Women at Cornell in Defense of Ourselves
We are a group of women who are students at Cornell, and we wish to express resolute and sustained outrage at the decision by the interim leadership (“receivership”) of the Africana Studies and Research Center in the College of Arts and Sciences to appoint Professor Grant Farred as the Chair of the Search Committee for hiring new Africana Studies faculty.
The December 1, 2010 unilateral decision by Provost Fuchs to move the Africana Studies and Research Center into the College of Arts and Sciences, a decision which is opposed by over 2000 people including distinguished intellectuals, has created considerable turmoil within a Center that has a 42 year history of academic excellence and leadership in the field of Africana Studies. Coincidentally, this decision followed a Spring semester of turmoil when Professor Grant Farred, the Director of Graduate Studies of the Africana Studies and Research Center and Associate Chair of the English Department at the time, referred to two students as “Black bitches” directly, according to published accounts in the Cornell Daily Sun on April 12, 2010.
It is obvious that this comment is disgusting, sexist, racist, and a public denigration of the two students to whom the comment was directed. This group of women collectively Googled the term to help us express why this comment is offensive and how offensive we believe this comment is. We contemplated including the search results in this statement but were too horrified at the dozens upon dozens of pornographic websites– some are videos simulating the rape of Black women.
We believe the phrase “Black bitches” is inextricably linked to the racialized sexual violence committed against Black women since slavery. It is precisely because of this historically-rooted experience of socially-sanctioned racist sexual violence that the words “Black bitches” hold such potent and lasting power.
This event sent shock waves throughout the Africana Center as well as the broader campus, as students, faculty, alumni, and staff wondered how a professor at this University could make such an outrageous comment of an overt racist and sexist nature with no apparent repercussions or public apology. Letters, comments, and public statements from alumni and professors, some of which were published in campus newspapers, denounced the words as “despicable”. Many of us are afraid to cross paths with this professor, to take his classes, or to venture in proximity of his office.
And yet, at a critical time of transition and change, a time of contention in which many feel silenced and dismissed after the Provost’s decision was implemented with no input by the primary stakeholders of the Africana Center or the Ithaca community, Professor Farred has been selected to lead the search for new faculty; faculty, who will play an indelible role in shaping Africana’s future.
We are revolted at this decision. We ask what message does this send to potential Black female professors who apply or are interested in applying for a position at the Africana Center? Do they have to reduce their self-perception to that of a “Black bitch” to see themselves fit to teach at Cornell University? What message does this send to current Black female faculty at the Center, and Black female faculty and staff on campus, several of whom have gone on record to denounce the comments? Do their voices and dignity not matter in the campus community? Furthermore, what ultimate vision does Cornell University have for Africana Studies if the administration is comfortable placing a professor who thinks so very little of Black women in such a crucial position?
Black women and women of color have faced threats of violence, racial terrorism, and routine marginalization as they have attended this University historically. The event leading to the 1969 Willard Straight Hall Takeover, which led to a much larger presence of Black students on campus as well as the establishment of the Africana Studies and Research Center, was a burning cross placed on the front lawn of Wari House, the Black female co-op on North Campus. Many see the Willard Straight Hall Takeover as an act of defense of Black women, in which Black women themselves played an instrumental role. And though the promise of full equality within this intellectual space of emancipated education has not been realized, the demand for social justice and freedom for all is a cornerstone of the Black Studies tradition– a tradition from which we speak today as young women of many colors concerned about our dignity and respect.
We witness sexism and sexual harassment in diverse fields and departments at this and perhaps most institutions: this endemic is not exclusive to one department or discipline. Many women have chosen to speak out against this treatment in order to lessen the burden of those ahead of them. We express our sincere appreciation for the two women who experienced sexual harassment from Professor Farred. They are to be commended for their courage to come forward as students and for helping others escape the racist and sexist debasement that is often the reality for Black women irrespective of their social class or educational level. The failure to properly censure these remarks while also allowing this very Professor to lead a faculty search for the Africana Center is a betrayal of the courage of students who refused to let their harassment go unaccounted for.
We can only deduce from this choice that the new directors of Africana Studies, the first directors in the Center’s history to have been selected without a vote or serious input from Africana faculty, reward the sexual harassment of Black women with a decision-making position. Is this the beginning of a new phase of Africana leadership in which it is permissible to refer to Black women as “Black bitches”? At a time in which the restructuring of the Center has been touted as a way to better serve the ASRC, we view the College’s complicity in one of the most egregious racist, sexist public events in recent years as a signal for how the transition of Africana into the College of Arts and Sciences will be conducted.
We end this statement by calling for the very least: remove Professor Farred from his position as Chair of the faculty Search Committee. We will not be silenced by this outrageous disrespect of the Africana Center, of all women on this campus, and of the vision of Africana Studies.
Sincerely and in Defense of Ourselves.
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