US Professor Decries Racism at MIT

"Starting today, I will in fact break my fast in celebration of the attention that has been brought to bear on issues of equity, diversity, and justice at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and in higher education," said James Sherley in statements carried by Reuters.

The49 -year-old scientist began a hunger strike on February5 , to demand the reversal of an MIT decision in2004 to deny him a tenure – an academic prize that confers a job for life.

"I'm not actually doing this to get tenured," Sherley said.

"I'm doing this for the reason that I wasn't tenured — which is racism — and I want this institution to admit that that is the problem and make plans to do something about it."

Sherley had tried for two years to persuade the MIT administration to reverse its decision but to no avail.

MIT said Sherley's case had been examined three times since the initial decision to deny him tenure and that race played no role.

Less than half of MIT's junior faculty members are promoted to tenured positions.

Of 740 tenured faculty members at MIT, 27 are African-American or Hispanic.

About4 % the university's 740 tenured professors are ethnic minorities, according to statistics provided by MIT.

Only three minority faculty members have earned tenure since Sherley was denied.

African Americans are taking the full brunt of racism in the United States. Estimates show that the African American community has the worst unemployment and housing crises in the country.

Official figures show that the unemployment rate among African Americans hit9 .2%.

The are up to 37 million African Americans in the United States, representing12 .3% of the population.

Freedom Denied

Sherley, the son of a Baptist minister, said he has been denied the same freedom to challenge scientific orthodoxy afforded his white colleagues -- a factor that he reckons damaged his tenure application.

Unlike most stem-cell scientists, Sherley opposes embryonic stem-cell research on moral grounds.

He says using embryonic stem cells amounts to taking human life.

Sherley has earned several distinctions. In September, he won a prestigious $2. 5million grant from the National Institutes of Health.

Despite ending his hunger strike, Sherley said his demands were still on the table, urging MIT to respond.

MIT welcomed Sherley's decision to end his hunger strike.

"MIT deeply regrets that professor Sherley's experiences at the Institute have resulted in his fast to express his concerns about racism," the school said in a statement.

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