Letter in Response to the Denial of Tenure and Promotion for Assistant Professor Lisa B. Y. Calvente
Dear President A. Gabriel Esteban, PhD, Interim Provost Salma Ghanem, PhD, Acting Dean Alexandra G. Murphy, PhD, Vice President of Institutional Diversity and Equity Elizabeth F. Ortiz, EdD, and Board of Trustees Chair Jim Ryan and Vice-Chair Lori Holland,
We, a coalition of DePaul University (DePaul) students and alumni, are writing to express our dismay, anger, sadness, and profound sense of unfairness regarding the news that DePaul has denied tenure and promotion to Assistant Professor Lisa B. Y. Calvente, PhD. We urge you to consider the issues raised below with the attention and seriousness they deserve.
Given our collective experiences with Professor Calvente’s scholarship, teaching, and service we are disheartened and befuddled as to why she was denied tenure and promotion. We believe the denial of tenure in Dr. Calvente’s case — and the subsequent refusal by President Esteban and Interim Provost Ghanem to reverse the tenure decision in accordance with the recommendations of two university appeals boards — were without merit. The actions of the administration in this tenure case make us question the university’s commitment to academic freedom. We see this outcome as a direct contradiction to the administration’s recent commitments to bolster its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in order to fulfill DePaul’s Catholic, Vincentian and urban university mission. We expect and demand better.
DePaul has a documented history of reported problems with tenure decisions at the university, which, according to a 2012 article by Inside Higher Ed¹, have disproportionately and adversely affected faculty of color and women tenure candidates. Specifically, reports demonstrate a pattern of unfair scrutiny and bias against faculty of color and women tenure candidates, including a 2003 complaint by a former DePaul tenure candidate Namita Goswami that “fellow philosophy professors criticized her for not being grounded enough in the European philosophical tradition and for being hostile toward colleagues — particularly white men.”
It has come to our attention that Professor Calvente has endured similar scrutiny and discriminatory claims against her from senior colleagues and administrators in the College of Communication, which has its own “long-entrenched climate of discrimination and culture of fear, particularly against junior [faculty] of color.”² Specifically, we have reason to believe that the College of Communication misrepresented student comments in Professor Calvente’s tenure review process through a willful distortion of qualitative student evaluations “so that they could make the case that [her] teaching, specifically on racism and marginalization, was ‘ineffective,’ ‘intimidating,’ and [her] classroom was ‘hostile.’”² Additionally, it is our understanding that senior faculty and administrators within the College believe its students are incapable of handling complex topics and sensitive subject matter. Any assertion that students at DePaul are not capable of engaging in critical discourse on sensitive topics like racism and marginalization with the same degree of intellectual agility as students from more elite institutions is grossly inaccurate and rooted in a framework of white supremacy. This claim is particularly insulting to Black, Brown, and Indigenous students at DePaul who are already frequently underestimated in conversations about academic rigor and ability.
Moreover, if this allegation about DePaul students were true, it would warrant immediate action by the administration to retain and support Professor Calvente and other faculty who possess a critical pedagogical approach to fulfill the university’s strategic priority³ 5.3 to “integrate diverse perspectives into academic programs.” Professor Calvente is the only tenure-line faculty member of color in the Communication Studies unit and is the only tenure-line faculty member in the College of Communication who specializes in the Black Diaspora and anti-black and brown racism, coloniality and decolonization. The pedagogy used in Dr. Calvente’s classes is essential in preparing DePaul students for engaging in these complex topics and fulfills the university’s claim³ that “DePaul graduates will succeed by drawing on critical-thinking skills, intercultural and multilingual competence, and disciplinary breadth.” By fostering these skills and critical mindsets, Professor Calvente has supported the academic and professional success of countless students in line with the university’s own strategic guidance, including and especially those students who are the most marginalized by predominately white institutions like DePaul. In short, Dr. Calvente’s pedagogical practice in the classroom is unmatched by the faculty in the College of Communication. The administration’s decision to deny tenure and promotion to Dr. Calvente, if not reversed, will undoubtedly result in a void of critical pedagogy in communication studies within the College of Communication and DePaul as a whole.
Additionally, any claims of “intimidation” and “hostility” in Professor Calvente’s qualitative evaluations do not reflect the views of the thousands of students and fellow scholars who have expressed their support in this petition and by signing this letter. Claims of this nature are the result of the structural racism, sexism, conscious and unconscious biases, and white supremacy that exists within predominantly white institutions like DePaul and the racial stress often experienced by students, particularly white students, who undergo transformative work on topics of race and racism. The decision to deny tenure to Dr. Calvente — and subsequently reject the decisions of the University Board of Promotion and Tenure (UBPT) and the Faculty Appeals Board (FAB) that voted in her favor — adds to DePaul’s willful and disturbing pattern and growing reputation of reported denials of tenure for faculty of color and women and upholds the university’s legacy of structural racism and white (male) supremacy.
