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4 t/The Daily Tar Heel/Friday, March 5, 1993 Duke professor says racism was factor in denial of tenure By Adam Blanch! Suff Writer A Duke University associate profes sor of political science is appealing his year-old tenure denial because he be lieves politics and racism tainted the decision. “I have experienced racism on a va riety of different fronts since 1984,” said Darryl Roberts, a Hubert Humphrey research scholar and a Compton fellow. Roberts, an honorary professor at the London School of Economics and a Ford Foundation fellow, said that when he was hired by Duke University in 1984, he thought he had attained the position as a result of hard work and academic recognition. But Roberts said he later found out that he actually was chosen to fill an “add-on position” specifically created for minorities. “Normal professors look at the add-on professor as an inferior position,” he said. During a recent telephone interview, Roberts called Allen Comberg, former chairman of the Duke political science department, a “racist" and said personal friction between him and Comberg had Drugs be able to come in,” he said. Within the past year, two residents of a North Campus residence hall had their contracts terminated because of illicit drug use. Another drug-related incident was reported recently in the same dor mitory. One resident who had been charged with possession of an illegal substance said he had never been informed that he had the right to decline a police search of his room. The resident, who spoke on condi tion of anonymity, said University Po lice officers made the situation appear as though they had the right to search his room regardless of a student’s re fusal. “Ignorance of your rights should not be an invitation for the police to abuse theirs,” the resident said. ‘To the best of my understanding, the campus police did violate my rights. “There’s a lot of bullying going on. The people are intimidated, and the 208 W. Franklin St. • 968-FAST CSMALL "j§VCKR]RT\W)j P9fi K l sß.i6 i Y •-k / Jg’ 2-Item Pizza & 2 Sodas I fp>fiTVOTaALif/ifiieL§iciAL| ! $10.42 $8.92 I J 20” 1-Item Pizza 116” 1-Item Pizza & 2 Sodas J GOHEELSf BEAT"DUKE! flutieN NOW OPEN 10% OFF with college ID on all items not already on sale. Triangle Factory Shops Store Hours: 1001 Airport Blvd. Mon.-Sat. 10 am-9 pm (919) 469-0908 Sunday 12-6 pm “The Legend Lives On” affected his tenure review. Roberts also said that, contrary to statements issued by Duke, the univer sity did not employ the 35 black faculty members it had reported were on its payroll. “Although there has been a media campaign to convince the nation that Duke has solved the problem, the num bers tell the real story... there are really 26 or 27 (black faculty members), de pending on who’s visiting,” Roberts said. Duke’s more than 1600-member fac ulty is approximately 2 percent black. Roberts cited another associate professor’s tenure application as proof of the political and racial elements that he said pervaded Duke’s tenure pro cess. Timothy Lomperis, a white profes sor who also was hired by Duke in 1984, received a seven-year contract at the same time that Roberts received an eight year contract, Roberts said. Lomperis was granted a one-year extension on his contract in 1991 so that the two professors would have an equal period of employment. When Roberts asked for a similar police take advantage of that as a tool.” The materials and pamphlets con cerning the University housing drag policy residents received at the begin ning of the academic year do not clarify individual case-by-case rights, the resi dent said. “The police should do their job to the best of their ability, but students are on their own,” the resident said. “No one is really interested in letting us know our rights, because it puts a check on them. “It’s up to the students to look after themselves.” But Olde Campus Area Director Wayne Thompson said students some times presented unfair accounts of drag related incidents. “What people hear isn’t always what happens, and housing officials and (resi dent assistants) are forced to keep con fidentiality even if what is being said is wrong,” he said. Thompson said he had not seen a rise in the number of drag-related incidents extension in 1992, his request was de nied. “The extension was vital, because I have three books and manuscripts about to be printed,” Roberts said. “These printings would have weighed heavily in my favor in the tenure pro cess,” he said. Lomperis’ bid for tenure eventually was denied. Roberts said he believed he and Lomperis were “sacrificed for the university’s political safety.” “If I had been granted an extra year, then Lomperis could have filed suit for reverse discrimination. If Lomperis had been granted tenure and not me, then I could file suit for discrimination. So they denied tenure for