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This article is a qualitative investigation of the experiences of nine women of color in a predominantly White Canadian university. Although the sample size is small, this study underscores racism and sexism pervading in some contexts, situations, and relationships for women of color in academe. Minority instructors perceive racism as infusing most aspects of academic life such as curriculum design, evaluations, administrative support, and mainstream student reactions. This analytical inquiry recommends a revamping of curriculum design and evaluation criteria, an implementation of ongoing anti-racism training for mainstream faculty, and most importantly, hiring a "critical mass" of women of color to "unsettle relations" and create a more congenial, affable, supportive and equitable academic environment.
INTRODUCTION
A revolutionary study on the hiring of "visible minorities" defined by the Federal Contractors Program as " persons, other than Aboriginal peoples, who are non-Caucasian in race or non-White in color" (Guide to Equity Resources at Queens, 2004), at Canadian universities made headlines in The Toronto Star, a leading newspaper of Canada. In the article, Dr. Chandrakant Shah, an awardwinning professor, who has taught in the University of Toronto since 1972, professes that, hypothetically, it would take more than 25 years before visible minorities represent a critical mass of even 15 percent of professors (Rushowy, 2000). According to Shah, "critical mass is understood to refer to reducing the potential for minority colleagues to feel isolated and marginalized" (Rushowy, 2000, p. 3). The figures that Shah used were not based on a quota system. Instead, he used a mathematical model of probability that assumed the university fills an average of 15 percent of all job openings with a visible minority candidate, that is, in a faculty population of 1,710 and an annual rate of new hires of 5 percent (or 85 job openings). Shah's findings revealed the dearth of faculty positions held by members of so-called visible minorities-a selected group under the Federal Contractors' Program-a program that mandates the hiring of four target groups of women, visible minorities, the disabled, and people with different sexual orientation.
Importantly, women of color are underrepresented in Canadian academe (Henry & Tator, 2005). Furthermore, it has been pointed out that women of color hold 18.7 percent of doctoral degrees in Canada, and yet, constitute an...