WEST LIBERTY, W.Va., July 19, 2021 — West Liberty University’s President Dr. W. Franklin Evans was in the national news yesterday when his comments were included in an article published by NBCBLK. The article, “Why tenure is so important — yet rare — for Black professors,” was written by Curtis Bunn.
It covers the issues of tenure which rose to the level of a hot topic after two news items: the Pultizer Prize-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones tenure problems at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill where she was offered a professorship without tenure and the more recent news item of prominent professor Cornel West’s resignation from the Harvard Divinity School, citing a tenure debate.
Both issues are being discussed daily by major news. Hannah-Jones moved on to accept a position at Howard University, one of the five largest HBCUs in the country.
“Her treatment has brought to public light how differently we are judged,” Evans is quoted saying in the article by Bunn. “But it’s critical to have Black professors at predominately white schools, because it allows other folks to see us as qualified, to see us as creative and as intellectuals.
To read the entire online news article from NBCBLK, please click here.
President Evans is a noted speaker and frequent contributor to community events. He began his tenure as president of WLU in January 2021 and is the first Black leader to hold that position.
West Liberty University is West Virginia’s oldest public university and offers more than 70 undergraduate majors, plus a growing number of graduate programs, both online and on campus.
For more information, please call 1.866.937.8542 (WESTLIB), visit westliberty.edu or follow WLU on social media. To view more about WLU, please visit westliberty.edu/youtube.