both of us. It wasn’t fair, but it was easy for the de partment,” Roberts said. Lomperis said he did not want to discuss his or Roberts’ cases because any comments he made might affect the decision of the faculty hearing commit tee that is considering his appeal. However, Lomperis did admit that he had some objections to the tenure process. “There are major problems in the from page 1 in his area. “My RAs are doing the same things as last year in regards to dealing with violations of housing policy they see,” he said. “The same standards are in place; maybe students are looking at the fact that the way they are dealt with is differ ent.” The housing department has insti tuted a procedural change in dealing with illicit drags, Thompson said. In stead of punishing policy violators within the Department of University Housing, residence hall officials turn the cases over to Honor Court or the police, he said. “My understanding is that we do not take action in housing based on Honor Court violations,” he said. “We hand it over directly to the Honor Court. We may also need to turn it over to the authorities.” Reddie Darden, a senior from Jack sonville living in Teague Residence Hall, said anyone who wanted to know about the housing department’s drag policy easily could find out. “I think that if I used drags I’d know what the policies were,” she said. “They talked about it a lot my freshman year.” Thompson said he told his resident assistants to call University Police when a violation concerned illicit drags and to document what they witnessed for the record. Thompson said incidents concerning alcohol usually are handled by the RAs. 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Thomas Langford, provost of Duke University, said the faculty hearing com mittee would look for problems in Rob erts’ tenure decision. “If (the process) was flawed, then Roberts’ application will be sent back to the political science department un der supervision to ensure that the flaw is taken care of,” Langford said. “If there are further problems, then the dean of the College of Arts and Science and the president of the university will review the case. If either one of them decides there is a problem, then the provost’s office takes over.” Langford said his first concern was “to treat the faculty with fairness and uphold the duty and honor of the insti tution.” Roberts said he planned to lodge complaints with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, the U.S. Jus tice Department, and the American Association of University Professors. He said his next step would be to ask the Duke University Board of Trustees’ executive committee to take over the case. Roberts said he believed the contro versy concerning his tenure might have been the reason the printing of one of his books, which was scheduled to be published by Duke Press last spring, Hulka there (working to delay approval),” he said. The plastic clip, which is about 1/2 inch long and 1/8 inch square, has upper and lower jaws and functions like a clothespin, Hulka said. “The surgeon drives a small metal spring into the clip to keep the jaws together,” he said. The clip is implanted through a small slit near the belly button and attached to the fallopian tubes, cutting off access to the womb. Once implanted, the birth control device permanently sterilizes the woman. “This is a form of perma nent separation of sperm and egg,” Hulka said. Danny J. Schust, a fourth-year resi dent in Obstetrics/Gynecology at UNC Hospitals, said the Hulka clip was in heavy demand at the hospital. “We probably do five or six tubal ligations a week, and three or so of those are with Hulka clips,” he said. “So we have about 150 a year.” Schust said the biggest complication involved in the surgical procedure was the small possibility that the patient was canceled. Lawrence Halley, director of Duke Press, declined to speak about the mat ter because Roberts’ appeal still was being considered. “Halley and Comberg met about the contract, and I believe Comberg influ enced Halley because of his personal feelings about me,” Roberts said. Roberts also said he had reason to question the workings of the tenure committee on several other occasions. “At one point, confidential reviews of my work were delivered to my of fice,” he said. “These reviews are meant to be seen by the tenure council only. I returned them immediately but this was defi nitely a breach of conduct,” Roberts said. Roberts said he had tried to change the hiring system by actively recruiting black applicants from around the nation and by founding the W.E.B. Dußois Society, an academic group on campus that is an attempt to stimulate intellec tual interaction between black faculty members. He said most of the black graduate students and professors from other uni versities had told him they were dis couraged by Duke’s racial atmosphere. Roberts said