A Texas A&M department head involved in the failed efforts to recruit a Black journalism professor said Friday that then-President M. Katherine Banks interfered in the hiring process and that race was a factor in university officials’ decision to water down the job offer.
“The unusual level of scrutiny being given to the hiring of Dr. [Kathleen] McElroy was acknowledged by one administrator to have been based, at least in part, on race. Regardless of the source of any such pressure, I understand it to be illegal for any employer—much less a public university—to subject a job candidate to stricter scrutiny due to her race or color,” said Hart Blanton, head of the department of communications and journalism, in a statement released by his attorney.
McElroy, a 1981 Texas A&M graduate and the former director of the University of Texas at Austin’s School of Journalism, turned down an offer to reboot A&M’s journalism program earlier this month after a fraught negotiation process first reported by The Texas Tribune. What originally was a tenure-track offer was reduced to a five-year position, then to a one-year position from which she could be fired at any time. McElroy ultimately walked away from the negotiations amid conservative backlash, saying the final offer “makes it clear they don’t want me there.”
Blanton added that Banks — who resigned from her position earlier Friday in response to the fallout from McElroy’s botched hiring — misled members of the faculty senate during a meeting Wednesday by telling them the decision to change McElroy’s job offer was made solely within Blanton’s department and without her involvement. Banks repeatedly told professors that she did not approve any changes to McElroy’s offer letter.
Source: Race was a factor in Black professor’s failed hiring, Texas A&M department head says | The Texas Tribune
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