Professional Life Part 6 - Mar 2, 2022

I began writing a series of posts on what my time was like as a black man with a doctorate in economics in the early part of 2022. In this post I'll list a couple indignities I endured over the years. Obviously, I could have listed many, many more but these two will give you an idea.

The first one happened when I was working at the University of Alabama. I'd say this was around 2009 or 2010. A student in one of my classes had missed her exam and I needed to give her a make-up. At the time, we had this small conference room which could be used as a classroom as long as there weren't more than about 10 students, given that it was a pretty small space. I set her up in the room and went back to my office to work. About an hour later I go back to the room to check on her and find a young white man sitting in the room. I ask him why he was in the room given that this student was taking an exam. I had reserved the room for 90 minutes so there clearly couldn't be any overlap. He informs me that he's in the MBA program and had a class which started in 30 minutes and he was waiting. I told him that he'd need to leave. I told him that this student was taking an exam and I didn't want anyone in there with her. I will add, to her credit, the student kept her head down and continued to work on her exam.

How did I know that this guy wasn't her friend, cousin, husband, etc. It was unheard of that a student would just park themselves in a classroom while others were taking an exam. The idea of exam integrity goes right out the window. I also didn't want the student taking the exam to be disturbed. The MBA student responds rudely that he's not giving her answers and doesn't know her. I tell him that it doesn't matter and he can't be in the room. He reluctantly leaves.

After the exam, I contact our MBA director to tell her about this student and the break in exam security. This young man needs to be talked to. However, instead of contacting me or even talking to the MBA student, she tells the dean of the business school. He calls me and asks what happened and I explain about this person being in an unauthorized room. He agrees that the MBA student should not have been there and goes back to the MBA director. The director has the MBA student talk to the dean. Keep in mind, that the director never contacts me. After a conversation between the MBA student and the dean, I get a call. The dean says that the MBA student explained the situation that he was sitting quietly in a room when this "big intimidating black guy comes in and starts yelling at him." To his credit, the dean informed the student that he had no business in the room in the first place. However, the dean and I both knew that had this been a white guy coming in "yelling at him" none of this happens. The MBA director? I never speak to her again. Her actions were all the speaking needed.

The second event happens when I'm department chair of economics at the University of Oklahoma. One spring semester, we had a faculty member take ill. He got so ill, in fact, that he was put in the hospital for about 2 months. The problem was that he got ill right before spring break and someone would need to teach his classes for the rest of the semester. The first thing that I do is go to the person who is the TA for the class. Typically, the Teaching Assistant (TA) is a graduate student who helps in exam prep and holds office hours and does homework grading. This graduate student was Asian. I ask him if he can finish out the semester for the faculty member. I realize that it might be a burden on the TA since he might have his own classes to take. He says that he simply can't do it. He's working on his dissertation and wants to finish his degree in a year. I find that claim dubious given his performance and output up to that point but if he doesn't want to do it, I can't make him.

I ask other graduate students in the program if one of them wants to do it. One says yes so, I arrange for him to get the teaching materials and exams, quizzes, etc. that he'll need to finish out the semester. I even talk to the dean of the college to see if funding can be arranged for the TA. The dean agrees to a modest stipend. Things go well and the students enjoy the class. They enjoy it so much that they request that the graduate student be the permanent replacement for the faculty member.

After the semester is over, one of our Asian faculty members comes into my office. He accuses me of anti-Asian bias. I ask him how so. He says that the Asian graduate student who I asked to fill in first said that no mention of money was made when he was asked to do the teaching but that money was found for the non Asian student who did the class. I told the faculty member that he was given bad information. There was never any funding and I only asked the dean after I had someone in place. Had the first student said yes, I would have done the same. No need in promising something that can't be delivered.

I was about to call in my secretary in to verify what happened when the Asian faculty member called me a liar to my face. He said that he believed the student over me. That was the first and only time I ever threw anyone out of my office.