Duke had an attitude toward blacks that caused qualified can didates to abandon the university’s graduate studies program. “There is an expression of alienation and frustration from the graduate stu dents,” Roberts said. Roberts said he believed a lack of from page 1 would become pregnant after the opera tion. About one in 250 women becomes pregnant despite the Hulka clip, he said. Tubal ligations involving die Hulka clip are more easily reversible than methods like burning the fallopian tubes, Schust said. “The clips are small, so damage to the fallopian tubes is also small,” he said. Patients who wish to have the opera tion reversed must have the damaged sections of their fallopian tubes re moved, but “there is less scar tissue with the Hulka clips,” he said. The Hulka clip is being used in the United States, England, Australia and Canada, and has been introduced in Sweden, Hulka said. Hulka came to the University in 1967 to join the Carolina Population Center and study both the world’s growing population problem and various forms of sterilization. “I decided the safest method would be a form of mechanical sterilization, as opposed to an electrical or chemical one,” he said. Hulka cited the recently approved drag implant Norplant as a form of chemical sterilization, and the burning of the fallopian tubes as a form of elec trical sterilization. “The clip, being a mechanical de vice, is cleaner and simpler than these other methods,” he said. Ancient gecret... {GOLDEN CHINA RESTAURANT 1 J LSjfj Authentic Chinese food hidden away in Carrboro Plaza... This oriental delight of a restaurant serves lunch for $3.50 and up Mon.-Fri., 11:30 am-2 pm On Sundays, lunch buffet is only $6.50 from 11:30 am-2 pm S jl hours are 5-9:30 pm, Sun.-Thurs. & 5-10 pm, Fri. & Sat. for $5.50 and up.. . Mill/ rB 'i' Sunday lunch buffet includes 15 items ja Dine in or carry out • Banquet facilities available. mm Carrboro Plaza, 54 Bypass • Carrboro, NC • (919)967-6688 L. NO CHECKS PLEASE A black students would hinder the univer sity in hiring black faculty members. “Avery important step is to review all black applications, past and present,” Roberts said. “These have to be gathered and ex amined so that future applicants won’t experience the problems of the past. Everyone should be judged alike. There are many black applicants who are more than competent to withstand tenure re view if they were treated the same as the other candidates,” he said. Chuck Stone, UNC professorof jour nalism, said he had heard “mixed re views” of Roberts’ performance, but added that there was a lack of black political science professors at Southern universities in general. “I find it interesting that neither UNC nor Duke University has afull professor in political science who is black,” Stone said. “We have the largest number of chaired (black) professors in the coun try, but political science seems to have a blind spot when it comes to blacks. “It is racism, and it’s undeniable, documented, stand-up-in-court racism,” he said. Stone said that in spite of the fact that Duke had several prominent black pro fessors on its staff, the atmosphere there was not especially hospitable for black faculty members. “There isn’t much collegiality at Duke that involves black professors,” he said. Roberts said the primary goal of the university should be to eliminate “the veil of affirmative action. “It’s really just racism, because mi nority applicants are in a minority pool for minority positions,” Roberts said. “White candidates are in the regular pool. This system leads to tokenism. As long as there is one black faculty mem ber in each department, then the Black Faculty Initiative is satisfied. But the system is not fair and equal.” He also said personal relationships within departments had an inordinately strong influence on tenure decisions. “The administration needs to give attention to the reality of personal con flicts of interest between the person being reviewed and the reviewer,” Rob erts said. “Much less value needs to be given to external reviews and more to internal reviews,” he said. Roberts said the tenure committee had received 13 external reviews in his tenure case, although the maximum number of critiques recommended by the university was ten. Duke University officials deny that any facet of Duke’s tenure process is discriminatory. “The tenure process is not racist, nor does conflict of interest play a major part. Human beings are imperfect and mistakes may have been made,” said David Roberson, spokesman for the Duke University president’s office. “The B lack Faculty Initiative ordered that each department must hire or show evidence of a genuine attempt to hire one black faculty member,” he said.
Daily Tar Heel (Chapel Hill, N.C.)
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March 5, 1993, edition 1
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