If you want to lose 20 pounds, we don’t recommend going on a fast for two weeks. Unfortunately, the only positive outcome of the 12-day hunger strike orchestrated by MIT professor James Sherley last week appears to be his slimmer figure — but even that comes at the risk of severe health complications. Although MIT denied his claim that racism was a factor in his tenure rejection, Sherley, who is black, decided to stay as a faculty member despite his belief that institutionalized racism exists at MIT. He now calls himself an icon for the “issues of equity, diversity and justice at MIT and in higher education,” notwithstanding his initial declaration that he would not eat until he was given tenure.

Although Cornell students are more than familiar with functioning on only Red Bull and pizza, going the fasting route to prove a point, as Sherley’s case has shown, will likely be entirely fruitless. (At least we’re convinced you won’t have to resort to such self-deprivation to champion a cause at Cornell, as we mentioned yesterday.)

Sherley’s strike, however, brings to light what appears to be a similar problem at the University. In the May 2006 edition of Cornell’s Summary Update: Progress Toward Diversity and Inclusion, the University reports that the total number of minority faculty sits at 215, making up 13.5 percent of 1,594 total faculty members. Meanwhile, the most recent U.S. Census states that approximately one-third of the American population consists of minorities.

But this disparity is not the only fact that disturbs us. According to the May report, 23.7 percent of assistant professors are minorities, while 16.1 percent of associate professors and 8.9 percent of full professors are minorities. From this data, it appears that minorities are having difficulty being promoted or given tenure; such statistics would appear to serve as strong evidence to support claims of racial discrimination such as Sherley’s.

What’s worse, Charles Walcott Ph.D ’59, dean of the faculty, describes Cornell’s tenure process as a “traumatic experience.” Tenure-track faculty, upon reaching their fifth year, must send 12 external recommendations to their department, which will then send a recommendation to the dean, who will then create a committee of peers to make a decision that must go through the provost. But that’s not all. The provost must then consult the faculty advisory committee, which will send a decision to the trustees, who are the final authorities for the promotion.

And we thought the college admissions process was bad.

Fortunately, Cornell’s tenure process is fairer than those of many of our fellow top tier institutions. It took until 1993 for MIT to recognize that there was significant sexual discrimination against females in their process. According to the Daily Pennsylvanian, Yale University just announced that it would be reconsidering its tenure process, which currently only grants tenure when a spot opens up. Its policy has been deemed unfair because both assistant professors and scholars outside of Yale can be equally considered for the position. Unlike Yale, Cornell hires professors with the intent of granting them eventual tenure, given that they meet the qualifications.

A fairer policy, however, does not excuse the implications of Cornell’s minority faculty statistics as mentioned above. It shouldn’t take the near-death starvation of a faculty member for Cornell to address this issue, and we hope that observing the drama at MIT has given Cornell the right incentives to confront these problematic numbers.