In response to the coronavirus, Harvard University froze its search for ethnic studies faculty while continuing the hunt for a new athletic director, who was named last week, provoking ire from student organizers.
Last June, Dr. Claudine Gay, dean of the faculty of arts and sciences, announced that the school would hire three to four ethnic studies faculty members. Some candidates had already visited the campus with more scheduled to give talks before the coronavirus hit.
But in a March 26 email to the Harvard Ethnic Studies Coalition – a group of students and alumni advocating for ethnic studies at Harvard – Gay said the search was suspended, reported The Harvard Crimson, Harvard’s student newspaper.
She expressed concern that candidates would be unable to present their best work during the pandemic.
“I can’t even begin to describe how disheartening it is to have seen this effort begin to bear its first fruits, only to have meaningful progress put on an indefinite timeline,” she wrote. “But we also know that the attention of faculty, both those advancing this work here and those who are candidates in this process, is necessarily dedicated elsewhere.”
Two weeks later, administrators announced a university-wide hiring freeze in an April 13 message to the campus community, as universities across the country halt hiring. However, Harvard’s search for a new athletic director, which started in November 2019 – months after the ethnic studies search began – continued as planned. Gay announced last week that Erin McDermott would fill the role with a start date of July 1. Neither Gay nor the university responded to request for comment from Diverse.
The juxtaposition of the two decisions frustrated student activists.
