Africana Studies and Research

Center
Salah M. Hassan
Director and Goldwin Smith Professor

310 Triphammer Road

Ithaca, New York 14850
t. 607.254.1592
f. 607.255.0784
e. sh40@cornell.edu

DATE: April 4, 2010

TO: Africana Faculty, Graduate Students, and Alumni
FROM: Salah M. Hassan, ASRC Director
RE: Recent Developments in Africana

CONFIDENTIAL

Many of you have been copied on the series of recent open e-mail letters from our
graduate students and alumni among others in response to the recent racist and sexist
remarks made by one of our faculty members to two of our graduate students. Most
specifically, some of you were copied in the recent open letter by one of our graduate
students on March 22, 2010 requesting an open meeting of the graduate students with
the faculty to discuss the recent developments. Some of you might have also received
the follow up e-mails from other students and alumni alike. I have no way of telling for
sure who received the messages as many of the addressees were blind copied on them,
therefore, an apology is in order to those of you who are receiving this communication
for the first time.

I would like to thank all our students who wrote publicly or privately to share their
concerns with me and other faculty. In response, I would like to emphasize on behalf of
the Africana faculty, that there is no place for sexism and racism or any other form of
discrimination and harassment in Africana and Cornell. It is also our ultimate duty to
provide a safe and supportive environment for our graduate and undergraduate students
to study and flourish as scholars and professionals. There is no doubt that the remarks
uttered by the faculty member (which according to my knowledge he didn’t deny
making) are sexist, racist, utterly ugly and completely unacceptable. They have caused
our two graduate students and all other Africana graduate students tremendous pain,
suffering, confusion and stress at a time when they should be focusing on their studies
and intellectual growth.

Above all else, no one deserves to be addressed with such remarks, let alone two black
women graduate students in a program, like Africana, borne out of the struggle against
injustice and all forms of discrimination. Ours is a discipline that both depends upon
and prides itself on providing the intellectual space for critiquing racism and sexism and
fostering a rigorous analysis and intellectual discourse on these issues. The negative
impact of this incident has also been deeply felt by our faculty whose concern, first and
foremost, is for our students and for maintaining a working and learning environment in
which students and professors alike can work together in a mutually stimulating
atmosphere.
 Many of you are already aware of the comprehensive steps we have taken so far. For
the benefit of those who are not aware of them, however, allow me once again to
reiterate the course of action undertaken in relation to this incident and other related
matters:

1. From the moment this incident was brought to my attention I contacted the two
concerned graduate students (on February 8, 2010) and arranged for a meeting with them
and the human resources person in charge of such matters, which took place on February
9, 2010. The purpose of the meeting was to familiarize the two students with the
processes available to them at Cornell to address their concerns and to provide them with
the support they need. Other steps were also taken to safeguard the academic progress of
the two graduate students. For example (with the permission and in some cases at the
request of the two concerned graduate students) I personally contacted and sent letters to
all professors with whom the two students are taking classes this spring 2010 semester
urging them to take into consideration the circumstances of the concerned students, and
the sensitivity of the matter at hand. I have also asked the professor in question to stay
away of our building during certain times that coincide with the attendance of one of the
students of a weekly seminar held close to his office.

2. The two graduate students met with the top University official in charge of investigating
such complaints at Cornell and both students subsequently chose the process they wished
to pursue within Cornell’s infrastructure. Shortly thereafter, Deputy Provost David
Harris, Debbie Philip (from Human Resources) and I met with the two graduate students
to follow up on any concerns they might have as part of the process. All these meetings
were treated as urgent and took place within a few days after the incident took place.
There is now a formal University process in place, which requires both confidentiality
and sensitivity. While I share the frustration expressed by some of you with regard to the
length of time the process is taking, it is of utmost importance that the process be allowed
to run its full course.

3. Given that the professor in question was the Director of Graduate Studies (DGS) at the
time of the incident, Professor Judith Byfield and I met with Africana graduate students
on February 15, 2010 to discuss the issue of the DGS, and any concerns they might have
regarding the incident. The professor in question was removed from the position of DGS
and we informed the students that Professor Byfield would assume the role of DGS until
the end of this semester. I have also made myself available to our graduate students
should they wish to discuss their graduate studies directly with me. This was made clear
to our students in no uncertain terms. We also explained to the graduate students that
once the two concerned students chose formal processes within Cornell, we as faculty
were obliged to respect and ensure the confidentiality necessitated by the formal process.
That said, we reiterated to our students that the confidentiality of the process would not
prevent us from making sure that they have a safe and supportive environment free from
sexism, racism and all other forms of discrimination. This is precisely why we took the
immediate step of changing the DGS. For the sake of clarity, the change in the DGS was
set forth in a letter addressed to our graduate students.

