Bringing breath back to Black faculty: Carlton Floyd, Ph.D.

Dr. Floyd wants to see USD take more action when it comes to addressing anti-racism

Riley Weeden / Assistant Feature Editor / The USD Vista

Carlton Floyd, Ph.D., is hard to forget. As a first year in his English class, he introduced his booming voice and excess shots of espresso alongside his syllabus. He teaches in a way that is both engaging and sometimes intimidating, but stems from a love for his students and the subjects he teaches.

Floyd teaches classes ranging from Science Fiction and Futures Past to African American Inter-racial Literature. He has worked at the university for 20 years and shared how in the English department especially, he has always been “one of a few.” 

Growing up in Cleveland, Ohio, in a large family with four sisters and a brother, Floyd acknowledged, “I’m definitely a Midwestern[er].” He moved to Massachusetts to pursue his undergraduate degree at Amherst College, graduating in 1980, and continued his education at the University of Idaho, receiving his masters in English Rhetoric and Composition. He then came to San Diego to finish a doctoral degree at the University of California San Diego, and was hired at USD in 2000. 

Floyd acknowledged that education in his family was not just unique to him, although he is the only family member to pursue a Ph.D.

“If anything I am following in the footsteps of my sisters,” Floyd said. Two of his four sisters became teachers, shaping his interest in education.

 
“There aren’t a lot of people who look like me and do what I do,” Floyd said. “That is in the profession generally, but very specifically at USD. I am incredibly visible, and often in terms of that kind of frame, incredibly lonely.”

“In the time I have been at the English department, since 2002 or 2003, there (was)… one Black professor when I got here,” Floyd said, speaking about his specific department.

The other Black English professor Floyd referred to was this year’s Pulitzer prize winner in Poetry, Jericho Brown.

When he arrived at USD, Floyd said there were probably only five or six other Black professors. Although there seems to be an increase in faculty, Floyd believes that it only appears to be impressive. “While that in one sense seems a tremendous increase, in another sense, the faculty at large has gotten bigger. The percentage has not really increased that much,” Floyd said.

Of the 998 faculty members at the university, Floyd says he could name each of the Black faculty. 

“I wouldn’t have to use all of my fingers and toes,” he stated.

Not only does he stand out compared to his peers, but he also faces student discrimination. 

He said most of the students he has taught have not had an experience with a professor who’s Black or male, or both. 

“They follow a kind of social assumption that I must not know what I’m talking about,” Floyd said. “I get a lot of flack that I know a number of my other colleagues don’t get.“

Unlike his peers, Floyd said he has to convince students that he is qualified and capable of giving them a proper education.

“My 20 plus years of education and my, at this point, 20 to 25 years of teaching, still apparently does mean I know (anything). That’s not only annoying but downright racist,” Floyd said.

As for the students who want to be allies to Black faculty and students, he said it, “is quite simple. Be open.”

“Be open to (hearing) something that you have not heard, to experience a perspective that is not like yours, and as opposed to simply resisting it, listen to it,” Floyd said. “Think about it, as opposed to just rejecting it.”

Floyd reflected on the letter from Black faculty to the university which has already been impactful within the USD community, but he hopes for more substantive change. He discussed what holds many back from this making this change.

“Race can be a tough topic, but it’s not that tough. I can tell you a bunch of much tougher topics,” he said.

Floyd emphasizes the importance of being open to talk about race: “Be willing to have a conversation. You might be uncomfortable, yeah, but so what?”

As for his perspective on the progress of the university, he said, “We’re much more in tune with looking the part than being the part.”

The letters of response from different various deans and allies are helpful, but he emphasized his frustration with words over action.

“(I would like to see) people live out what they talk. The university is all about care for the common person… we support “inclusion and diversity,” he said. “My point is: What are you doing? Show me.”

“There’s a huge difference between rhetoric and reality. I want my rhetoric to match my reality,” Floyd said.

Hiring Black professors is something that he thinks the school should prioritize.

“You can find people,” Floyd said. “The question is: where are you looking? Are you actually looking? Are you willing to step up and do the things that will make somebody feel comfortable?”

Most of the change the school has discussed Floyd has heard before. 

Floyd emphasized that he wants to see action over support. One piece of action he is a part of is the upcoming Black Lives Matter pop-up courses hosted by the Humanities Center. He will be participating in a panel on the police state and will be facilitating a talk on justice, called “Neither Blind nor Just.” 

As a long-standing faculty member, he is tired of words of support. 

“At this point in my life, you can tell me anything you want. If I don’t see it, I just don’t care,” Floyd said.

Floyd hopes that the school will strengthen the presence of Black faculty and students through action and policy, rather than just words of support.