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THE HARVARD CRIMSON | DECEMBER 3, 2019
TENURE FROM PAGE 1
Students Protest Over Prof.’s Tenure Denial would take steps recommended in a report the school commissioned on the incident to remedy the situation. Garcia Peña did not immediately respond to a request for comment Monday evening. The open letter also calls on administrators to “increase transparency in the tenure review process for all faculty, providing more lines of accountability and greater consideration of the ways in which faculty have contributed to supporting underrepresented students on campus.” The ultimate decision to tenure a faculty member rests with the University President, and tenure review committees do not generally release public information about tenure cases. Last spring, students launched a letter writing campaign in support of Garcia Peña’s tenure bid, citing her mentorship of Latinx students on campus. University spokesperson Anna G. Cowenhoven declined to comment on Garcia Peña’s tenure decision. HUPD officers were dispatched to University Hall Monday after receiving a report
that “close to 50 protestors” entered the building, according to Harvard University Police Department spokesperson Steven G. Catalano. “Officers merely observed the protest,” Catalano wrote in an emailed statement. “At the end of it the protestors vacated the building.” Protesters occupied the lobby of University Hall for 48 minutes to correspond with the 48 years that students have been pushing for the establishment of a formalized ethnic studies program. The open letter called on Harvard to establish an Ethnic Studies department offering Ph.D.s in Ethnic Studies and concentrations and secondary fields in Native American and Indigenous Studies, Latinx Studies, Asian American Studies, Muslim American Studies, and Comparative Race and Ethnic Studies. The students also demanded the University establish an Ethnic Studies research center. Gay said upon taking office in fall 2018 that she wanted to recruit faculty who specialize in ethnic studies before creating a formal program.
FAS is currently undertaking a faculty search for three or four tenured or tenure-track professors who specialize in Asian American studies, Latinx studies, and Muslim American studies. The students wrote that Garcia Peña was an “excellent candidate to lead Ethnic Studies initiatives.” They also alleged that some candidates for the ongoing faculty search have “demonstrated intent” to withdraw from consideration in solidarity with Garcia Peña. “While looking outwardly for faculty members that can conduct and teach Ethnic Studies research, it is absolutely unacceptable to deny Professor García Peña tenure, especially as a member of the search committee herself,” the open letter states. “It is hypocritical for University administrators to claim they are invested in furthering Ethnic Studies scholarship at Harvard while simultaneously denying tenure to a leading Latinx and Ethnic Studies scholar,” it reads.
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COMMITTEE FROM PAGE 1
FAS Announces Search for New Continuing Ed. Dean his work as dean. “His boundless energy and passion for students at every stage of learning has made Harvard stronger and better,” she wrote. Gay will lead the search committee. University professor Gary King, Philosophy professor Alison Simmons, and Statistics professor Joseph K. Blitzstein will also serve on the committee, along with Dean of Administration and Finance for the FAS Leslie A. Kirwan ’79, Vice Provost for Advances in Learning Bharat N. Anand ‘88, and Vice President and Chief Information Officer Anne H. Margulies. In a November interview, Lambert highlighted three ar-
eas on which he believes his successor should focus — ensuring the DCE represents Har-
His boundless energy and passion for students at every stage of learning has made Harvard stronger and better. Claudine Gay Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences
vard well, providing lifelong learning opportunities, and innovating its infrastructure to
maintain accessibility. “We serve a very different student at Harvard. We serve this adult part-time learner, and we serve the summer learners. Those are learners that no other school at Harvard serves, but we’re still Harvard,” Lambert said. “What does that mean in terms of the rigor of the courses, the academic discipline on anything we put credit on?” “This person needs to be Harvard, be the best we can be for our adult part-time and summer learners, and build the information systems that let us do it cost-effectively,” he added.
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