We find it unacceptable that the tenured faculty of the College of Communication at DePaul University is nearly entirely white. It speaks volumes about the overall intolerance and permanent exclusion of professors of color, particularly those that can potentially have equal power to the tenured white faculty. It is clear to us that the faculty of Communication maintains a culture of white supremacy and anti-black racism by perpetually holding all-white spaces of education. We demand a plan to hire, retain, and promote Black, Brown, Indigenous and People of Color faculty, particularly women, in the College of Communication and DePaul University, at large, with a viable plan for supporting their growth within their respective departments and the university. At minimum, the demographic makeup of the faculty at DePaul, and the College of Communication more specifically, should reflect the diverse demographic makeup of the city of Chicago. As students and alumni, we recognize the importance of having professors of color that will better tend to the needs of students of color as educators, advocates and mentors. Dr. Calvente’s presence at DePaul University fulfilled these advocacy and educational roles for us. It’s unfortunate that DePaul refuses to take seriously the retention, hiring, and promotion of professors of color at the expense of the learning needs of its students of color.
Thus, to address the ramifications of this tenure decision, we submit a series of demands. These demands call upon the administration to respond directly to Professor Calvente’s tenure and promotion denial, take specific action to address the university’s history of systemic racism including its racial and gender bias in tenure decisions, the need for transparency and accountability, and a need to make a commitment to create more courses rooted in critical pedagogy at DePaul and within the College of Communication. We demand:
● Immediate public release of the qualitative and quantitative student evaluations submitted by the College of Communication for use in Professor Calvente’s tenure review
● Immediate public release of statements submitted by the UBPT and the FAB in response to Professor Calvente’s tenure appeals
● Immediate public release of letters submitted by the Dean, the Provost, and the President in response to the tenure and promotion decisions and findings of the UBPT and FAB in Professor Calvente’s tenure appeal case
● Retroactive bestowal of tenure and promotion to Professor Calvente, offer of continuation of employment contract to Professor Calvente, and compensation to Professor Calvente for the racism and discrimination she endured
● Immediate review and revision of the DePaul University Mission Statement⁴ to expand the university’s claim as an “equal opportunity educator and employer” to include all identities of DePaul students, alumni, staff, and faculty. Specifically missing are: race, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, ancestry, disability, marital status, pregnancy status, and military/veteran status.
● Increased transparency in the tenure review process, including a public registry of tenure decisions disaggregated by race, gender, and field of scholarship for the past 10 years, as well as a written explanation to the student body upon exercise of presidential veto of tenure and promotion decisions moving forward
● Increased transparency of student course evaluations, including making portions of qualitative and quantitative student course evaluations (e.g., aggregated ratings, anonymous free text responses) available to all DePaul students online
● Formal establishment of a university-wide team to document, investigate, address, and provide support for those who may have been targets of or affected by campus climate concerns at DePaul University (see University of Michigan’s Campus Climate Support)
● Formal establishment of a plan to hire, retain, and promote more Black, Brown, Indigenous, and People of Color faculty, particularly women, in the College of Communication and DePaul University, at large, with a viable plan for supporting their growth within their respective departments and the university; this plan must ensure that DePaul’s faculty mirrors the diversity of the Chicago region, or at the minimum is within a five-percent range of the area’s demographics, in perpetuity
● Formal establishment of a Critical Race Theory program within the College of Communication and/or other colleges within DePaul with more courses that use a critical pedagogical approach and theoretical framework, with a viable plan for sustaining this program in perpetuity
● Formal establishment of a Critical Whiteness Studies program within the College of Communication and/or other colleges within DePaul that includes a mandatory course on Whiteness and Race Theory for all first-time students at DePaul, with a viable plan for sustaining this program and course in perpetuity (see Critical Whiteness Studies)
Education isn’t supposed to be easy and decisions regarding tenure should not be rooted in a desire to avoid racial stress. We pay more than $40,000 a year (in tuition alone) with the expectation that we will be challenged and transformed by the classes we take at DePaul. The price of tuition alone demands that we receive the kind of rigorous, challenging, and transformative material and discourse offered in Dr. Calvente’s classes. Anything less is educational malpractice and an egregious waste of our tuition dollars.
