The Chronicle NewsBlog: Hunger-Striking Professor Says He Will Eat When MIT Grants Him Tenure
A professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said today he would not end his weeklong hunger strike until MIT revoked its decision to deny him tenure. “So that’s one of my demands, immediate tenure,” said James L. Sherley, an assistant professor of biological engineering, in a telephone interview. “Nothing else will do. Nothing else will stop me from this hunger strike.”
If he were granted tenure, Mr. Sherley said, he would remain at MIT, despite his view that institutionalized racism lay behind the denial of his bid for tenure. Mr. Sherley, who is black, said he thought he could make a contribution to the institute that goes beyond science. “MIT will start to change,” he said, “and I actually would like to be here to effect some of that change because I’m quite a resource now for what’s wrong with the system.”
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