Summary: A former Campbell law professor alleges the school is guilty of racial discrimination.
On Friday, an ex-law professor claimed Campbell University in North Carolina discriminated against black teachers. He made the accusations on Facebook and also on a San Diego-based Christian radio broadcast, The News & Observer reported.
Amos Jones, 39, said that African-Americans do not get tenured at Campbell, and he stated that he was passed over for tenure and that his contract was not renewed before he left the school in May.
“They haven’t tenured a black in 11 years,” Jones said. “They cannot suddenly change that. Their record speaks for itself. … They have a problem with hiring blacks and that will change, whether it’s me or not. They cannot continue to do that. The American Bar Association expects more in their accreditation standards.”
Campbell University Law Dean Rich Leonard said on social media that he had wanted to keep the dispute between the school and Jones private “out of respect” to Jones, who also said the school suffered because of its discriminatory hiring and promotional practices. However, the dean shared that Jones had actually declined to apply for tenure when he was supposed to.
“However, his outrageous, defamatory and false accusations made today require us to speak,” Leonard’s statement said. “What the record indisputably shows is that in Professor Jones’ sixth year at the law school when he was required to apply for tenure, he declined to do so. The law school followed all of its procedures precisely, appointing a tenure panel to evaluate Professor Jones and informing him of the deadline to file his materials. On multiple occasions, he acknowledged these requirements. Nonetheless, he submitted nothing, instead creating a completely false controversy that his illusory application had been denied.”
Leonard said that Campbell has three black faculty members scheduled to teach in the fall, and that one of them is on the tenure track. He added that the school has four adjunct faculty, a dean, and three senior staff members who are African-American.
Leonard said that the two incoming faculty members not on tenure either were visiting or declined a tenure position.
Jones said it was untrue that he had failed to apply for tenure. He said he submitted an application in 2016 and that an associate dean had told him in January of this year that his performance was not good enough to earn tenure. On Facebook, Jones said that “inferior whites” were promoted while “superior blacks” were not.
Before his Facebook Live talk, Jones had made two complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission–one for discrimination and one for retaliation. The two cases are under investigation and are not available to the public.
“I will continue to tell the truth and make these crooked ways straight,” Jones said. “They want to run a school without black men. They’ve been doing it for a decade now, in terms of tenure. They don’t tenure blacks.”
Campbell University is located in Raleigh and offers law degrees as well as dual degrees in business administration and trust and wealth management. It is accredited with the American Bar Association.
- ABA Votes to Continue Tenure Requirements in Accredition Rules
- Steptoe & Johnson Slammed with Gender Discrimination Lawsuit
Source: The News & Observer