ATLANTA, Georgia (CNN) — A Georgia State University professor quit this week as director of the school’s Middle East Institute, alleging that GSU failed to properly handle incidents of anti-Muslim bias against one of her students and then took action against both herself and the student when they complained.
“One of my real concerns is that the way the college handled the original grievance and the way in which the college retaliated in the aftermath has sent a very clear signal around the university that, if you’re a faculty member or if you’re in a position of power, it’s OK to discriminate,” said Dona Stewart, who has been at the school for 13 years and has been reassigned to the department of geosciences. “For me, this is not necessarily a Muslim issue, it’s a civil-rights issue.”
The incident began last August, when Slma Shelbayah, then studying for a Ph.D. and working as a visiting instructor at GSU’s MEI, complained that a communications professor had harassed her during a departmental breakfast for Ph.D. candidates, according to a complaint she filed in November with the Equal Employment Opportunities Commission. Stewart filed a separate complaint in January.
Courtesy of Ustadha Zaynab Ansari
Unfortunately, I've heard from an NYU Muslim professor that this sort of thing happens here too, ergo the Muslim faculty keep their head down, so to speak.
ReplyDelete