Saturday, April 25, 2009

E-N Story on St. Mary's Shakeup

The Express-News covers student reactions to the ouster of two law professors:
A group of students at St. Mary's University School of Law are protesting the school's decision to terminate contracts for two female professors, one of them black, saying the move is a blow to diversity on a faculty where women and minorities are already underrepresented.

Raul Pelaez-Prada, the student leading the protest, has put up fliers on campus and collected around 150 signatures on a petition supporting Professors Cheryl George and Rosanne Piatt, who are both fighting their terminations.
I'd be happy to post a copy of that petition, if someone will send it to me. The newspaper also posted a letter (page 1 and page 2) from the American Association of University Professors on Rosanne Piatt's de facto tenure claim, which I wrote about earlier this month. The letter states in part:
Because Ms. Piatt has served as a full-time lecturer in the law school for more than eight years, she would therefore be entitled under the above documents to the procedural protections that normally accrue with tenure. ... They include the right to a pre-termination hearing of record in which the administration bears the burden of demonstrating adequacy of cause for dismissal before an elected faculty committee.
One possible reason for the dismissals? From the E-N article:
Students say the ousting is due in part to the professors' connection to former law school Dean Bill Piatt, who was forced out in 2006 after a rocky tenure. Rosanne Piatt is married to the former dean, and claims she has earned de facto tenure after teaching for 10 years. George was hired by the former dean and has been a staunch supporter.
In addition, the story notes that Bill Piatt tried to bring in four other African-Americans besides Prof. George to teach at the law school.

One was never hired and another worked as a visiting professor for a year. A third taught at St. Mary's for six years before accepting a tenure track position at another university. Reached at her office, the professor did not want to be identified, but said she too felt unwelcome at St. Mary's.

The fourth is Sharon Breckenridge-Thomas, director of the Office of Academic Excellence, whose contract was not renewed this year. Breckenridge-Thomas declined to comment.

I'm more inclined to believe that it's office politics, not racism, that led to this result. However it happened, it sure makes the law school look bad.

St. Mary's students and alumni should take a look at the comments on this article. A few samples:
  • This has little to do with racism or sexism. This is an example of the incompetence of Dean Charles Cantu. ...
  • The termination of these two professors is just another bad mark on a Law program struggling to regain a positive reputation in this State. ...
  • Staffing decisions should not be based on race/gender. Professors who can't teach should be released. End of story. ...
  • These comments are embarrassing to those of us who are proud to be students at St. Mary's. ...

1 comment:

Raúl Peláez-Prada said...

WE ARE NOT CARDS.
It has been a long time and I had hoped that actions would speak louder, but that is not the case. I studied law to keep the wolves away and at bay from preying on people that have no voice. Often I thought that I should have waited to start yelling out. I still don't know because the fall-out from my effort has been met with retaliation. St. Mary's chose to oppose my moral fitness as a result of a rightful call for transparency in the administration’s decision for dismissing women of color.
I happened across the comment that I was playing the "Race Card." In response:
WE ARE MORE THAN CARDS. To be a member of a people that is and has been targeted by xenophobic legislation and culturally containing privatized protocols is NOT a game of cards. This is not a play thing. That notion is perverse, offensive and indicative of the minds St. Mary's finds convenient to churn out. Yet, that offense is not novel. It is a dusty weapon in the repertoire of the fearful and willfully blind.
The terrible thing is that students stand to pay so much to be denied the unique knowledge that San Antonio's diverse legal community has to offer. Why fight good things? Money?

-Raúl Peláez-Prada, J.D.