From Diverse Online
Current News
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
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.
Williams says the problem started in
2003 when, at the request of Howard President Patrick H. Swygert, he traveled
to
“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
Williams, a former Howard professor
who had been recruited from
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
© Copyright 2005 by DiverseEducation.com
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