New Mexico Black Groups Claim Bias at University

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/23/us/bias-complaint-filed-against-university-of-new-mexico.html?scp=2&sq=discrimination&st=cse

New Mexico Black Groups Face Bias at University

             A group of African-American people filed a complaint with the Department of Justice and the Department of Education against the University of New Mexico claiming that the university’s administrators were discriminating against black faculty, students and other staff members.  More specifically they claimed that African-American faculty were being left out of upper administration positions, that African-American women were completely excluded from authoritative positions and that salary differences were evident compared to their other minority coworkers.  They also claimed that at least 80% of African-American doctors who had left the university’s medical school as well as the hospital had been triggered by the discrimination they had faced.  Bishop David Cooper who led the group of men who filed the complaint said he did not believe the administration had done enough to resolve the issue.  He said that even though the university admitted to the disparities the group of African-American men claimed existed, they were still not doing anything about it. He hopes things will finally change for good. The president of the University and the Health Sciences Center’s Chancellor denied any type of discrimination going on in the university. An April report concluded that the black community at the University of New Mexico was very isolated from the rest and that “transformational change” was necessary. The article concludes by stating how unfortunate it is that nobody listened to the African-American staff members and students when they claimed those feelings of discrimination against them. This is very true. It is so sad to still see signs of racism today. It is an issue that we must overcome as a community and by sticking together until it ends.