21 St. Louis Public Radio Staffers Have No Confidence in UMSL’s Investigation of Station Racism
On 9/10, 21 St. Louis Public Radio staffers united to sign and send a letter of no confidence in the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ external investigation of the diversity, equity and inclusion practices at St. Louis Public Radio, outlining the reasons that we cannot participate in the interview process led by attorneys Kate Nash and Aigner S. Carr of Tueth Keeney (www.tuethkeeney.com). The letter was sent via email to Paul Herring, Vice Chancellor of Advancement at the University of Missouri-St. Louis (UMSL) and Dr. Tanisha Stevens, Vice Chancellor for Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at UMSL, with the Friends of St. Louis Public Radio Board CC’ed.
On 9/14, Herring responded via email that interviews for the investigation would close on Tuesday, September 22, with no acknowledgement of the concerns outlined in the 9/10 letter of no confidence. We are most disturbed by the failure to acknowledge and rectify the fact that an employee who requested that a witness be present during an investigative interview was denied it.
Herring’s 9/14 response suggests that participating in the UMSL investigation is no longer mandatory for newsroom employees. However, staffers remain unclear about the goals and scope of the investigation. We still wonder about who UMSL and station leadership were targeting in the investigation of racism at St. Louis Public Radio.
Why aren’t staffers being offered the right to legal representation, witness, or mediator for anyone who requests it? Is there something that UMSL and station leadership are trying to hide?
Addressing racism at St. Louis Public Radio is a larger project that will require investments of time and resources, as well as a willingness to change culture, policies, and leadership. So far, we have been met with informal invitations to speak one-on-one with senior leadership team members, proposals to share our thoughts informally in small groups, and an investigation that seems to treat our concerns about racism at the station solely as a public relations problem.
Help us remind UMSL and St. Louis Public Radio leadership that racism at the station is a systemic problem that requires systemic solutions. Contact Paul Herring at (601) 325–5351 or paul.herring@umsl.edu, St. Louis Public Radio General Manager Tim Eby at 314–516–6765 or ebyt@umsl.edu, and St. Louis Public Radio Development Director Shelley Kerley at Skerley@umsl.edu.
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You can find the email correspondence including the 9/10 no confidence letter and 9/14 response from Paul Herring below (emphasis added).
Dear Paul Herring and Dr. Tanisha Stevens,
We, the undersigned, have no confidence in the University of Missouri-St. Louis’ external investigation of the diversity, equity and inclusion practices at St. Louis Public Radio and cannot participate in the interview process led by attorneys Kate Nash and Aigner S. Carr of Tueth Keeney (www.tuethkeeney.com) for the following reasons:
We have not received any guarantee that employees will not experience retaliation for what we say during the course of the investigation. There remains no anonymous option to participate in the investigative process.
We have not been offered the right to legal representation, witness, or mediator for anyone who requests it. The only option given for participating in the investigation is through individual interviews. An employee who requested that a witness be present during an investigative interview was denied it.
We are wary of Tueth Keeney, the outside firm the university hired to conduct the investigation. Their website states that their lawyers frequently “defend employers accused of discrimination” and “respond on behalf of employers to federal investigations and federal litigation of claims involving Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964” and other federal protective acts. We are concerned these statements mean this firm does not hold our best interests at heart in this investigation.
Participation in the investigation was optional when it was announced on August 10, 2020, but Mr. Herring stated on September 4, 2020, that “Moving forward and beginning next week, all members of the newsroom will be required to participate in the interview process led by attorneys Nash and Carr.” When we asked about what moved participation in the investigation from optional to required for newsroom staff, Herring replied via email on September 8, 2020, “We appreciate the willingness of those who have participated in the investigation to date — including station administrators and those in development, radio and marketing/digital units.”
However, as of September 8, 2020, at least one of those units has not participated in the investigation. We remain unclear about the level to which senior leadership and development staff have been mandated to participate in the investigative process.
There has not been sufficient transparency on the scope and goals of the investigation or the role of each investigator in the process.
We were assured by Dr. Stevens over Zoom in August that any recommendations by the investigators would be made public, along with a redacted form of the Time for Action letter addressed to St. Louis Public Radio General Manager Tim Eby and Executive Editor Shula Neuman detailing our recommendations for addressing systemic racism at the station, which was signed by more than two dozen staffers. Neither UMSL nor the station have made this plan clear to the public.
When we raised concerns about systemic racism at St. Louis Public Radio through our Time for Action letter, we detailed ways to chart a course toward recruitment and retention of the next generation of journalists of color, while repairing trust between staffers and leadership. Our hope is that you will feel comfortable in questioning and auditing senior leadership to find information that will prove valuable to your investigative process.
Together,
Andrea Henderson
Brent Jones
Chad Davis
Corinne Ruff
David Kovaluk
Emily Woodbury
Eric Schmid
Jaclyn Driscoll
Jade Harrell
Jason Rosenbaum
Jeremy Goodwin
Jia Lian Yang
Jonathan Ahl
Kayla Drake
Lara Hamdan
Lauren Brown
Marissanne Lewis-Thompson
Rachel Lippmann
Ryan Delaney
Sarah Fentem
Shahla FarzanCC: Friends of St. Louis Public Radio Board
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From: “Herring, Paul” <paul.herring@umsl.edu>
Date: Sep 14, 2020 3:42 PM
Subject: Investigation
Dear members of St. Louis Public Radio,
Thank you to those who have participated in the investigation of the diversity, equity and inclusion practices at St. Louis Public Radio thus far. To date, the Tueth Keeney law firm has either conducted or has scheduled interviews to be conducted this week with all members of the administrative leadership team — and has conducted interviews with individuals across the development, radio and marketing/digital units. The firm will continue to offer availability for interviews through the close of the business day on Tuesday, September 22. For those who have not yet participated in the interview process, please contact Dr. Tanisha Stevens at smithtn@umsl.edu to schedule a time to do so. Your voices are important to be heard during the investigative process.
Sincerely,
Paul
Paul Herring
Vice Chancellor of Advancement
University of Missouri-St. Louis
Office: (314) 516–4278
Mobile: (601) 325–5351