The timing of this particular tenure decision has not gone unnoticed. On July 1, 2020, DePaul’s first permanent associate provost for diversity, equity and inclusion will begin their appointment to develop and implement diversity, equity and inclusion programs at DePaul. According to Provost Ghanem⁵, this position will help enable DePaul “to create a welcoming and respectful environment that embraces diversity, equity and inclusion as dimensions of academic excellence.” We question why the desire to create this environment and embrace these ideals is absent in the tenure case of Professor Calvente. The administration’s actions in tenure decisions is one way to demonstrate that the university’s commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion stretches beyond a public relations campaign. Efforts to remove oppressive and inequitable structures should be a priority among all faculty, staff and administrators at DePaul — not just the work of one person in a particular role. These efforts should be activated at all times across the university, as our collective liberation requires people from all backgrounds and in all positions to be able to see, recognize, and dismantle systems of oppression.
In addition, DePaul’s diverse student body should be reflected in its faculty, pedagogy, and decision-making structures, and the fact that it is not — and the fact that racial and gender bias in tenure decisions persist — is deeply troubling. Representation is incredibly important in all facets of life but especially in education and politics, and certainly within a university that claims to value institutional diversity, inclusion and equity and its Vincentian mission. The actions of the College and the administration in this particular tenure case betrays DePaul’s mission, its strategic priorities, and its investment of our tuition dollars and alumni contributions to hire people to address the university’s legacy of white (male) supremacy.
Professor Calvente has had a profound impact on all of us. The knowledge she imparts and the pedagogy she uses in her courses has greatly affected the way we think about our subject position and synthesize information as we engage the complexity of our social world today. Her ground-breaking scholarship and course lessons have influenced other areas of our personal and professional lives, including, but not limited to, conversations we have about race, politics, power imbalances, and our own positionality. For many of us, including those who have signed this letter and the more than 2,000 people who have signed this petition, Dr. Calvente has reaffirmed our belief in higher education as a space for intellectual curiosity and critical pedagogy. During her time at DePaul, she has directed and organized meaningful cultural events (performances, panels, etc.) that empowered DePaul students and attendees to think critically and explore contemporary solutions. She has been a trusted advisor and a mentor, offering support with other classes, lending a listening ear, guiding us through thesis projects, and encouraging us to find our own voices and to not be silent. For white students, Dr. Calvente has taught us how to build our racial literacy and question the systems and structures that have historically privileged white people while oppressing and harming others. For students of color, and in particular, Black, Brown, and Indigenous students, she has provided representation and mentorship in a College and department that otherwise lacks diversity. What will the university do to ensure that students continue to have course offerings, cultural events, advising, and mentorship that match our positive experiences with Dr. Calvente?
Over the past few weeks, the world has witnessed the devastating and painful effects of our country’s failure to address its legacy of white supremacy, patriarchy, and anti-black racism. We can no longer look the other way as anti-black racism is allowed to enact harm and state-sanctioned violence against Black people and continues to lead to the degradation of Black lives. We can no longer look the other way when 400 years of living in a white supremacist society has resulted in the disproportionate and unconscionable loss of lives, homes and finances of Black, Brown, and Indigenous people across the U.S. who are also disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. While Dr. Calvente’s push-out isn’t about material death, it is about professional death, social death, and the permanent exclusion and blind disregard for our knowledge, our voices, and our bodies.
Because of the skills and critical mindsets we developed through Professor Calvente’s teaching and mentorship, we are well-equipped to face these injustices head on and to stand in service of others, as DePaul’s Vincentian mission⁶ suggests, to advocate for systemic change and social justice. This includes holding our university and alma mater accountable to these same Vincentian principles by demanding systemic change at DePaul in order to educate more students who will be dedicated to the common good and the service of others, especially to people and communities who have been most impacted by poverty and historic and systemic marginalization. We recognize that institutions of education have long been used as tools to reinforce racism and racial violence and the reported history of DePaul’s racial and gender bias in the tenure process has remain unchecked for too long, hampering the growth of Black, Brown, and Indigenous students and the careers of Black, Brown, and Indigenous academics without repercussion or accountability.
As representatives of the student body and as alumni of DePaul University, we, too, are called to action. We cannot and will not accept the university’s harmful pattern of biased tenure decisions nor will we accept this decision on the tenure and promotion for Professor Calvente. We strongly believe this letter underscores what institutional change is required to prepare DePaul students as agents of change for social and racial justice now and in the years to come. We count on the university to go stand with its strategic priorities, Vincentian mission, and commitment to institutional diversity, equity and inclusion by implementing our demands, significantly increasing transparency and accountability, and reversing the denial of tenure of Professor Lisa B. Y. Calvente, PhD, thus making her a fully tenured member of the academy.
We look forward to your response in writing.
