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"Mondo Desperado" by Patrick McCabe
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[03/09/00]

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In other words, it's just another day in the South.

But this time, the professors are white and the school is predominantly black. White Southerners are experiencing what black Southerners confronted 30 years ago on college campuses: persecution, discrimination, verbal abuse and an openly hostile administration.

Discrimination is unethical, no matter who's practicing it. But why shouldn't black colleges fill their leadership posts with African-American professors if their mission is to provide role models for a black student body?

The only thing that chaps Americans more than discrimination is reverse discrimination. The former may be a repugnant violation of fairness, but the latter is a stinging reminder that paybacks are hell. In a status-quo world where white professors are consistently dealt the upper hand, is it valid for them to rage that they've been cheated? When university administrators have to promote certain faculty members to right historic wrongs, is it justifiable to overlook someone else who is qualified? Can a seesaw maintain equilibrium?

When a worthy obligation to provide black role models is perceived as discrimination, you have what is known in technical circles as a cluster fuck. No matter who you are or what your position is, you're going to get it in the ass. Which is why you won't see Jesse Jackson running to this school for expelling white professors like he ran to an Illinois high school earlier this year after it expelled several black students for fighting. There is no natural constituency here. Blacks are uncomfortable with defending a double standard and some whites wonder why Livingstone shouldn't have the right to promote blacks in leadership roles. No one is going to win this fight. It's just too damned complicated.

In the past five months, the plaintiffs have filed three suits in state court charging breach of contract, negligence and discrimination. They are seeking more than $1 million in damages. Of the five plaintiffs, three are current professors and two are former teachers. According to the professors, administrators refuse to even discuss a settlement. But in early February, the board of trustees fired Livingstone's president, Burnett Joiner; everyone is keeping mum on whether his termination was due to the lawsuits.

Arthur Steinberg, one of the plaintiffs, has taught history and law at Livingstone since 1992. He said he and his fellow plaintiffs have a "smoking gun": The case hinges on a 1994 review of the college's academic programs, in which an administrator recommended replacing four white professors, and it named black professors.

Steinberg's civil complaint alleges that in conversations with colleagues, a college official referred to him as "that Jewish lawyer" and "that Jew Steinberg." He also claims that he's been a victim of physical intimidation -- nails in his car tires, broken taillights and a threat from the husband of one administrator to break a chair over his head. Steinberg says the college failed to promote him from assistant to associate professor despite his qualifications and promoted lesser-qualified blacks instead.

Fellow plaintiff Bob Russ teaches English composition and literature and has been a faculty member for 10 years. He claims he has documents proving the college violated its written rules for considering tenure, using one set of procedures for blacks and another for him. Russ also alleges the college accused him of trying to eliminate black authors from his Harlem Renaissance class.

Huh? How do you eliminate black authors from a Harlem Renaissance class? "Exactly my point," said Russ. "It was the stupidest thing I ever heard."

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