| 
Yale 101
Our Academic Community
Casualization >>>
Diversity & Equal Access >>>
Financial Aid >>>
Free Speech
Gov. & Investments >>> |
Faculty Diversity, a Case in Point: Connie Allen
From the 2000-01 school year through June 2004, Connie Allen served as a lecturer in Yale's Chemistry Department, teaching the popular first-year course CHEM 113. Students found Dr. Allen to be an excellent teacher – many students have called her the best teacher they'd had at Yale – and she served as a mentor to dozens. She was one of very few black women teaching at Yale, particularly in the sciences.
In December 2003, Dr. Allen was told that her contract would not be renewed at the end of the school year. Administrators blamed the decision to let go of Dr. Allen on monetary constraints. But the decision struck Dr. Allen and students as unacceptable, especially in light of the University's stated commitments to good teaching and a diverse faculty.
On Mar. 29th, 2004, Dr. Allen told her story to over 100 graduate students and undergrads at a diversity speak-out organized by GESO. Throughout April, dozens of Dr. Allen's former students, along with UOC and GESO members, wrote letters to President Levin, Deputy Provost of the Sciences and Technology Andrew Hamilton (now Yale Provost), and Chemistry Chair Gary Brudvig, calling for Dr. Allen's contract to be renewed or for her to be put in a tenure-track position.
On Apr. 29th, 20 concerned members of the Yale community, including Dr. Allen, 11 of her former students, UOC members, GESO members, and a Local 35 member, walked in to the Provost's Office, demanding a meeting with an administrator about the case. Provost Hockfield and Deputy Provost Hamilton initially refused to meet with the group. Eventually, after multiple visits by students to both of Hamilton's two offices, Hamilton agreed to meet with students. At the meeting on May 6th, Hamilton told students that "Yale does not appoint its ladder faculty based on student demands."
Outraged by Hamilton's dismissiveness, Dr. Allen and students continued the fight over the summer. Students made two attempts to meet with President Levin. Dr. Allen attempted to pursue a University grievance procedure, only to be told that no such procedure was available.
Dr. Allen left Yale for Mount Holyoke College, where she is Dean of Students and also teaching chemistry. Her final complaint to the provost [full text] states:
In my experience at Yale, what may be viewed as an opportunity for a department to be flexible in building its ranks, serves as exploitation and 'duplicitous remuneration' for many. Only when Yale values excellent teaching, diversity, and mentoring in the sciences can we expect the hiring and promoting of non-ladder faculty to be fair and respectful.
Dr. Allen's experience is just one instance of the systematic disregard for students and teachers that a movement of students and workers at Yale is fighting.
<<< Back to Diversity and Equal Access
<<< Back to Our Academic Community
top
|
