This is a letter sent to OTE by a group of Edgewood College alumni/employees. It does not reflect the opinions of OTE staff. Letters to the Editor are welcome if they are not anonymous, if they do not use offensive language, and if the subject is appropriate. OTE reserves the right to publish and edit letters for clarity and length.
This link leads to personal testimonies from alumni.
Dear Editor: Thank you for your June 13, 2020 coverage of the AAUP investigation of Edgewood College’s May 27 terminations of six tenured/tenure-track faculty members. As Edgewood College alumni, we were shocked, hurt, and outraged to learn of the College’s thoughtless firing of these professors, many of whom are our very own esteemed former teachers and advisors. One of the three tenured professors is Dr. Huining Ouyang, a Professor of English, who has served the College for 21 years, and it broke our hearts to hear about her wrongful dismissal.
Please do not get us wrong. We loved and still care deeply about our alma mater. We have heard of the College’s financial troubles, and we do share its concerns about its continued financial wellbeing. However, we do not support, and indeed we condemn, the administration’s action of firing Professor Ouyang and her colleagues without having declared or proven a genuine financial exigency and without having involved the faculty, as the AAUP has noted. Not only has this action flagrantly violated the AAUP regulations on academic freedom and tenure and Edgewood’s own faculty bylaws, but it is just wrong, extreme, and short-sighted.
Like Honors and Student Research, Ethnic Studies is another academic program that has been devastated by the termination of Dr. Ouyang, the only primary, full-time professor in Ethnic Studies, who is also an Asian American woman. We feel hurt, heartbroken, and demoralized because many of us graduated with a degree in the Ethnic Studies major or minor from Edgewood. Many of us who have been in Dr. Ouyang’s classroom have found her classes essential, eye-opening, and transformative. As the lead Ethnic Studies professor over the past three year, she teaches the two required minor courses, Introduction to Ethnic Studies and Theories and Methods in Ethnic Studies. Additionally, she teaches a rich array of Ethnic Studies and English/Ethnic Studies crosslisted electives as well as general education Multicultural, Global, and Gender Perspectives courses, such as Immigrant Narratives, Asian American Writers, the Passing Narrative in Ethnic American Literature, and Beyond Orientalism: Asia in Cinema, a new Ethnic Studies/Film Studies course she has designed and was looking forward to offering after a formerly granted fall 2020 sabbatical. All of these, however, have been abruptly terminated by Dr. Ouyang’s premature dismissal. Last fall, we were deeply disappointed to learn of the College’s elimination of the Ethnic Studies major, and now we are more upset to learn of her unjust termination. We fear that this would not only further diminish the Ethnic Studies Program and its curriculum but also impoverish student learning and the College’s antiracist and multicultural curriculum.
Moreover, amid the worldwide demonstrations against the murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Rayshard Brooks, and the countless other Black, Brown, Asian, and Indigenous people in our country as well as against the long-standing systemic racism in the U.S., we are reminded, more than ever, of the need for Ethnic Studies curriculum taught by qualified educators such as Dr. Ouyang. As Ethnic Studies alumni, we are from all racial and ethnic backgrounds and from all walks of life, and some of us are Black, Latinx, Asian American and Indigenous women. We are deeply concerned about the implications of the College firing Women of Color scholars like Dr. Ouyang and its adverse impact on faculty, staff, and students of color.
Dr. Ouyang was pushed out of her position as Director for the Center for Multicultural Education and Ethnic Studies Program three years ago, and she was not allowed to return to her old home Department of English, where she had been tenured and promoted because her job contract had been altered without her consent. She has since been twice denied the directorship for Ethnic Studies, even when she was the only candidate during the first search. And now her termination, as well as the recent faculty buyouts that have disproportionately impacted tenured and tenure-track faculty of color, speaks volumes on the continued marginalization and devaluation of scholars of color at Edgewood College. Her termination is clearly contrary to the College’s professed commitment to diversity and inclusion as well as its five core Dominican values of Truth, Compassion, Justice, Community, and Partnership, which we have been taught to commit to memory and take to heart throughout our college career and beyond.