Sincerely,
Coalition for Racial Justice at DePaul University
Founding Members:
(listed in alphabetical order by last name)
Leila Abdelrazaq, BFA, Theatre Arts, The Theatre School, May 2015; BA, Arabic Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, May 2015
Tatiana Acosta, BA, Public Relations & Advertising, College of Communication, March 2015
Francisco Javier Arellano, BA, Intercultural Communications, College of Communication, March 2016
Tyler Butterfield, BA, Intercultural Communications and Media Studies, College of Communication, June 2013
MacKenzie Carlock, BA, Communication Studies, College of Communication, June 2018
Emma Davis, BS, Psychology, College of Science & Health, December 2019
Estefania de la Torre, BA, Journalism, College of Communication, June 2023
Abigail Escatel, MA, Multicultural Communication, College of Communication, June 2017
Rachel Fernandez, BA/MA, Media & Cinema Studies, College of Communication, June 2022
Melissa Gastelum, BA, Public Relations & Advertising, College of Communication, May 2022
Lauren Gonzales, BA, Communication Studies, College of Communication, June 2020
Dai’sha Jones, MA, Digital Communications, College of Communication, January 2022
Stephanie Kaczynski, MA, Communication & Media, College of Communication, June 2018
Trent S. Lawrence, Jr., BA, Communication Media Studies, College of Communication, June 2013
Madeleine Mason, BFA, Theatre Arts, The Theatre School, June 2020
Kristen May, MA, Digital Communication & Media Arts, College of Communication, June 2018
Colleen McMahon, MA, Multicultural Communication, College of Communication, June 2020
Taylor Moody, BA, Political Science, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, June 2013
Erika Perez, BA, Communications and Media, College of Communication, June 2022
Kate Perlman, BA, Public Relations & Advertising, College of Communication, December 2020
Kelly Phelan, BA, Communications and Media, College of Communication, June 2022
Fabiola Rosiles, MA, Women’s & Gender Studies, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, June 2018
Evangeline Semark, MA, Organizational & Multicultural Communication, College of Communication, March 2014
Surdeep Singh Chauhan, BA, Media & Cinema Studies, College of Communication, June 2022
Kellie Slattery, BA, Communication and Media, College of Communication, March 2021
Kellie Stonebrook, BA, Communication Studies, College of Communication, May 2022
Yesica Tellez, MA, Multicultural Communication, College of Communication, April 2020; BA, Communication and Media, College of Communication, June 2018
Jhordan Thelwell, BA, Communication & Media, College of Communication, March 2020
Sara Luz Torres, BA, Communications and Media, College of Communication, June 2022
Gabriel Charles Tyler, BA, Journalism, College of Communication, March 2014
Scimone Williams, MA, Digital Communication and Media Arts, College of Communication, June 2021; BA, Community Psychology, College of Science and Health, June 2019
Rebecca Wooley, MA, Organizational & Multicultural Communication, College of Communication, June 2015
About the Coalition for Racial Justice at DePaul University
We are a coalition of DePaul University students and alumni pushing the institution to acknowledge and address its legacy of white supremacy and systemic racism. We count on the university to stand with its strategic priorities, Vincentian mission of social justice and service, and commitment to institutional diversity, equity, and inclusion by engaging in solutions-based conversations and committing to our requests for action.
Appendix
Petition in Support of Dr. Lisa B.Y. Calvente
DePaul Professor Claims Broken Rules, Discrimination Led to Denial of Tenure
Timeline of Lisa Calvente’s Career at DePaul
Sources
¹Flaherty, Colleen. (2012, December 18). Women and Tenure at DePaul. Inside Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/12/18/depaul-settles-tenure-disputes-three-women-another-cries-foul
²DePaulia (2020, June 8). DePaul Professor Claims Broken Rules, Discrimination Led to Denial of Tenure. https://depauliaonline.com/49030/news/depaul-professor-claims-broken-rules-discrimination-led-to-denial-of-tenure/
³DePaul University (2019, April). Grounded in Mission: The Plan for DePaul 2024. https://offices.depaul.edu/president/strategic-directions/grounded-in-mission/Documents/Printer%20friendly%20GIM%20brochure%20April%202019.pdf
⁴DePaul University. (Adopted in 1985. Revised in 1991 and 2016). DePaul University Mission Statement. https://offices.depaul.edu/mission-ministry/about/Documents/DePaul%20University%20Mission%20Statement.pdf
⁵DePaul University. (2020, May 14). DePaul University names Cynthia Pickett associate provost for diversity, equity and inclusion. https://resources.depaul.edu/newsroom/news/press-releases/Pages/associate_provost_for_diversity.aspx
⁶DePaul University. (2019, April). DePaul University Division of Mission and Ministry. Divisional Mission Statement. https://offices.depaul.edu/mission-ministry/about/Pages/default.aspx
