The Red and Black

Issue date: 10/3/08 Section: Opinions

Articles destroy professor's reputation

I have watched with great interest the events in recent weeks involving professor Barb Carroll. Not only is she a professor in my college (though I am embarrassed to say I do not know her even though we have both been here since the 1980s), but the allegations outlined in The Red & Black articles are the type of issues that are of professional interest to me as an Employment Law professor and author.

As it turns out, my interest turned to alarm as I saw the public's reaction to what we read. The angry - even vicious - letters in the online and paper versions of The R&B, the awful editorial cartoon branding Dr. Carroll a racist and the shredding of her professional reputation was appalling.

I left the articles without having any idea of what Dr. Carrol had done to lead to and result in a finding of harassment. I also have no idea what the connection is between her salary inequity claim and the finding of harassment. That should not be.

If such claims are made by the paper, we as readers should totally understand so we have some sense of what we are reading and how to judge the actions alleged. As readers, we certainly should not have such virulent reactions without being clear as to why.

I am appalled, and quite frankly, frightened, that a professor's professional reputation can be shredded on such meager information. There may have been more information, but it was not in the articles. We still have no idea what the harassment was and what the salary inequity claim had to do with it. It is also not clear why we are seeing this now if the settlement took place nine months ago. If this is the basis of trashing someone's professional reputation, we should know these things.

The situation is an embarrassment to the Terry College, the University, and I am sure, to Dr. Carroll, yet I'm still not sure what occurred. If the College has salary inequities, a claim which I assume has some merit since there was a settlement (though, as an attorney, I am well aware that settlements are made for many reasons, some of which have nothing to do with guilt) the reaction to Dr. Carroll's legitimate claim would certainly have a chilling effect on others with such claims, or anyone with legitimate claims of other kinds who decide to come forward with them.

This is not just a news article. It is the reputation of someone who is about to retire and now has her whole professional life colored by something that is not even clear to us. The irony is not lost on me, as a black female, that the reaction to allegations of Dr. Carroll being racist were met with such rejection here at the University, which did not even admit its first black student until 1961, and then under court order.

I love it that people felt such a thing was so negative and had no place here at the University. I have no problem with meeting racist sentiments with the most serious objections. I just want us to be sure the events are as portrayed and that the label is deserved before we so casually participate in wrecking someone's professional and personal life.

DAWN BENNETT-ALEXANDER
Associate Professor, Employment Law & Legal Studies

Univ. should host district debate

Could the University or student body please set and host debates for the 10th Congressional district? Rather than let Paul Broun's refusal to debate here dictate the availability of public forums, it would seem we could be proactive in making available a public forum for the discernment of the voters. A candidate's refusal to participate would become a clear statement to constituents of just how much he values their two-way communication.

Let Bobby Saxon, who has put himself out there to represent our district, have the chance to answer public questions, whether the half-term incumbent Broun can tear away from his skeet shoots or not. Rather than let candidates decide 'if' we are going to have debates, we should have debates and let candidates decide 'if' they are available for public vetting.

CHRIS YOUNG
Junior, Danielsville
Engineering

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