Prominent Professor Questions UofM Administration

• FAST FACTS:
• Dr. Larry Moore Says UofM Operates Under 1960s Form of Tokenism
• Moore Wants Legislators to Question Administration
• UofM says Campus is Wide Open and Diverse

tom.powell@wreg.com
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(MEMPHIS August 26, 2009 8:39 PM) -- Dr. Larry Moore says, yes he has an axe to grind. "I've got a lot of axes to grind, but I'm a lawyer, the axes will be ground in court."

Moore is a tenured associate professor at the University of Memphis, Fogelman College of Business. He says he's often passed over for promotion. "I've had people who've gotten promotion who have not won the awards that I've got, who've not got the citations I've got, so I keep asking what's going on," he says.

The University of Memphis responded to one of his inquiries in 2000, by saying his "performance ratings ... put him at the bottom."


Moore says he often feels like the invisible man. "Which means whatever the black person does, you just multiply it by zero."

Dr. Moore has concerns that go beyond his own case. He says the UofM does not recruit, retain and promote enough black faculty. That's why he sent a letter to the Shelby County Legislative Delegation, saying the university "appears to operate under a 1960s form of tokenism."

"I'm not going to make any blanket statement saying, oh they're racist, or they're just bad people or whatever else. Maybe you just were too busy to take care of business," he says.

The UofM wouldn't respond to Dr. Moore's letter on camera, but a spokesperson says the the campus is a wide-open diverse place.

Dr. Moore questions whether the UofM is doing enough, and now that he's approaching retirement, he wants lawmakers to start asking questions.

"They will do right when the law is looking, and the legislature is the law," he says.

THE FOLLOWING IS DR. MOORE'S LETTER:

An Open Letter to the Shelby County Legislative Delegation With Regards to the 1960's Style of Black Tokenism Practiced at the University of Memphis Under Joyce Raines and Ralph Faudree

To the Legislative Delegation:

This letter is addressed to you as representatives of the taxpayers of the state of Tennessee who contribute a substantial portion of the operating budget of the University of Memphis, as trustees of state businesses who donate substantial funds to the University, and as guardians of our students who pay tuition to the University. This letter concerns the operation of the University under the current President Shirley Raines and Provost Ralph Faudree, particularly with regards to none foreign born black faculty and graduate students at the University of Memphis.

While most major universities are aggressively trying to recruit, retain, and promote qualified black faculty and graduate students, the University of Memphis, under this current administration, appears to operate under a 1960s form of tokenism, of marginalization, and of benign neglect of those black faculty members who have not been hand-picked by the administration for success, positions, promotion, and salary, as well as an apparent lack of interest in black Phd candidates.