The perils of notional membership during a pandemic Christina L. Dobbs Department of Teaching and Learning, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA, and Christine Montecillo Leider Department of Language and Literacy, Wheelock College of Education and Human Development, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts, USA Abstract Purpose – In this essay, the authors will describe several facets of their experience as women faculty of color in the academy during the pandemic, in order to explore how institutions might think of equity and diversity initiatives during the pandemic time. Design/methodology/approach – This essay discusses structural, leadership and individual considerations in supporting faculty from diverse backgrounds during the pandemic and beyond, by considering the typical strategies used by faculty of color to maintain active organizational memberships and how the pandemic has shifted those strategies. Findings – Ultimately, this essay grapples with diversity as an institutional priority during the unique and shifting circumstances of remote work and teaching and research during the pandemic. Originality/value – This essay provides insight into how institutions who want to maintain diversity progress during and postpandemic must be more thoughtful about the hiring structures, decision-making spaces and overarching missions. Keywords Diversity, Community, Human capital, Decision-making Paper type Viewpoint Efforts to diversify faculty composition in higher education are in danger of being lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and we imagine that other workplaces including corporate and nonprofit institutions that have worked to become more diverse might also be facing this challenge. The academy has seemingly worked hard to diversify faculty in recent years, with a focus on recruiting and retaining faculty of color, hiring diverse faculty into cohorts of faculty from historically marginalized groups and devoting institutional space and energy to diversity initiatives including programming and mentoring (Ryu, 2008). Despite these seemingly optimistic efforts, it remains the case that overall numbers of faculty of color remain small (McFarland et al., 2019). Further, faculty of color are often concentrated into non-tenure track positions such as clinical and lecturer lines where faculty must undergo a periodic reappointment process. The pandemic has magnified these issues, made the positions faculty of color are placed in all-the-more tenuous and endangered the progress that has been made toward compositional diversity in the academy. Without careful attention to these issues during and following the pandemic, we’ll be taking a few steps backward from the little progress that has been made toward diversity in general as well as specific efforts related to faculty composition. In this essay, we describe several facets of our experiences as women faculty of color in the academy during the pandemic to explore how institutions might think of diversity initiatives, which are often coupled with initiatives for equity and inclusion, during this frightening time. Our own experience We begin with a bit of background to our experience in higher education. We identify as Brown women from rural and relatively geographically isolated towns. Growing up in our Perils of notional membership The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at: https://www.emerald.com/insight/2056-9548.htm Received 2 June 2020 Revised 17 June 2020 4 July 2020 Accepted 12 July 2020 Journal of Professional Capital and Community © Emerald Publishing Limited 2056-9548 DOI 10.1108/JPCC-06-2020-0029