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Columnist didnīt do research
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By Mike Cuenca | April 23, 2001
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Andrew Marino, like many of his KU contemporaries, sure is confused
about civil rights issues. In his April 20 column ("Principles, not
passion, will bring end to racism"), he revealed not only his
ignorance, but his racism when he asserted that fewer minority
professors would be granted tenure if merit were the true criterion for
tenure. It assumes that if merit were the true criterion that
minorities wouldnīt measure up. In reality, however, a great many more
White males have benefited from "affirmative action" in this workplace
than have minorities or women.
Under Chancellor Hemenway, this University has faced 17 federal
lawsuits alleging civil rights violations. Many of those suits have
been settled quietly. Only a year ago, a jury in federal court found
that KU had violated the civil rights of Marie Aquilino.
Most importantly, the KU administration has lied to all of us — and to
the courts — about what they know about discrimination on this campus.
They knew, but didnīt bother to tell anyone, that a federal agency had
found them out of compliance with federal civil rights law. They knew
about an internal study that substantiated the minority facultyīs
widespread claims of discrimination. They knew about an internal study
that substantiated the discrimination against women in this workplace.
They have hidden — or refused to even gather — the federally mandated
data on hiring and promotion practices that would conclusively reveal
the racism and sexism in this workplace. They knew that between 1996
and 1999, the hires of White males outnumbered the direct hires of
either minorities or women.
Yes, there are idealogues on both sides of this issue, just as there
were idealogues on both sides of this issue in 1968. As long as the
battle for racial and gender equality is fought by those, such as
professor Raymond Pierotti, who courageously rise above the very real
threats to their own personal security, there will also be idealogues,
such as Andrew Marino, who fill the ranks of either the real or the
figurative lynch mobs, hunting down and persecuting the "uppity."
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Originally published by the University Daily Kansan.
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