A local NAACP branch and an Emerson student organization are pressuring Emerson's administration to grant tenure to Professors Roger House and Pierre Desir, who have alleged their applications to become associate professors were denied because they are black.
The Mystic Valley Branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People
ugg boots classic, of which House is a member, sent letters to the college community and the Board of Trustees last week, expressing its awareness and concern over the professors' challenge to the decision. They also noted that Emerson has not tenured and promoted a black male professor in its 129-year history, and, in the trustees' letter, they requested documentation of the college's tenure standards and its efforts to retain minority professors.
Also last week, Emerson Peace and Social Justice started a petition for the professors' reinstatement
ugg boots grey, gathering signatures at an April 17 event called "Americans Who Tell the Truth," which the organization dedicated to House, the organization's adviser.
In the NAACP's letter, Branch President Neil Osborne asked the board to provide a written copy of the tenure evaluation process and explain the procedure for advising candidates of the adequacy of their work. He also asked what efforts Emerson has made to hire people of color over the last 25 years, and why House and Desir, and not the three white professors up for tenure last year, were the only professors denied.
"Unanswered is the question of what was different about the content of House's work requiring a denial and that of non-persons of color receiving the promotion to tenure," Osborne said. "This letter is intended to express the Mystic Valley Area Branch of the NAACP's concern that Emerson College is insulating itself with a self-delusion, advocating the precept of diversity, but failing to take actions to actually be a diverse institution."
The college will respond directly to the NAACP, said Emerson's Vice President of Communications and Marketing Andrew Tiedemann
ugg boots kids, but since the college received the letter recently, a response may take some time. The letter is currently in the hands of the college's general counsel, Christine Hughes, who will help the trustees draft a response.