Black Professors Under Pressure
At Duke; Six Black Faculty Quit
University says it has hired 10 additional Black professors.
By Christina Asquith
Durham, N.C.
Three months after she was chosen to head the committee on race in response to the university’s lacrosse scandal, Duke University Professor Karla Holloway threatened to quit, citing exhaustion.
But, after meeting with colleagues earlier this month, Holloway reluctantly decided to stay on as committee head. Her frustration raises questions as to whether there is too much pressure on Black faculty at Duke to respond to the March crisis, in which a Black exotic dancer accused members of Duke’s lacrosse team of rape and racial slurs — claims that have led to criminal charges against three of the players, all White.
“I’m working on a culture initiative when I should be doing research,” says Holloway. “Of course you want a chance to make your campus better, but at what cost? When you are serviced to fix the problem, and you are also the victim, it’s a double duty.”
Says Duke provost Peter Lange about the burden placed on Black faculty, “If you have a small number of African-American faculty, and a crisis emerges of the kind that emerged here in March, then the burden on them shoots way up.”
Since the March incident, six Black faculty members have left the university, most notably Dr. Charlotte Pierce-Baker, a professor of women’s studies, and her husband Dr. Houston Baker, a professor of African-American literature. Both accepted positions at Vanderbilt University (see Diverse, June 15).
