As both a current student of Professor David Shorter and an Ethnic Studies concentrator, I am writing to publicly register my personal sorrow and protest concerning the recent destructive decision to deny Prof. Shorter a permanent position in the Religious Studies department here at Wesleyan.
Prof. Shorter received his PhD at the History of Consciousness program at UC Santa Cruz. His graduate work was completed under the tutelage of Angela Davis, James Clifford, and Robert Berkhofer, Jr.— renown in the field of Native studies. He has conducted eleven years of fieldwork with the Yaqui tribe in Mexico and Arizona and has been published in respected journals of anthropology and religious studies. Prof. Shorter is also politically active, Hispanic, and openly bisexual.
Last year Prof. Shorter’s “Indigenous Religions” course had a waitlist of 29 students, that in addition to the 34 students given access. This year, the class had a waitlist of 41 students, in addition to the 32 students let in. Under Prof. Shorter and Prof. Colleen Boyd’s direction last semester, a much- needed Native studies lecture series, “Crossing Boundaries in Native North America,” brought Native scholars and writers at the forefront of their field to Wesleyan’s campus, with excellent turn out. Last week, the one senior thesis Prof. Shorter advised here (Carolyn Luce) received high honors.
Naturally gifted teachers in all disciplines and concentrations should be actively courted at this university; but all the greater the tragedy when this responsibility is shirked in regards to a teacher of Native Studies—one of the most underdeveloped intellectual resources at Wesleyan. Allowing a scholar of Shorter’s integrity and expertise to leave this community is a disgrace. The inability of both the administration and the religious studies department to recognize a loud demand among students for an engaging, active scholar of Native studies, such as Prof. Shorter, is indicative of a larger administrative politics of lip service: feigning commitment to diversifying curriculum and faculty on this campus, while actually dismantling this goal through its actions (and inaction).
In March, Wesleyan’s Religion department had the opportunity to hire the first permanent and full-time Native Studies scholar (with impeccable credentials and strong ties to Wesleyan). Instead, a Jewish studies scholar with no previous ties to Wesleyan received the position.
To frame this concern as merely an indictment of the Religion department, however is inadequate and inaccurate. Hiring procedures involve multiple stages of authority, including a final administrative level. It is imperative that the Wesleyan administration assure students and faculty of an active commitment to a diverse intellectual community through ACTIONS with real, transformative consequences—not just through convenient, rhetorical niceties at Student of Color convocations or in private, closed meetings. Tenured (and tenure track) faculty must reflect the commitment of this University to ensuring that the voices and perspectives of peoples who have historically been underrepresented in the academy are being heard TODAY at Wesleyan. Temporary hiring of faculty of color for visiting positions must never be relied upon as a substitute for the hard work involved in attracting permanent faculty of color (or faculty doing work in underrepresented scholarly areas) to this University. This “visiting color” tactic does not simply hurt Wesleyan’s “Diversity University” credibility; it undermines students’ ability to form successful intellectual pursuits dependent upon access to these intellectual resources over a four-year educational experience.
Decisions about hiring and tenure are critical in shaping the University’s intellectual and social character and direction. We cannot sit passively by now, acknowledging this hiring decision as a done deal, and not call for change in the future. Let’s continue to let the administration know that the students, alumni, and faculty of Wesleyan want a faculty and curriculum that reflects the intellectual and personal needs of a diverse student body. One way to make this change is through a commitment to an autonomous ethnic studies department with hiring capabilities; the Religion Department and the administration passed up another opportunity for constructive change when they did not hire Prof. David Shorter
I would like to end by giving Prof. Shorter my best wishes for the next episode in his intellectual life at the Folklore and Ethnomusicology Institute at Indiana University. I hope that there he will be recognized as the innovative, thoughtful, and intelligent native studies scholar (and intellectual mentor) that he is; in other words, a very rare find who should be courted right into an influential tenure position where he will have a say in hiring.
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