Collegiate Times

The dismissal of political science professor Christopher Clement has caused an enormous uproar among the Virginia Tech community. Various organized protests have taken place recently on Tech's campus and students and faculty alike are still angry that his time at Tech was cut short.

As of now, no one is certain as to whether professor Clement was denied his tenure due to his race (he is African American, a vast minority in the professorial world here on campus) but many students, and Clement himself, have claimed this was a factor.

While we can't yet decide whether the dismissal was warranted, one thing is clear: there does exist a need for Tech to recruit and aim to add more diverse professors to its community.

A tiny 3 percent of tenured or tenure-track faculty members are black. A more diverse faculty pool would allow students to receive different perspectives on subject matter and enrich an already superb public college experience.

The ongoing controversy surrounding Clement does not present a welcoming image to other minority professors who may want to teach at Tech, the educational institution, in the future. Not that Tech needs that much help: Southwest Virginia isn't all that alluring for minorities, either.

Many believe that the students have the right to know why Clement was, in fact, dismissed this year and question how the university is handling the situation as a whole.

While they may have heard what the protestors have to say, will something be done? Will Provost Mark McNamee follow through on what he promised students on the steps of Burruss Hall? Will following through on those promises make a difference?

This comes at a time where many other issues have arisen dealing with derogatory racial comments. This year, many dorms on campus were unfortunate enough to have disturbing and hate-crime related graffiti written on them. And that's not even to mention the Lee Hall controversy in Fall 2004.

The university showcased Michael Vick and Nikki Giovanni to prospective students during Hokie Focus but refuses tenure to a professor who brought students of all colors together to protest his dismissal?

Beyond any racial interest, you can't hear Virginia Tech without it being in the pursuit of this mysterious moniker: ?top 30 research institution.? What does that mean? While research at it's best is a combinative effort between students and faculty, it is unnerving to hear professors talk of pressure to research more and interact with student groups less.

Professors get tenure for a number of reasons. They may be supreme researchers, bringing the university prestige by the number of papers they publish and the insights they glean from the realm of science. They may be excellent teachers, engaging students on a variety of levels. Or they may fill a departmental need. It appears that Clement was at least the second.

What students in the Virginia Tech community need are these types of teachers and the attention to motivate them to do well in college. Research is great, and increased university prestige will serve students in the long run. But what about those who are here today? Students need a wide variety of professors who can teach them to look at subjects from different points of view, who are interested and, in a word, different.