A recent first-year psychology doctoral cohort included only one Black student out of 34 (2 percent), compared with five Black students in prior cohorts. The decrease in Black graduate enrollment is strongly linked to the current anti-DEI climate and raises concern about future declines. Black psychologists currently represent about 5 percent of the U.S. psychologist workforce, well below the 13 percent Black share of the U.S. population. The core of the anti-DEI backlash is rooted in anti-Blackness. Psychology cannot serve equity and justice without embracing diversity and inclusive excellence.
As we approach the beginning of the new school year, first-year student orientations take place on college campuses to help students prepare academically, integrate into the institution's values and traditions, and build community. During orientation for first-year psychology doctoral students at my institution, I was immediately struck by the small number of Black students. Out of 34 first-year students, there appeared to be only one Black student, representing 2 percent of the cohort. The optics to me were quite alarming.
While I cannot directly attribute the sudden decrease in the number of Black graduate students to the dismantling of DEI, I strongly believe that the decrease is not a coincidence. As a Black professor who has produced a few Black psychologists in my 27 years in the academy, I'm gravely concerned that in the current anti-DEI climate, the already low numbers of Black psychologists (both practitioners and academics) will decrease even more.
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