Hispanic-Serving or Not - La Lucha Sigue in Academia - The Struggle Continues in Academia

Oct 15, 2026

A Latina scholar offers a testimonio describing an unsuccessful bid for promotion to full professor at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI). It recounts racism experienced across the tenure clock and beyond, focusing on gatekeepers, white allies and privileged white accomplices, and “mi gent.” The narrative explains how exclusion operated through bias, silence, and fear of retaliation, and uses lived experience as a primary method. It also includes recommendations aimed at supporting BIPOC scholars facing similar injustice.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

AccessFree to download

The Beginning

Enter the Gatekeepers

Hispanic-Serving or Not: La Lucha Sigue in Academia; The Struggle Continues in Academia Isabel Baca This testimonio describes my lived experience as a Latina scholar who attempted to go up for promotion to full professor at a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) and failed. From the time I was on the tenure clock to the present, specific instances revealed the presence of racism at the institution. I describe the roles of gatekeepers, white allies and privileged, white accomplices, and mi gent, and I make recommendations based on my experience. Iwrite this testimonio with hesitation. I full professor…again. This will be my write it as I go up for promotion to second submission for promotion, so I run the risk of being turned down as I speak the truth, my truth, of what happens at the HSI where I work. I will not be using people’s names for the same reason, but my drive to share this lived narrative, this testimonio, is to help other BIPOC scholars who may be struggling with injustice and racism at their own institutions. I use this testimonio as the primary methodology to describe moments and events that are painful to remember and difficult to share. I use testimonio “as a crucial means of bearing witness and inscribing into history those lived realities that would otherwise succumb to the alchemy of erasure”(The Latina Feminist Group 2) . I have learned that silence helps no one, and if it does, it helps the oppressor. Whether the intention of those in power and authority is to be racist or not is not the point. The point is that in my eyes I was treated unfairly, unjustly because I am a Latina, and it is easier to dismiss me than it would be a white, Anglo man. Whether overt or covert, conscious or unconscious, racist and sexist behavior should be ostracized. The Beginning I never imagined that being an English major meant that I would be treated as an outsider. In fact, for the first half of my career, I did not realize this—until I came to an HSI as a visiting professor. Reality set in when I applied for the Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Writing Studies position at the end of my visiting professorship. It became evident that, for some of my colleagues, I did not belong there. I was an interloper; I had entered a field where whiteness dominates. I questioned whether the problem was that I was coming from a tenured job at a community college; I was aware that for some Composition Studies 49.2 (2021): 70–78 professors, teaching at a community college was not the same as teaching ata university. I quickly identified some of the negative biases held by faculty in my department. I convinced myself that this was the case, and I was determined to show them how this was a misconception and erroneous thinking. I wanted to believe in—or seek out—the humanism of this HSI. It took me six years, as a tenured-track assistant professor, to open my eyes and face reality: Getting tenure and being promoted to associate professor were just preparing me for what was coming; it was only the end of the beginning. During the probationary period of being on the tenure clock, I experienced moments that caught me off guard. I still remember when I was serving on the hiring committee for a new assistant professor. A white colleague, sitting next to me, stated how unfair it was for minority candidates to be considered for campus interviews just because of affirmative action. She clearly saw the Latinx candidate we had selected as a finalist to be incompetent and unqualified for the position. She assumed that it was only because of affirmative action that the candidate had been selected. And, if hired, this new colleague would be tagged as an affirmative-action hire. Had that been the case with me? Was I even qualified and competent enough to be here, to be at this table? What was I doing in this space? I felt silenced. But what could I do? I was still without tenure. Silence. Documentation exists that shows how a stigma of i

FAQs

What outcome does the author describe regarding promotion at an HSI?

The author describes attempting to go up for promotion to full professor at a Hispanic-Serving Institution and failing.

What role does the author say racism played in the institution?

The author states that specific instances revealed the presence of racism throughout the tenure clock and after, shaping how she was treated as a Latina scholar.

What method does the author use to describe her experiences?

The author uses testimonio as a crucial means of bearing witness, describing painful moments and events through her lived narrative as the primary methodology.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by WPS_1790064749