It's Qualifications, Not Racism

Steve Gill, a talk radio host for WTN-FM in Nashville, said that the Tennessee State University Presidential Search Committee might be racist for choosing all black candidates as finalists for president.

Photo credit: Tennessee State Almost everyone agrees that Tennessee State should receive the best possible replacement for President James A. Hefner.

Charles Manning, Tennessee Board of Regents chancellor, told Michael Cass, a reporter for the Nashville Tennessean, that TSU is not ready for a white president and that the requirements specifically said the next president should have knowledge of an urban institution.

Gill questioned whether racism was acceptable as long as it was directed toward whites.

Racism is never acceptable. Even when directed toward someone who may be purple.

A poll on Gill�s Web Site, www.gillreport.com, asked whether �TSU was promoting racism in their process and attitude.� Not surprisingly, as of Dec. 9, 44 percent replied that of course, it would not be tolerated if the same thing were happening at a "white" college.

The people who responded are absolutely right. If all qualified black candidates were eliminated from a national presidential search, and all whites were chosen, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People would cry racism, and so would everyone who is African American, as would every other nonwhite on the planet. But the operative word is qualified.

Almost everyone agrees that Tennessee State should receive the best possible replacement for President James A. Hefner. Some in the Tennessee State community believe that none of the candidates has credentials stronger or equal to those of Hefner.

However, there is no white finalist because none was as qualified as the black ones. While it is possible that race played a minor role in the decision, race was not the indicator of who should take the role as president.

The white and non-black candidates who applied were not nearly as qualified as the remaining blacks. One regent even said that some of the applicants were a disgrace to Tennessee State. The only white applicant who had enough qualifications to be considered was James E. Mackin, Ph.D., associate provost for Clayton College and State University in Morrow, Ga.

Before the official search for the presidency began, many students felt the Tennessee Board of Regents had motives to �turn the school white.� This is clearly not the case. TSU is not and will never be racially discriminatory in terms of enrollment.

While Tennessee State is under court order to attract more minority and non-traditional students, the search committee is not racist for not choosing a white candidate from the search pool. This is not a matter of racism. This is a matter of qualification.�

By the editorial board of The Meter at Tennessee State University. The views expressed in "Voices" are those of the writers and do not reflect the opinions of Black College Wire or its affiliates.

Posted Dec. 13, 2004