Douglas West: Murray State Univ. Professor Suspended for Derogatory Comments about Slavery

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Murray State Univ. Professor Suspended for Derogatory Comments about Slavery

Filed under: News, Interviews, Race and Civil Rights

Mark Wattier, a professor of Political Science at Murray State University in Kentucky, is in hot water after comparing his black students to slaves. Arlene Johnson, a freshman from Sikestown, Mo says that she arrived to Wattier's class three to five minutes early and found that there was a film already playing. After class was over, Johnson went to the professor, along with another black student, DeVaunte Martin, to ask him why the film had been started before they arrived.

According the students, Professor Wattier explained to them that class starts 10 minutes early when films are being shown. But the students were confused, since the information is not in the syllabus. Wattier then said "I expect it out of you guys anyway."

The students asked Wattier to clarify his statement, which is when he made the comments that served to truly seal his fate:

"It is part of your heritage. The slaves never showed up on time to their owners and were lashed for it. I just don't have the right to do that."

Of course the students were shocked to hear the professor make this kind of remark. Johnson has since dropped the class, and had this to say:

"First I forgot that I was grown," she said. "I'm a freshman. I still felt like I was in high school and I forgot I could speak my mind. My second thought was to call my sister who's a lawyer. After that I went and talked to the Office of Equal Opportunity."

Johnson filed an official complaint with the school back in August, and an investigation is still on-going. Murray State University President Randy Dunn is refusing to comment on the remark, referring to it as a personnel matter. The Office of Equal Opportunity has concluded that the professor did discriminate against the student. But some are wondering if his tenure status will protect him from being fired. He is suspended without pay and benefits until May 15, at which time he is expected to meet with the Office of Equal Opportunity.

Welcome to academia and welcome to the state of Kentucky. I went to college in Kentucky and I can remember professors making racist comments toward me and showing attitudes that were reflective of the discriminatory history of the state. I can also recall interacting with faculty at another Kentucky University, Morehead State, which left me confused as to whether or not anyone actually realized that we were no longer in the 1940s. To my knowledge, the university has less than one or two African American male faculty on the entire campus and no serious efforts to increase the number.

Instead of a serious commitment to diversity, students get professors who feel that their untouchable academic appointments give them a license to say and do things that would be considered reprehensible in any other industry in America. The black students are then served the traumatic injustice of having part of their academic futures determined by professors like Dr. Wattier, who remind them that their ancestors were slaves and that he wishes that he could whip them. The wonders of academia never cease to amaze me, and I am hopeful that the students at Murray State and Morehead will hold their administrators accountable with regard to the lack of black faculty, the lack of racial sensitivity and the non-existent commitment to meaningful diversity. At some point, those who are seen to be slaves must stand up and make themselves counted. If the students and faculty don't respond to this strongly and directly, then this form of racial tyranny will continue to exist.