However, it is not too late for the College to renew its proclaimed commitment and values. It is not too late to right the wrong. Last Thursday, June 11, we saw a news coverage of a group of Edgewood students, faculty, and staff demonstrating on Monroe Street and standing in solidarity with the #BlackLivesMatter movement. We were heartened to see the new Edgewood President Andrew Manion standing with the demonstrators and hear his words: “It’s time for us to put racism to bed once and for all. Enough is enough.” Today, as we mark the historic Juneteenth, we have also learned with mixed feelings that President Manion has just unveiled his two-step plan to hire a new Vice President for Mission, Values, and Inclusion and to form a President’s Task Force to Eradicate Racism at Edgewood College. We welcome and share his resolve: “. . . we must take significant, intentional action. We cannot be genuinely inclusive until we have eradicated the disease of racism from our own Edgewood College community.” At the same time, we cannot help but be painfully reminded of the College’s recent loss of so many dedicated professors of color and the May 27 terminations of Dr. Ouyang, our only primary Ethnic Studies professor and a woman of color, and her colleagues, whose careers have been unjustly cut short, and whose fate remains uncertain.
We cannot but wonder if Edgewood can honestly argue that it does not have the money to keep these professors on if the College will soon hire a new Vice President, who probably will be paid as much as all of them combined. Yes, “Enough is enough,” and yes, we “must take significant, intentional action” to be “genuinely inclusive.” Let us confront and eradicate structural and institutional, as well as individual, racisms at Edgewood College. Let us stand with the students and staff who call for inclusion and equality and demand change within Edgewood. Let us stand with Dr. Ouyang and other professors who have been wrongfully eliminated. And let us join the AAUP to urge the College’s “immediate rescission” of the termination notices issued to our professors. Do the right thing, Edgewood!
In Sincerity and Solidarity,
Nina Liamba Akli, Sociology Major, Ethnic Studies Minor, Edgewood College Class of 2012
Hannah Lloyd Baker, Communications Major and Ethnic Studies Minor, Edgewood College Class of 2012 Danielle Bailey, Ethnic Studies Major, Edgewood College Class of 2016
Johanna Heineman-Pieper, Edgewood College Ethnic Studies Minor 2015-2017
Kimberly Helm-Quest, Sociology Major; Ethnic Studies and Psychology Minors, Edgewood College Class of 2020 & Current MSW Student
Anne Herzberg, Ethnic Studies and Political Science Major, Edgewood College Class of 2016
Anh Hoang, Biology Major and Ethnic Studies Minor, Edgewood College Class of 2018
Tiffany Hodges, M.A., LPC, NCC, Sociology Major and Ethnic Studies Minor , Edgewood College Class of 2010
Shawna Lutzow, Ethnic Studies Major, Edgewood College Class of 2017
Branden Mead, Ethnic Studies Major and Philosophy Minor, Edgewood College Class of 2020
Louise Phelps, Spanish and Studies in Education Majors and Ethnic Studies Minor, Edgewood College Class of 2011
Nicole Sandoval, International Relations Major and Ethnic Studies Minor, Edgewood College Class of 2014
Sarah Sharp, Ethnic Studies Major, Edgewood College 2016-2018
Nazka Serrano, Communication Studies Major & Ethnic Studies Minor, Edgewood College Class of 2014 Bret Stalcup, MS-MFT (MFT-IT), Psychology Major, Spanish & Ethnic Studies Minors, Edgewood College Class of 2018
Lauren Wightman, Communication Studies Major & Ethnic Studies Minor, Edgewood College Class of 2017
Maggie Williams, Biology Major, Chemistry & Ethnic Study Minors, Edgewood College Class of 2018 & Current Master of Physician Assistant Studies Student, University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Medicine & Public Health
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