacking
professors that would be considered diverse by this definition. But
I think it is only important that we have the best professors
possible and if those professors happen to be minorities, so be it.
There is no need to force race into a university.” Justin
Ficarrotta

Fourth-year, computer science

“In my experience I haven’t seen much diversity in
the faculty, especially within my department. But I think it is
more important to have an intelligent faculty before a diverse one.
It doesn’t mean that minority professors are unintelligent,
but if there is a white professor that is experienced and
knowledgeable he would be more suited for the job next to an
African American professor who has less experience. If the ethnic
center directors want to bring in a more diverse faculty, it seems
like a good idea as long as they are qualified.”