Pomona College

Juan David DeLara, a student at Pitzer College, misrepresents a great deal about Pomona College in his article, “Where Affirmative Action Has Failed to Mute White Power” (Campus Correspondent, March 12). One would never guess from his report that the percentage of Pomona’s permanent faculty positions held by minorities has risen from 7% to 17% in the last decade, or that the percentage of such positions held by women has risen from 22% to 33%. In a small college that normally hires only a few people each year for permanent faculty positions, this is a remarkable rate of growth.

DeLara points out that the full professors of the college are overwhelmingly white and mostly male. Since it normally takes at least 14 years to become a full professor, associate and assistant professors tell one more about the college’s practices in recent years. Twenty-two percent of tenured associate professors (tomorrow’s faculty leaders) and 32% of assistant professors in permanent positions are minorities. If race and innovative scholarship were an impediment to achieving promotion and tenure at Pomona College, these ranks would not look the way they do.

Pomona College has a faculty that is both excellent and increasingly diverse.

PETER W. STANLEY, President Pomona College