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4. Following the above-mentioned meeting with the graduate students, we called for a
special faculty meeting, on February 17, 2010, attended by Deputy Provost David Harris
in which we discussed the incident and decided as faculty to issue a collective statement
in support of our students reiterating our personal commitment as faculty to maintaining
an environment free of all forms of discrimination, while remaining mindful of the
requirements of the formal process underway. Here is the text of the message to the
students we issued:

Dear ASRC Graduate Students,

I am writing to you on behalf of the faculty of the Africana Studies and Research
Center to reaffirm our collective commitment to maintaining a supportive and serious
environment of scholarly pursuit and academic training. It is also our utmost
responsibility to ensure that your learning environment is free from all forms of
discriminatory behavior, including racism and sexism. We have taken very seriously
the recent alleged discrimination by one of our faculty against two of our graduate
students. There is now a formal process in place to handle this incident and
accordingly we ask that you remain sensitive to the confidentiality this process
requires. As we have already communicated, while this process takes it course,
Professor Judith Byfield has assumed the role of Director of Graduate Studies and I
will personally assist in case she is busy. Please feel free to contact Professor Byfield
or me as Director for any assistance that you need.

In the meantime, we as faculty will continue to focus on maintaining a nurturing and

supportive environment in which you will be able to thrive intellectually and socially.

5. As a direct consequence of the damage inflicted on Africana by the recent incident, and
in response to requests by a number of our graduate students, we moved the joint-
conference organized by Africana and the English department (Theory Now) held March
5 and 6th, 2010, from the Africana’s multi-purpose room to Goldwin Smith Hall.

6. For the same reasons mentioned above, I have reached a mutual agreement with the
Professor in question that he would not participate in or attend our 40th anniversary
conference to be held April 15-17, 2010.

7. For those who wrote to me concerned that I ignored or did not respond to the open letter
of March 22, 2010, requesting a public meeting of students and faculty to discuss the
incident and its impact on our graduate students, I would like to state clearly that I did
respond as Director of Africana to the message on the same day the message was sent to
me. Immediately after our return from spring break I met with the student on March 30,
2010. I also promptly responded to the two other students who sent messages in support
of the March 22nd open letter calling for the meeting. Let me be clear then in stating that
contrary to the unfounded perception of my action, I have never ignored the students’ call
for a meeting nor did I object to it.

8. Again, as I reaffirmed in all my responses, the wellbeing of our students and Africana as

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 a collective whole, is our utmost priority. We are redoubling our efforts to create a more
positive and supportive and professional environment. Accordingly, Professor Judith
Byfield, Professor Robert Harris and I met on March 30th, 2010, with two graduate
students, including the sender of the April 22nd open letter, to discuss the suggestion of
the public meeting. Since then, we have made progress towards holding an initial joint
meeting of the students with the faculty. A committee has also been formed to include
Professors Judith Byfield, Carole Boyce Davies, and Robert Harris, in addition to two
graduate students to handle the matter and come up with specific plans for further
discussion between faculty and students. The committee met and reached a consensus on
several suggestions, including a series of joint meetings between faculty and students that
will be expanded later to include senior lecturers and staff. We also reached a general
consensus that issues of racism and sexism need to be addressed on a more constant
basis. To this end we are arranging for a series of meetings/workshops that will be led by
a professional facilitator and/or a scholar who is trained in issues of gender, sexism and
racism. In the meantime, we also scheduled an initial meeting to be held on Monday
April 5, 2010 to address the immediate concerns of our students.

9. I also want to make it clear that, as Director of Africana and an officer of the University
who reports directly to the Provost, I have not acted alone on matters related to this
incident. The perception of a lack of response from Africana’s “leadership” raised in
several of the messages I received must be addressed in the context of how decisions are
made within Africana and Cornell University. I have consistently consulted with the
faculty and continue to do so on an on-going and intensive basis. I have also remained
mindful of and sensitive to the on-going formal process. It should be evident, based on
what I have outlined above, that our response to this incident was immediate and
consistent.

Finally, I would like to reiterate that we in the Africana Center have taken this matter very
seriously. There are formal processes in place to handle this incident and accordingly it is
inappropriate for me to say anything further at this time. This is done in the best interest of the
students who are affected by the incident and the confidentiality such a process requires. It is
also necessary to understand that the process is removed from Africana and has been handled by
another body that is not directly related to us as a unit. I understand that formal processes can
have a negative impact when they drag on longer than necessary. I too share the concerns
expressed in some of the letters and the need for a resolution to the case as soon as possible.
These concerns have already been conveyed to the University administration.

We have and will continue to take all the necessary steps to provide the utmost support to our
students. As we await the resolution of this matter, I am requesting that all parties copied on this
message treat this communication as confidential and not to distribute or share it any further.
Thank you.