November 09, 2009, 10:00 AM ET

Diversity Officer's Ouster Sparks Student Protest at College Park

Hundreds of students at the University of Maryland at College Park marched on the administration building last Thursday to protest the dismissal of Cordell Black, a popular diversity officer who has occupied his post for 18 years, The Washington Post reports.

Mr. Black will be let go as associate provost for equity and diversity at the end of the year as part of a university effort to cut costs. The university plans to fill the position with a part-time administrator. However, Mr. Black, as a tenured professor, may remain on the faculty, the newspaper reports.

The Post described the demonstration as "one of the largest demonstrations at the College Park campus since the Vietnam War era." According to the newspaper ...

The mood during the demonstration suggested that many students fear that the school is quietly retreating from its commitment to racial and cultural diversity in a desperate re-sorting of priorities brought on by a funding crisis. State support to U-Md. has eroded by at least 10 percent in the recession.

People on the grassy expanse that serves as the university's front lawn erupted in chants of "Bring back Black" and "No justice, no peace," although they stopped short of occupying the administration building. Instead, protesters filled the front steps, applauded speakers on bullhorns and taped handwritten appeals to walls and columns.

"We gather here today in response to the alleged budget crisis that the administration uses to buttress the removal of Dr. Black from his position," said Amber J. Simmons, president of the university's Black Student Union. "The same budget crisis that allowed for a quarter of a million dollars to be spent on rebranding the school," Simmons said, referring to a recent public relations campaign.

Milree Williams, a spokesman for the university, told the Post that university officials have no intention of backing off from their diversity goals, which are "in the fabric of the university." Mr. Black, however, told the newspaper that University Provost Nariman Farvardin told him the diversity office was being dismantled.

Mr. Farvardin denied that charge: "The Office of Diversity and Equity will not be changed at all," [he] told the Post in an interview last Wednesday. "The students are hearing rumors that are unfounded and untrue."

Categories: Administrative-hiring

Comments

1. jffoster - November 10, 2009 at 08:02 am

Any university that has or develops a 'diversity office(r)" is either already discrimminating on such bases as race, sex, religion, ... or is planning on doing so directly.

2. gstreete - November 10, 2009 at 12:22 pm

Would it really be too much to ask that someone who offers that tired old platitude as if it gave any fresh insight, to actual spell "discriminating" correctly?

3. jffoster - November 10, 2009 at 05:43 pm

Who called for "fresh insight". And it's only tire if you want to discrimmmmmitate.

What's "correctly", No 2?. But I'll make you a deal. You use the adverb "actually" instead of the adjective 'actual' in the right place and I'll give some thought to the even more trivial matter of spelling. Better yet, how about we show each other a little forbearance given the difficulty of proofreading on these things?

4. laoshi - November 12, 2009 at 07:16 pm

Proofreading's easy, just count to ten before clicking on the "Submit" button. . .

Diversity and equity. How can both exist simultaneously?

5. mhoferek - November 12, 2009 at 08:51 pm

If the University of Maryland System is so strapped for money, how can they fund the many advertisements by the University of Maryland Univesity College? There are advertisements on prime time TV and radio, all Metro and train cars, and other mechanisms. It must take millions to fund this type of advertising. How can the State of Maryland fund these ads when they are laying off diversity officers and faculty? Where is this advertising money coming from?

6. jffoster - November 12, 2009 at 11:45 pm

Maybe they have discovered that the ads are worth more than diversity officers some faculty.

7. baker1655 - November 16, 2009 at 10:28 am

Cordell Black is a tenured faculty member. Moving him from his Associate Provost position back to the faculty does nothing for the University's budget. It's a political move.

We should be asking ourselves why, not questioning the value of having a diversity officer in the first place.