By Olivia Krauth–
An associate professor is facing heat from administration after claiming a colleague has “blatant racist bias” and is using “the tenure and promotion process to smash to smithereens the work of black faculty.”
History associate professor Bruce Tyler emailed the Arts and Sciences faculty list-serv Feb. 15, saying history professor Mark Blum is not fit to re-establish and lead U of L’s chapter of American Association of University Professors due to past treatment of minority faculty seeking tenure.
“Below is a body of evidence from his service on the History Department Personnel Committee in two crucial cases involving minority faculty members that clearly demonstrates that he is not suitable to be part of the AAUP much less lead it,” Tyler’s email said. “Blum’s record of abusing faculty members is dismal and aggressively hostile against African-Americans such as Dr. Raphael Njoku and Dr. Bruce M. Tyler.”
Tyler’s email detailed Njoku’s path to early tenure, which Tyler claims the Blum-led personnel committee initially denied before being overriden by faculty. Tyler argued Njoku’s body of work was worthy of early tenure, but the personnel committee did not grant it. Tyler claims this is because of Blum’s “blatant racial bias.”
Njoku received early tenure before leaving U of L in June 2012, when Tyler says he was “forced to resign or be fired.” Njoku is now a professor at Idaho State University. He did not reply to requests for comments.
Tyler also mentioned he is also a victim of the allegedly racist committee, signing emails “Bruce M. Tyler who should be Full prof. but was robbed of it by crooked dealings.”
“Anyone who knows me knows I am not a racist,” Blum said in an email to the Cardinal. “Tyler’s breach of the rules of confidentiality will have their own consequences.”
Tyler’s email included many faculty statements taken from Njoku’s personnel file, leading to concerns of permission and access. Leonard sent an email to the list-serv on Feb. 16 in response.
“While it is unclear whether Professor Njoku granted permission for his name to be used in this listserv message, I feel compelled to make the following clear: Professor Njoku was an esteemed teacher and scholar who was granted early tenure and promotion at the University of Louisville,” Leonard said. “His record of accomplishment at U of L was outstanding.”
In an email to Tyler, A&S Dean Kimberly Kempf-Leonard, referring to Tyler’s initial email as a “long missive,” said, “Questions have been raised about whether you had permission to make the statements you printed about Professor Njoku. If you had permission, please forward it to me.
“If you did not have permission, please submit, within the next five days, an explanation of how you gained access to the information contained in your February 15 posting and please cease and desist from any future unauthorized access to or discussion of a colleague’s personnel file information,” Leonard said.
In response, Tyler contacted university counsel Leslie Strohm.
“AS Dean Kimberly Kempf-Leonard sent me her angry and threatening email because I exposed to the faculty extreme unequal treatment of minority faculty, black faculty by the History Personnel Committee,” Tyler said. “I had information that he was not the appropriate person to lead this faulty labor union and I show his formal record that disqualified him as an enemy of minorities, black people.
“Leonard said I was wrong to interject myself in this matter and I should have got permission to use names of the people I discussed,” Tyler said. “Leonard is under pressure from the faculty climate survey and she is looking for a scapegoat. I have a right of rebuttal and I can use any and all documents I get my hands on legally and legitimately.”
Tyler asked Strohm to “instruct Dean Leonard not to molest or harass me or threaten me with dire consequences.”
“I am rebutting a faculty member who is not qualified to lead faculty with his record of betrayal against the faculty in our most basic work, to be honest, fair and collegial and not to use the Tenure and Promotion process to smash to smithereens the work of black faculty.”
AAUP is an organization focused on “academic freedom and shared governance,” among other things. Blum said there is “sufficient interest” in restarting U of L’s chapter. The group held at least one interest meeting this semester.
