2 ResourcesThe Stories / Sally Haslanger

I think faculty gender equity at MIT has a ways to go. But it's not dissimilar from other top ranked schools. There's a whole institutional structure to support gender equity. So that's been a really tremendous asset in thinking about and working on these issues.

I think that we're making more progress at MIT in integrating women than we are at integrating minorities. And hiring and supporting women than we are in hiring and supporting minorities. At the faculty, at the faculty level.

You've got to, again, think about recruiting; going back into colleges and high schools and trying to figure out how we can recruit a critical mass of graduate students, minority graduate students. And then how that critical mass of graduate students can translate into a critical mass of faculty.

And I think that that's, that's an issue that's going to take huge creativity. And MIT is great at thinking creatively, great at moving on hard questions. And I think if energy is put toward that, it's doable. But it can't be just ordinary routines, just ordinary hiring practices, the ordinary recruitment practices. That's not going to do it.

I've noticed at MIT there's a very profound commitment on the part of the administration to make a difference. To have a fair representation of women and minorities. To provide resources and opportunities to departments that make it possible for them to hire women and minorities if they find someone that they're very interested in.