The Role Model Argument and Faculty Diversity

Proponents of faculty diversity in higher education sometimes advance the “role model” argument. ¹ The argument is a familiar player in confrontations over race, gender, and the allocation of employment opportunities. In these contexts, the role model argument asserts that colleges and universities ought to hire females of all races and male members of minority groups to ensure that undergraduate, graduate, and professional school students will have appropriate role models among their teachers. ² The role model argument is popular because the belief that young people need role models is pervasive. In words so familiar that they bear the stigma of cliché, many say that if students are to realize their full potential as responsible adults, they need others in their lives whom they can emulate and by whom they will be motivated to do their best work.