P.O.P. STATEMENT CONDEMNING RACISM AT KEAN UNIVERSITY!
The People’s Organization for Progress strongly condemns the racist and terrorist threats made against the African American student body at Kean University and joins the Coalition of Black Ministers’call for the resignation of Dawood Farahi, President of Kean University.
Against the back drop of a reinvigorated civil rights movement in which African Americans are galvanizing nationally, including Black students on college and university campuses, to fight against the racism that still plagues this country, we take the Facebook threats made against the Black student body at Kean University very seriously, and want our students to know that we stand with them and will do whatever we must to ensure their safety. Ever mindful of America's violent past against Black youth seeking educational opportunities, we will be reaching out to other organizations to mobilize around this issue, and we call upon the faculty, administrators, staff, alumni representatives, and the Board of Trustees at Kean University to thoroughly investigate these threats, to take swift action to bring the perpetrator(s) to justice and to insure that the safety of the students is not compromised.
Furthermore, we also join the Coalition of NJ Black Minister's call for the immediate resignation of Dawood Farahi, the president of Kean and question Senator Lesniak's support of him amidst the swirling controversy surrounding his tenure. According to Reverend Ronald Slaughter, the founder of the Coalition, "the president has resided over a climate of racial intolerance that has been allowed to fester for years." Currently the NAACP is investigating Kean for the firing of a large number of African American women faculty under suspicious circumstances.
Moreover, Farahi has been embroiled in other controversies as well, involving making false statements on his resumes, accreditation issues, the NCAA Division athletic teams being put on probation because classes were invented and grades were fudged to benefit athletes, and the purchase of a conference room table for over $215,000. Yet in spite of all of these serious issues, Senator Lesniak has chosen to side with Farahi and to publicly demean the ministers' call for his resignation by stating that the ministers have gone way too far. The People's Organization for Progress finds the senator's lack of sensitivity about racism, discrimination and his unrelenting support of the the president unacceptable and we stand united with the Black Ministers' Coalition and all students who are standing up against racist and social injustices.
Lisa Davis,
Chairperson, POP AntiViolence Committee
Lawrence Hamm, POP Chairman
THE PEOPLE’S ORGANIZATION FOR PROGRESS
P.O. BOX 22505
NEWARK, NEW JERSEY 07101
973 801 0001
CONTACT: LAWRENCE HAMM
November 30, 2015
https://theblacklist.net/
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