Saturday, April 17, 2021
Dr. Marc Parlange
Dear Dr. Marc Parlange,
On April 12, 2021, the Board of Trustees of the University of Rhode Island (URI) announced your selection as our next President. Sadly, the announcement came as a disappointment to many members of the URI community – faculty, staff and students – who firmly believe that your selection arose from a grossly flawed, discriminatory hiring process that harms African Americans, specifically, and the diversity and inclusion efforts of the whole URI community.
I write (A) to inform you of the history of systemic racism at URI up to and including your appointment as yet another White, male President, the seriously flawed recruitment process that led to your selection, and the toxic environment and discord that you most certainly will inherit the moment you assume your new position, and (B) to implore you to rescind your acceptance.GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLAST
Activists at URI demand new president be a descendent of slaves
These people, some of whom are students, are with the Diversity Think Tank.
They penned a lengthy op-ed for the website Uprise RI, which they called a Declaration of Diversity. In it, they listed their demands. They say it’s an effort to combat systemic racism and “white supremacy that has reigned unchallenged for 128 years at the University of Rhode Island.”
IT’S RAAAACIST!
It claims that anyone who does not see why the school should appoint a black president with a lineage to slavery “must be a racist.” They threatened to sue if URI doesn’t do what they tell them to do.
Professor Fosu and President Dooley
A professor at the University of Rhode Island is accusing the school of “Jim Crow” racism and officials are calling his statements unwarranted, unsubstantiated, and defamatory personal attacks.
GoLocal obtained a series of emails showing URI Professor Louis Fosu asking school officials to meet with students in his course Topics in Political Science: Examining Institutional Power, Checks & Balances, and Advocacy for a More Equitable Society regarding complaints and demands as presented in a twenty-one-page Declaration of Diversity.
Fosu, who has a Juris Doctorate from Georgetown University Law Center, M.B.A. from Pace University, and B.A. from John Jay College of Criminal Justice, CUNY, came to URI in 2019, after having served as a special adviser to U.S. and African government officials.