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May 26, 2005

Yawu Miller

A UMass Boston search committee’s decision to select a well-connected white candidate for the chancellor’s post currently held by a popular African American administrator sparked a firestorm of controversy last week.

Members of the Massachusetts Legislative Black Caucus, city councilors and numerous activists mobilized a campaign to pressure UMass trustees to reject the search committee’s selection of former Caritas Christi Health Care CEO Michael Collins over acting chancellor Keith Motley.

Students and faculty voiced opposition to Jack Wilson’s decision in the newsmedia while unions representing faculty, staff, graduate employees and the campus police union jointly issued a statement expressing “extreme disappointment” at Wilson’s decision.Wilson is president of the UMass system.

Tensions mounted as a coalition of activists led by Nation of Islam Minister Don Muhammad and NAACP Boston Branch President Leonard Alkins led a raucous rally on the sidewalk in front of the Franklin Street office of Jack Wilson.

“Every office has an eraser in it,” Muhammad said. “Some even have White-Out, pardon the pun. A mistake has been made.”

But as the demonstration wound down, word came via Muhammad’s cell phone that Motley had agreed to take a position as vice president of the UMass system.

“It’s not a payoff, but it is a different position,” Muhammad announced to the crowd gathered on a rain-soaked Franklin Street sidewalk Tuesday.

Motley could not be reached for comment by the Banner’s press deadline.

While some saw signs of a victory in Motley’s new post, which would double his salary and give him a hand in the guidance of all five colleges and universities in the UMass system, others bristled at the selection process which they said smacked of unfairness.

Activists had blasted Wilson and members of the UMass search committee, noting that Motley had nearly 25 years experience in college administration.

“Diversity is talked about a lot in this city, but when you see a process like this you have to ask questions,” Alkins said before Motley’s Tuesday announcement.

After the announcement, faculty members said they were happy for Motley but were concerned about the direction UMass Boston will take under Collins.

“If the university wanted to follow an urban mission, they would have kept Keith,” said professor Tony Van Der Meer.

Motley’s appointment as interim chancellor last year came as the school was in the midst of turbulent times. Outgoing Chancellor Joanne Gora had angered many on campus with what many saw as a shift away from UMass Boston’s urban mission — to provide education accessible to and relevant to the largely working class student body.

Detractors on the faculty at UMass accused Gora of re-tooling the university to attract a younger, whiter student body with amenities such as dormitories. Her call for dormitories angered residents of surrounding neighborhoods who cited a pact made with the school in the 1970s forbidding UMass from building dorms.

Gora was also accused of cutting funding for the school’s College of Public and Community Service and clashed frequently with people of color in the faculty. In two years, 12 people of color left the faculty and administration at UMass Boston. None of them was replaced by people of color.

When Motley came on board in August of 2004, faculty members say the atmosphere at the college improved markedly.

“Keith Motley was exactly what we needed at UMass,” said Diane Dujon, who teaches at the College of Public and Community Service. “We felt very supported and that he was exactly what the college needed to forge ahead. We didn’t have to explain our needs to Keith.”

With Motley’s departure, the college is now sorely lacking diversity in its administration, according to professor Luis Aponte, who counts interim CPCS head Connie Chan as the highest ranking person of color at the university.

“There are few people of color in any responsible positions at UMass,” he said. “Almost every position of power is held by a white.”

A spokesperson for Wilson, Robert Connolly, said diversity is a priority in the UMass system.

“Certainly Jack Wilson is concerned about diversity throughout the UMass system,” he said. “You can discern our level of concern when you look at his first two appointments,” he added, citing Motley’s appointment to the interim chancellor position and the appointment of Marcie Williams as senior vice president of academic affairs.

But faculty members say that outside of Motley’s interim appointment UMass Boston has seen no new people of color.

“Diversity is about more than words,” added professor Carroy Ferguson. “It’s about actions and deeds. You can talk all you want but when the top administrators don’t reflect it, then you’ve got a problem.”

While Alkins and others at the rally Tuesday said they were not alleging that Wilson and the search committee members were acting out of racial bias, many said the selection was cronyism, pointing to Collins’ lack of experience in school administration.

“Collins is still not a qualified candidate,” said Marilyn Frankenstein, a senior faculty member. “He’s been running private hospitals, not public universities. The other candidates were more qualified.”

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