Quick Takes
Arrest of Henry Louis Gates Brings Charges of Profiling
Cambridge police arrested Henry Louis Gates Jr., a Harvard University professor who is one of the leading figures in African-American studies, outside his home on disorderly conduct charges Thursday in an incident some see as racial profiling, The Boston Globe reported. According to the police, someone walking saw Gates trying to get into his own home without a key. (Gates has said that his door was jammed.) When police arrived and questioned Gates, the police report characterizes him as argumentative, while friends who have spoken to Gates said that he did cooperate, and that a white professor outside his own home would never have been treated in the same way. “It’s unbelievable,’’ Lawrence Bobo, a Harvard sociologist who visited Gates at the police station Thursday and drove him home, told the Globe. “I felt as if I were in some kind of surreal moment, like ‘The Twilight Zone.’ I was mortified.... This is a humiliating thing and a pretty profound violation of the kind of trust we all take for granted.’" The Root published a statement on behalf of Gates, in which his lawyer describes how Gates says he cooperated and was still arrested at his own home.
Rutgers Postdocs Unionize
New Jersey has certified that postdoctoral fellows at Rutgers University have voted to unionize, affiliating with the joint American Federation of Teachers-American Association of University Professors union that represents more than 5,000 faculty members and graduate students at the university. The Rutgers postdocs are the third such union nationally, following those at the Universities of California and Connecticut.
Ave Maria U. Fires Theologian
Ave Maria University has fired Rev. Joseph Fessio, a theologian who was previously fired as provost, The Naples Daily News reported. Fessio's dismissal as provost provoked protests by students and supporters at the college, which prides itself on close adherence to Roman Catholic teachings. Father Fessio is a friend of and former student of Pope Benedict XVI. According to the Naples newspaper, Ave Maria's split with Father Fessio is rooted in financial disagreements, not theology. Father Fessio recently told the university's founder that it was at "great risk" because of its reliance on real estate development -- a view that has been expressed by others, but that is apparently not shared by university leaders.
U. of Illinois Found Job for Trustee's Future Son-in-Law
At least one member of the University of Illinois board -- a body under scrutiny for pulling strings to get politically connected applicants admitted -- may have engaged in more traditional patronage by having the university create a job for his future son-in-law. The Chicago Tribune reported that the board chair, Niranjan Shah, encouraged the hiring of his future son-in-law and that several aspects of the hiring were unusual. The future son-in-law was paid $115,000 a year, more than most other employees with the same title in the division of business and industry services. And the university had to use campus reserve funds to hire him as the position wasn't funded by the department that employed him.
