Reading this article, I wondered if this was really racism. The grant money listed was gained after tenure denied. His online petition lists none of the things I would consider important in making tenure decisions (number of papers, number of phd students he graduated, grants obtained at time tenure denied). Also, his anti-embryonic stem cell research views are not the most popular. But on the other hand, looking at my dept, we don't have to worry about junior faculty claiming racism in tenure process- we have only white faculty (ok, one Chinese, one half Japanese but they already have tenure). I know minorities do get phds so claims of racism are very believable. So, is this racism or just making excuses?
Posts: 1001 | Registered: Mar 2006
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It's only racism if he can demonstrate that he was unjustly denied tenure based on no reason other than his race.
He most definitely hasn't demonstated that to me yet, but granted we are only reading a small blurb about it and we don't know the details of the situation.
What I'd want to know is:
1) What is the university's pattern - do they traditionally tend to only award tenure to white professors? 2) Who was given tenure when he was denied and what were their qualifications compared to his? 3) Why in the world, if going on a hunger strike, would you make your last meal Chex cereal? Posts: 14428 | Registered: Aug 2001
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Frankly, I don't see how he could hold his head up after getting tenure through blackmail.
The university may be in the wrong, and I hope that they are open and forthright about their decision making process, but starving yourself to force them to give you tenure doesn't seem to me to be the right way to get that information.
Posts: 13123 | Registered: Feb 2002
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quote:It's only racism if he can demonstrate that he was unjustly denied tenure based on no reason other than his race.
Actually, it's racism if he were denied tenure and race is among any of the reasons. He could have done ten things wrong, but if one of them is race, then it's racism.
quote: 1) What is the university's pattern - do they traditionally tend to only award tenure to white professors? 2) Who was given tenure when he was denied and what were their qualifications compared to his?
You may not get the answer to "1" because it may be the case that 80 percent of the candidates have been white, in which case, it's not really appropriate to judge. And to "2," tenures don't work from a zero sum. It may easily be the case that nobody was given tenure.
Tenure is tricky business. It's like becoming a partner in a law firm. Part of getting it is showing that you play well with others, by "others" I mean prevailing whites, and if you don't have it in you to learn white habits, then you have to be twice as good, and most probably, this guy wasn't twice as good.
Little things affect tenure. If you higher a wife/husband team, and you tenure one, you darn near have to tenure the other.
I doubt that he went straight to a hunger strike. I imagine that he filled out a form, and that form is now "under advisement."
Mostly, the article was only a handful of paragraphs, giving a brief overview of his strike and only a cursory glance at the issues that brought it about. I can't even make an informed guess as to whether his claim has merit, and I'm a little bit worried about how the article listed his weight. If he weren't obese, would that be relevant? There is something about the article that portrays him as nuts, when that may not be the case.
quote: His online petition lists none of the things I would consider important in making tenure decisions (number of papers, number of phd students he graduated, grants obtained at time tenure denied).
I have to tell you, scholar, none of these standards make me feel good about the kind of people we are selecting for tenure.
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Different schools have different requirements for tenure, but most focus on the two broad categories of research and teaching (some more heavily on one than the other). That's what the job is--a professor is someone who researches and teaches. I'm not sure what other standards you'd think of using.
Posts: 4077 | Registered: Jun 2003
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I will say from experience that any reasonable university will bend over backwards to attract, tenure, and retain qualified minority candidates. In a position search, if we hire a non-minority candidate, we have to prove that there were no qualified minority applicants and that we made every reasonable effort to advertise the opening to minorities.
edit to add: At a research university (like MIT) emphasis would be much more on research than teaching. This tends to upset undergrads when their favourite teacher doesn't get tenure.
Posts: 11187 | Registered: Sep 2005
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quote:Little things affect tenure. If you higher a wife/husband team, and you tenure one, you darn near have to tenure the other.
Absolutely false. You almost certainly have to hire the spouse (or coax a neighboring university into doing so), but the spouse-job is frequently not a tenured position.
quote:Originally posted by Storm Saxon: Frankly, I don't see how he could hold his head up after getting tenure through blackmail.
He claims that is not what he's trying to do. Not sure I believe him . . .
quote:Originally posted by Xavier:
quote:The 5-foot-8, 254-pound professor said he planned to ingest only water, vitamins and electrolyte supplements...
With a BMI of 38.6, perhaps this is for the best?
Ah, snarkiness AND lousy dieting advice. Hunger striking (like any form of starvation) is likely to actually cause an eventual net weight gain.
Posts: 32919 | Registered: Mar 2003
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Hunger striking (like any form of starvation) is likely to actually cause an eventual 
