Critical race theorist Dr. Wendy Moore, an associate professor of sociology at Texas A&M University, received a formal reprimand and a two-day suspension without pay for participating in the Scholar Strike, a national movement for academics to pause on Sept. 8 and 9 to reflect on racism. A letter will go in her file saying she willfully violated system and university rules, she said.
She’s one of a growing list of faculty members who have come under pressure for their activism this fall.
“I’m glad I didn’t get fired,” Moore said. “I was prepared for it. I was not prepared financially – I knew it was going to ruin me for a little while – but I had kind of mentally come to grips with the fact that that could happen.”
On Sept. 7, Moore sent an email to her students explaining her participation in the Scholar Strike. She canceled her Tuesday class section and office hours and told students they could join her Thursday class if they wanted. She also offered to stay late to answer any questions about the Scholar Strike movement or class materials.
Within hours, she heard from her department’s interim dean who told her administrators wanted her to do a teach-in instead of a work stoppage. She said he told her, “I don’t want to lose you.”
Meanwhile, on the Facebook page of the Rudder Association, a student group, comments piled up, including some from parents and alumni.
“The best part of waking up isn’t Folgers in my cup — it’s getting the ability to get rid of horrible professors who broke the law and lost all of their employee rights, including tenure,” one commenter wrote. “An administration that believes in the law is like cream and sugar in my coffee.”
