Black faculty, staff call MSU provost pick 'a travesty'

EAST LANSING — Black faculty, staff and administrators at Michigan State University oppose making Teresa Woodruff the university's next provost after Northwestern University students criticized her for ignoring the concerns of underrepresented students.

“The reaction...in the words of many in our community is ‘a travesty,’ ‘unbelievable,’ ‘outrageous,’ ‘unconscionable,’ ‘shocking,’ and ‘appalling,’” wrote Eunice Foster, president of the MSU Black Faculty, Staff and Administrators Association in a letter sent to MSU President Samuel Stanley Jr. on Tuesday.

“To those of us seeking a just, inclusive, and equitable campus, this appointment is a misjudgment of what Michigan State University...needs now, given the abysmal state of race relations both on campus and in the nation,” the letter read.

The abysmal state of race relations she mentioned include a toilet paper noose that was hung on a black student's dorm room door, a survey filled with racist and hateful language that circulated among students and ornaments depicting historical black leaders hung on a rack resembling a tree at a Wharton Center gift shop.

Read more: https://www.lansingstatejournal.com/story/news/2020/04/30/black-faculty-staff-msu-michigan-state-university-provost-woodruff/3056113001/