From Inside Higher Ed
Goodness knows how these students would handle it if they were ever faced with real problems. If the students think that racism exists, that’s their right to think so. She was just speaking from her experience to show why she didn’t think it was an issue in whatever context she was speaking about. Are we so discriminating now that only one opinion is accepted - that racism is present in all cases today? What about respecting her opinion (or in fact, merely an observation) that she had not seen what she would consider racism?
:)) :)) :)) Oh my god.
Of course we have no idea how much the kerfluffle actually impacted her career path, how highly regarded she was otherwise, though if I were she I’d be making the same claim she does in order to preserve hope of getting a position elsewhere. And the fact is, there are enough PhD’s begging for jobs in academia that no college needs to take on or retain anyone who is even slightly controversial, whether or not that controversy is nonsensical. I hope she lands somewhere.
I’d bet a dollar that this has more to do with her non-tenure track renewal than the other things.
We’re about to lose one of our tenure-track professors because she didn’t finish her book manuscript in time, despite an overwhelming amount of support from students and professors- and she isn’t controversial in the least.
Students at KU also complained this year about a new Social Work dean who wasn’t willing to commit to all the items on a list of student demands about race. Ironically, the Dean was actually heavily in diversity-related research throughout his career and would probably would have ended up being a student ally if he hadn’t been forced to resign. KU could use a strong leader like the Oberlin president who listened to the concerns of black students but then told them in no uncertain terms that the wasn’t going to grant all of their demands on their 14 page list, including demands that students would determine who was getting tenure in some departments.
I agree there isn’t enough info about the assistant prof.
Clearly she could have chosen her words more carefully. I am not entirely sure of the point she was trying to make with that comment - was it that spraying that word on a wall would be what convinced her that racism existed?
On the other hand complaining that her comments “exemplify the dismissal and questioning of minority students’ experiences” and show a lack of empathy and care for minorities seems a bit much as well. Exploring these issues in depth are part of normal classroom discussion.
Not doing enough research or fulfilling it to the satisfaction of timelines/standards set by the tenure committee of a given college is a common reason why assistant Profs don’t get tenure or even forced off the tenure track early.
And this issue isn’t limited to research universities.
2 decades ago, a friend who attended a topflight LAC(Think Swat, Midd, Amherst) related an account of a highly popular assistant Prof of English lit who was forced out despite being well-liked by her students like the friend and winning a few teaching awards because the tenure committee felt she didn’t meet publication requirements/milestones to their satisfaction. Student protests and attempts by a few of her tenured colleagues to get the tenure committee to reconsider their decision didn’t change anything and that Prof ended up leaving the campus at the end of the academic year.
First of all, the article says that they felt she was denying the presence of racism on the campus. Her position is that she said that SHE hadn’t seen it, and theirs is that she said it didn’t exist.
Even supposing her version is right, who’s that ignorant that she thinks it’s okay to use the N-word in class? In a million years I wouldn’t do so, no matter the context. It shows questionable judgment particularly from a communications prof.
@garland I have no sympathy for her. It wasnt necessary to use the word even in the context.
And why is her husband doing interviews “on her behalf?” Can she not speak for herself and clarify her version of events? He is writing her version of events on the Go Fund Me website where he has established an account for her and is also conducting interviews on her behalf. She has not spoken publicly on the matter at all.
^^yeah, I had that exact same thought. And ironically, a Comm professor!
Quite frankly, her opinion doesn’t deserve respect (the “I haven’t seen it so it must not be true” argument is super juvenile, and for Pete’s sake a researcher should know better), but that’s irrelevant - she used a racial slur in class. On top of that, she wasn’t on top of her research. A research-intensive university like KU might have fought for her if she was an excellent researcher and scholar, but they probably figured why go to bat for a professor who isn’t achieving the research milestones they want and ALSO shows a serious lack of judgment in the classroom?
Not meeting research requirements is probably the most common reason tenure-track professors don’t get tenure or don’t get their contracts renewed at year 3. And oh boy, she’s going to have a lot of difficulty finding another tenure-track job, especially if she goes through with the lawsuit.
If she had held off on using that slur until AFTER she got tenure, she would have been bullet proof. So why do only tenured professors get a pass on uncomfortable speech?
Is a rose by any other name…?
“In a million years I wouldn’t do so, no matter the context.”
There are contexts where I would, but this isn’t even close. I took Race and the American Legal Process with Prof. Randall Kennedy while he was working on his book about the legal importance of that word. We talked about the difference between the iterations ending in -er and -a, historic legal cases that evaluated whether its use justifies violent revenge, etc. But that’s a pretty unusual circumstance, and the professor was both black and tenured.
I tried to link to the Amazon listing for Prof. Kennedy’s book, but the word is spelled out in the title, so Google “The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word” if you’re interested. Good book.
If this woman is behind in her research, then she may also be lacking in research money. This woman sounds like someone who was not quite making it in the department as a researcher or as a teacher and her husband gripes about her committee work load. I don’t see a compelling reason to grant her an extension.
@Hanna --point taken about there could possibly be a reason. For me, as a white professor, teaching mixed classes of mostly freshmen, there would never be an instance where it would be necessary or okay. I bet Kennedy’s class was fascinating! 
Another endorsement here for Randy Kennedy’s excellent book about The Word, both scholarly and written for the general, thoughtful public.