How do you think being Black has affected your teaching experience?
Dr. Lynch: I am a community college professor. Period. There are many aspects of me that affect my teaching experience, not race alone. However, I would not be privileged to have this job had it not been for other Black faculty and staff who came before me and paved the way. I appreciate that I stand on the shoulders of many faculty, staff, and administrators, who endured a different world, with greater sacrifices than I do today.
Dr. Maddox: “As an African American, I find it challenging from one standpoint of students coming in the room who don’t think I belong there. I find it challenging from the other side of administration, in some cases, that doesn’t understand what happens in this unique classroom.”
Dr. Voldase: “I would say when someone sees a Black female professor in a computer programming course, and they automatically assume that I have no idea of technology, when I’ve been dealing with computers since I was a senior in high school. You have to be on your A game especially being Black and a female.”
Have you ever had a situation where you felt unsafe as a person of color at MCCC?
Prof. Haywood: “No, I think it’s quite the reverse. I’ve made people feel uncomfortable because I’ve been so unabashedly straightforward about this thing of being one race. I don’t limit myself to this polarity of white and Black. My motto is one race, one earth. Genetics speaks to a deeper reality in terms of how it is that we’re going to live, and I see Mercer county as a kind of microcosm of our society.”
Dr. Lynch: “No. But that is me. I don’t frighten easily and I give it as well as I take it.”
If you could envision a particular change that would truly help students of color at MCCC, what would it be?
Dr. Voldase: “If we were to look at data in terms of full-time faculty, broken down into divisions, as far as people of color, there is a huge disparity amongst it. I think the college recognizes that, and we’re taking baby steps.”
Prof. Homer: “I think that it’s very helpful for us to have student advocates that reflect our students’ identities, to have success coaches that reflect our students’ identities, to have all our support that’s built in the scaffolding that we offer students to be more reflective of their identities just that they feel comfortable asking the questions, the questions they need to ask to succeed.”
In your classes have you ever had to moderate a discussion where a student expressed strongly racist views? How did you handle that?
Dr. Maddox: “Sometimes the person being racist, when there’s a microaggression, I’ve discovered that many times people don’t hear themselves talking. They don’t have enough exposure to understand what they said. Even though it stings to us, we have to slow the process down long enough so it doesn’t turn into an ugly situation, So you can educate the other person.”
Why do you think BIPOC (Black, Indigenous and people of color) representation is so important in the classroom?
Prof. Homer: “Because of the population that we serve at Mercer and because of the population that makes up the faculty, I do find that often Black students seek out Black faculty members to just have conversations with, because there are life experiences that we have access to that perhaps other faculty members don’t have access to.”
Dr. Voldase: “When students see someone like themselves in this particular career, they can relate to them more, which is wonderful. I’ve had students of color that have asked me to mentor them. To me that’s positive.”
What are your opinions on MCCC’s new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee?
Prof. Haywood: “When I was asked if I wanted to participate in the committee, I said no. I did not want to be a part of making people feel good. I did not want to be a party to window dressing. I’m not a part of a dog and pony show.”
Dr. Lynch: “I also co-chair the DEI committee with our inaugural DEI Director, Mr. Marvin Carter. We are doing our part to foster a campus culture that celebrates diversity and inclusiveness and respect and support the personal and intellectual growth of all students, faculty, and staff.”
Prof. Homer: “I feel good about it. I think it’s a long overdue conversation and I think that if we are going to have educational equity then we as institutions and the people who participate in those institutions, students, staff, admin, faculty, all of us need to be engaged in those conversations so that we can figure out what we are doing that either increases or decreases equity and access.”
Dr. Maddox: “A baby step is giving the DEI committee more credit than I would, but I’ll leave it at that.”
