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When Academic Freedom and Corporate-sponsored Professorships Collide
By Dianne Hayes
Nov 10, 2006, 07:48
In 2002, Dr. Jerome D. Williams, a leading expert in the area of
multicultural advertising, accepted the Anheuser Busch/John E. Jacob
Endowed Chair in Marketing at Howard University. But the job offer was
rescinded, Williams says, because he'd written articles critical of
minority-targeted alcohol marketing.
Now, he's asking the courts to determine whether the job offer
withdrawal represents a violation of his right of free speech and
academic freedom.
Howard University officials are not commenting, but an internal panel
said the university violated its own rules that ensure faculty academic
freedom.
Williams says the problem started in 2003 when, at the request of Howard
President Patrick H. Swygert, he traveled to St. Louis to visit Anheuser
Busch to discuss his role in the endowed chair. A few weeks later,
Williams received a request from Swygert's office for copies of two
articles he had written in 1993 and 1995 dealing with target marketing
of alcohol products to minority consumers. A short time later, Williams
says he received a letter from Swygert rescinding the offer"
"The articles go back 10 years ago when we were on the forefront of
drawing attention to this issue," Williams says. "It was not vilifying
the industry, but it raised issues and looked at statistics such as
whether the marketing efforts were proportionate to the size of the
community. It was not demonizing by any means. I've worked with the
industry in the past. I'm all for working in partnership to solve the
problems."
Williams contends that rescinding the offer violates his academic
freedom by allowing the decision to be influenced unduly by a corporate
donor who was perceived to have a conflict of business interest with his
scholarly research. Williams' lawsuit against Howard will be filed in
the Superior Court of the District of Columbia, according to Williams'
attorney John Clifford.
Williams, a former Howard professor who had been recruited from Penn
State University, is currently the F. J. Heyne Centennial Professor of
Communication in the Department of Advertising at the University of
Texas at Austin.
In 2005, Howard's Faculty Grievance Commission Hearing Panel issued a
non-binding opinion that said, "The panel believes that there is ample
evidence to support Dr. Williams' contention that the University
violated his right to academic freedom."
"The Panel concludes that the only logical reason for the University to
rescind its oral contract to Dr. Williams was based upon the substance
of the previously mentioned two articles. Therefore, the Panel had no
difficulty concluding that the action by the University was done in
violation of Dr. Williams's academic freedom," the opinion reads.
The panel recommended remedies include, retroactively appointing
Williams as Anheuser-Busch Professor of Marketing from 2002-2003; paying
him $30,000 for professorship (the amount above his salary that he would
have been paid for the year had he served as chair); and $15,000 for
Chair Support and Chair Research; attorney fees and personal expenses
incurred.
Williams said that no action has been taken by the university to act on
the recommendations, and filing a lawsuit was his only remaining option.
"You don't see this kind of thing very often," says Jonathan Knight, who
directs a program in academic freedom and tenure at the American
Association of University Professors (AAUP). "You don't normally know
why an offer is not made. On many campuses, when there is an endowed
chair by a controversial industry, person or country, the administration
will weigh carefully the type of person to hold the chair."
"As for as withdrawing the offer, it obviously becomes more
controversial," Knight said. "It might suggest to some that it was done
at the bidding of the industry or as an attempt to keep on their good
side."
The Anheuser Busch/John E. Jacob Chair was the first endowed chair in
the Howard University School of Business. It was made possible by a
donation from the Anheuser-Busch Foundation, and named for Dr. John E.
Jacob, executive vice president and chief communications officer of
Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc., and former president and CEO of the
National Urban League.
--Dianne Hayes
(c) Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
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