Boston Blog

MIT biologist ends hunger strike

James Sherley’s protest ignited discussions about racism at MIT.

Adrianne Appel

After fasting for 11 days, an MIT biologist ended his hunger strike earlier today. James Sherley gave daily speeches outside of the MIT provost’s office to protest the university’s decision two years ago to deny him tenure, which he said was due to racism.

In a statement today, MIT said it was committed to addressing the issues of race in faculty hiring and promotion. “Professor Sherley’s protest has focused attention on the effects that race may play in the hiring, advancement and experience of under-represented minority faculty.”

Sherley, who is African American and does research on adult stem cells, said as late as Thursday afternoon that he would fast until MIT granted him tenure and agreed to step up its efforts to end racism at MIT.

There was no indication Friday that Sherley had been offered tenure.

“The only agreement is that we’ll keep talking about the issues,” said MIT spokesperson Patti Richards. (see note below)

But remarks made today by MIT president Susan Hockfield at an event honoring Martin Luther King suggest that Sherley succeeded in at least getting the university to pay greater attention to the possibility of racism as a factor in the low numbers of minority faculty at MIT. Of 998 professors, 54 are underrepresented minority faculty.

“She has never before said this so publicly about the importance of understanding the issues of race,” said a member of MIT’s faculty diversity committee who attended the breakfast.

Shortly before Sherley began his fast, MIT’s announced a new initiative to study the effect of race on faculty hiring and advancement.

MIT and members of Sherley’s bioengineering department have maintained that the decision to deny Sherley tenure was made fairly.

In a statement posted on the MIT website Friday afternoon, Sherley said his demands—which include the censure of the MIT provost for allegedly mishandling the review of his tenure case—were “still on the table.”

Students and faculty at MIT said the protest sparked discussions among faculty and students about race at MIT. A group of about 30 black faculty members, which had previously been apolitical and met informally over dinners, swung into action to try and mediate between the administration and Sherley.

Editor’s note (20 Feb 2007): A quotation from Richards about the tenure issue was removed because it was not an official MIT statement.

Comments

Comments are closed.