Board discusses college demographics

By Juanita Kelly-Hill
Staff Writer

At the LCC Board of Trustees most recent meeting on Monday, Nov. 14, the board spent more than an hour discussing the demographics of the college’s staff and faculty members.

Trustee Andrew Abood raised a question about the faculty and staff closely resembling the student body.

“For African-Americans, we have 7.2 percent of full-time faculty and 6.6 percent for part-time faculty, while the African-American student body represents 9.6 percent,” Abood said. “Is that difference statistically significant?”

Executive Director of Center for Data Science Dr. Matthew Fall confirmed that the data is statistically significant.

According to Employment and Systems Director Mary Stroebel, the national data shared by CUPA-HR shows that LCC is doing significantly better compared to other higher education institutions when it comes to the demographics of faculty and students.

Trustee Samantha Vaive chimed in about the demographics of the student body, wondering if students are attending LCC because they see faculty that represents them.

“If students are going where they see themselves represented, I don't know how valuable the numbers are, because we should be representing the greater community first,” Vaive said.

“The reality is that at one point of time the land that we are on only had Native Americans on it. So to not have a full percentage of Native American students and faculty is concerning to me.”

The LCC Department of Human Resources is working on a different approach to recruitment, officials said, and is seeking out more diverse communities to solve the demographic concerns. 

The next LCC Board of Trustees meeting will be Monday, Dec. 12 at 6 p.m. in the Administration Building Boardroom. People may also attend virtually via WebEx. For more information about the Board of Trustees, click here.